HOUSING ACT, 1925

AN ACT TO FACILITATE THE PROVISION OF DWELLING HOUSES, AND FOR THAT PURPOSE TO AUTHORISE THE MAKING OF GRANTS TO PERSONS AND LOCAL AUTHORITIES PROVIDING SUCH HOUSES, TO AMEND THE HOUSING (BUILDING FACILITIES) ACTS, 1924, AND TO MAKE OTHER PROVISIONS CONTRIBUTING TO AN INCREASED SUPPLY OF DWELLING HOUSES. [17th April, 1925.]

BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS OF SAORSTÁT EIREANN AS FOLLOWS:—

1 Definitions.

1.—In this Act save where the context otherwise requires—

the expression “local authority” means and includes the council of a county, or borough, or urban district, or the commissioners of any town, or the council of a rural district in the county of Dublin;

the expression “public utility society” means a society registered under the Industrial and Provident Societies Acts, 1893 to 1913, or a friendly society registered under the Friendly Societies Acts, 1896 and 1908, or a trade union registered under the Trade Union Acts, 1871 to 1913, whose objects include the erection and reconstruction of houses for the working classes;

the word “person” does not include either a local authority, a public utility society, or the Irish Sailors and Soldiers Land Trust;

the expression “Minister” means the Minister for Local Government and Public Health;

the word “self-contained flat” means any part of a building suitable for separate occupation as a dwelling house;

the word “house” means a building suitable for occupation as a dwelling house, and includes a self-contained flat;

the expression “existing building” means a building in existence at the passing of this Act;

the word “reconstruction” means the conversion of an existing building into one or more houses, and includes the making of alterations and additions for that purpose; and the words “reconstruct,” “reconstructing,” and other cognate words shall be construed accordingly;

the word “erection” does not include reconstruction, and the words “erect,” “erecting,” and other cognate words shall be construed accordingly.

2 Houses to which this Act applies.

2.—This Act shall apply to every house which complies with the rules set out in the First Schedule to this Act, and with any other rules or regulations prescribed for that purpose.

3 Grants which may be made by the Minister.

3.—(1) The Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, make grants out of moneys to be provided by the Oireachtas to—

• (a) persons or public utility societies erecting or reconstructing houses to which this Act applies; and

• (b) local authorities erecting or reconstructing houses in pursuance of the Housing of the Working Classes (Ireland) Acts, 1890 to 1921, or of the Labourers (Ireland) Acts, 1883 to 1919, in accordance with schemes approved by the Minister.

• (2) The amount of any grant made under this section in respect of any house shall not exceed the sum specified in Part I. of the Second Schedule to this Act as appropriate to such house.

• (3) The aggregate amount of the grants to be made under this section shall not exceed the sum of £300,000.

• (4) The Minister shall not make a grant under this section in respect of—

• (a) a house in respect of which a grant was made by the Minister under the Housing (Building Facilities) Acts, 1924;

• (b) a house erected in accordance with a reinstatement condition within the meaning of section 10 of the Damage to Property (Compensation) Act, 1923 (No. 15 of 1923);

• (c) a house which is erected on or on any part of the site of a building in respect of the destruction of which compensation has been awarded under the said Damage to Property (Compensation) Act, 1923, or in respect of the destruction of which a report has been made under section 15 of the said Act;

• (d) a reconstructed house where compensation has been awarded under the provisions of the said Damage to Property (Compensation) Act, 1923, in respect of damage to the building before reconstruction or where a report has been made under section 15 of the said Act in respect of such damage;

• (e) a reconstructed house unless before such reconstruction the existing building to be reconstructed has been certified by an officer appointed by the Minister for the purpose or (in the case of an appeal to the Minister from a refusal by such officer so to certify) by the Minister to be suitable for conversion into a house or houses to which this Act applies.

4 Time and method for payment of grants.

4.—(1) Every grant made to a person or public utility society by the Minister under this Act shall be paid in such manner as may be prescribed from time to time and the decision of the Minister as to whether any condition or regulation has or has not been complied with shall be final.

• (2) Subject to the provisions of sub-section (3) of this section, no grant shall be paid by the Minister to a person or public utility society in respect of the erection or reconstruction of a house, unless and until such erection or reconstruction shall have been certified by an officer appointed by the Minister for the purpose (in this section called the “appointed officer”) or (in the case of an appeal to the Minister from a refusal by the appointed officer so to certify) by the Minister, to have been completed in a proper and workmanlike manner.

• (3) The Minister may decide to pay a grant to a person or public utility society in instalments each of which instalments is to be paid on the completion of a specified portion of the erection or reconstruction of a house and no such instalment shall be paid unless and until such specified portion shall have been certified by the appointed officer or (in the case of an appeal to the Minister from a refusal by the appointed officer so to certify) by the Minister, to have been completed in a proper and workmanlike manner.

• (4) Every grant made to a local authority by the Minister under this Act shall be paid in instalments in such manner as the Minister shall direct, so that each instalment shall be paid on the completion of a specified portion of the erection or reconstruction of the houses in respect of which the grant is made:

Provided that the first of such instalments may be paid when the local authority has entered into a contract, approved by the Minister for such erection or reconstruction.

5 County council to have temporary powers under the Labourers (Ireland) Acts, 1883 to 1919.

5.—(1) During the period from the passing of this Act to the first day of October, 1925, every county council shall have, in respect of the area of the county exclusive of every borough and urban district situated therein, the powers conferred by the Labourers (Ireland) Acts, 1883 to 1919, on a rural sanitary authority or a rural district council in respect of their rural sanitary district or rural district, and the said Acts, with the necessary adaptations shall apply to the exercise by the county council of the said powers.

• (2) This section shall not apply to the council of the county of Dublin.

6 Local authorities may assist the erection of houses.

6.—(1) A local authority may with the consent of the Minister assist the erection of houses to which this Act applies in their functional area in any of the ways following, that is to say:—

• (a) make to a person or public utility society to whom a grant is payable by the Minister under this Act in respect of a house situate within the functional area of the local authority, a further grant not exceeding the amount of the grant payable by the Minister in respect of that house;

• (b) make to any person or public utility society to whom a grant is payable by the Minister under this Act in respect of a house situate within the functional area of the local authority, a loan not exceeding twice the amount of such grant: Provided that every such loan shall be repayable, with or without interest, by instalments or otherwise within a period for which the local authority can themselves borrow money, and shall be secured by a mortgage or charge on such house and on the hereditament upon which such house is situate;

• (c) grant, sell or lease any portion of any land, in the possession of the local authority at the passing of this Act, to any person or public utility society, subject either to a covenant that such person or society will erect on such land a specified number of houses to which this Act applies, or to a covenant that such land will be used solely as additional garden space for a reconstructed house to which this Act applies, and in the case of a sale or lease the price or rent to be paid by such person or society may be less than the price or rent which could be obtained for the sale or lease of such land in the open market;

• (d) execute any works necessary, or incidental to, or tending to promote the development of land suitable to the erection or reconstruction of houses to which this Act applies:

Provided that the total value, as determined by the Minister, of the assistance granted by any local authority under this section towards the erection or reconstruction of any house or houses to any person or society shall not exceed the total of the grant payable to such person or society in respect of such house or houses by the Minister under this Act.

• (2) In this section the expression “functional area” means—

• (a) in respect of the council of any borough or urban district or the commissioners of any town—the area of the borough, district, or town as the case may be;

• (b) in respect of a county council—the area of the county exclusive of every borough, urban district, or town situated therein: Provided that if the commissioners of a town, with the consent of the Minister, resolve, at a meeting specially convened for that purpose, that their functions under this section be transferred to the council of the county in which such town is situate, and the said council at a meeting specially convened for the purpose agree to the said transfer, the functional area of the said council shall thereupon include the area of such town.

• (3) Any local authority may with the consent of the Minister borrow money for the purpose of this section and moneys borrowed for those purposes shall not be reckoned as part of the total debt of such local authority for the purpose of any limitation on borrowing imposed by or under any statute.

• (4) In this section the expression “local authority” shall not include the council of a rural district in the county of Dublin.

7 Expenses.

7.—(1) All expenses incurred by a county council in the execution of this Act shall be defrayed out of the Poor Rate and shall be charged on the functional area of such council as defined in the preceding section.

• (2) All expenses incurred by the council of a borough or urban district or by the commissioners of a town in the execution of this Act shall be raised and defrayed as if they had been incurred by such council or commissioners in the execution of the Housing of the Working Classes (Ireland) Acts, 1890 to 1921.

8 Local authority may remit portion of rates.

8.—(1) Any local authority having power to levy rates may, and when required by the Minister shall, in every of the first nineteen local financial years after the valuation for rating purposes of a house in respect of the erection of which a grant shall have been made by the Minister under this Act to a person or public utility society, remit a portion of the rates leviable in respect of that house in that year by the local authority.

• (2) The amount of the rate leviable in any such year as aforesaid which may or shall be remitted by a local authority under the foregoing sub-section shall not exceed the proportion of such rate specified in the second column of Part II. of the Second Schedule to this Act opposite the number of such year in the first column of the said Part II.

• (3) The provisions of section 69 of the Local Government Act, 1925, shall not have effect in the case of any house in respect of which a grant is made by the Minister under this Act.

• (4) For the purposes of the assessment and levying of any rate raised by a local authority for the service of any local financial year ending within seven years from the completion of reconstruction by a person or public utility society of a building in respect of which a grant shall have been made by the Minister, the valuation of such building under the Valuation Acts may, and when required by the Minister shall, be deemed by the local authority to be the valuation which was in force in respect of such building under the said Acts immediately before such reconstruction.

9 Allocation of Irish Housing Fund.

9.—The sums liable to be paid or set apart by any local authority in respect of moneys borrowed by that authority for the purposes of the erection or reconstruction of houses under the provisions of the Housing of the Working Classes (Ireland) Acts, 1890 to 1921, in respect of which grants are made by the Minister under this Act or under the Housing (Building Facilities) (Amendment) Act, 1924 (No. 54 of 1924), shall not be included in the annual housing charge of that authority within the meaning of section 5 of the Housing of the Working Classes (Ireland) Act, 1908.

10 Amendment of the Housing (Building Facilities) Acts, 1924.

10.—(1) Paragraph (e) of sub-section (1) of section 3 of the Housing (Building Facilities) Act, 1924 (No. 14 of 1924), shall have effect as though the words “twenty-two months” were substituted therein for the words “eighteen months.”

• (2) The first note to Part I. of the Schedule to the Housing (Building Facilities) Act, 1924, shall have effect as though the words “twenty-two months” were substituted therein for the words “eighteen months” wherever the said words occur.

• (3) Section 4 of the Housing (Building Facilities) Act, 1924, is hereby repealed.

• (4) Sub-section (3) of section 3 of the Housing (Building Facilities) (Amendment) Act, 1924, is hereby repealed, and in lieu thereof it is hereby enacted that the aggregate amount of the grants made or to be made (whether before or after the passing of that Act) under section 2 of the Housing (Building Facilities) Act, 1924, together with the aggregate amount of the grants made or to be made under the said section 3 shall not exceed the sum of £300,000 in respect of both erection and reconstruction of houses.

11 Rules, conditions, etc., may be prescribed.

11.—(1) The Minister may by Order prescribe all such rules, regulations, conditions, and other matters as are in this Act referred to as being or to be prescribed, and such other regulations as may be required for carrying this Act into effect.

• (2) Every order made by the Minister under this section shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made, and if a resolution is passed by either House of the Oireachtas within the next subsequent twenty-one days on which that House has sat, annulling such order, such order shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under such order.

• (3) In so far as the provisions of any local Act, or of any bye-laws, rules, regulations or schemes under whatever authority made, relating to the construction, laying out, or drainage of new buildings or new streets are inconsistent with any regulations prescribed by the Minister under this section, those provisions shall not apply to any house to which this Act applies, and which complies with the regulations so prescribed.

12 Short title and construction.

12.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Housing Act, 1925.

• (2) The Housing (Building Facilities) Acts, 1924, and this Act so far as it amends those Acts may be cited collectively as the Housing Acts, 1924 to 1925.

FIRST SCHEDULE. RULES TO BE COMPLIED WITH BY HOUSES TO WHICH THIS ACT APPLIES.

SECOND SCHEDULE. Part I. Grants which may be made in respect of houses.

NOTE:—Where the erection or reconstruction is not completed within eighteen months from the passing of this Act, and the time for such completion is extended, the grant shall, unless the Minister otherwise directs, be reduced by one-tenth for every month between the expiration of the said eighteen months and the date of actual completion of the erection or reconstruction.

SECOND SCHEDULE.

Part II.

Proportion of rates which may be remitted.