HOUSING (MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS) ACT, 1931

• (2) The medical officer of health of a local authority shall make an official representation to the local authority whenever he is of opinion that any dwelling house in their district is unfit for human habitation, or that any area in their district is an area which should be dealt with either as a clearance area or as an improvement area; and if any four or more local government electors of the district complain to the medical officer of health in writing that any dwelling-house is unfit for human habitation, or that any area should be dealt with either as a clearance area or as an improvement area, it shall be his duty forthwith to inspect that house or that area and to make a report to the local authority stating the facts of the case and whether, in his opinion, the house is unfit for human habitation, or whether, in his opinion, the area should be dealt with either as a clearance area or as an improvement area; but the absence of any such complaint shall not excuse him from inspecting any dwelling-house or area and making a representation thereon to the local authority.

• (3) A local authority shall so soon as may be take into consideration any official representation which has been made to them.

48 Remuneration of solicitors for business under the Housing of the Working Classes Acts.

48.—Unless the Minister shall in any particular case otherwise direct or agree, the costs payable by a local authority in respect of the acquisition of land for the purposes of the Housing of the Working Classes Acts shall be regulated by the General Order dated the 16th day of April, 1884, as amended by the General Order dated the 17th day of May, 1920, made in pursuance of the Solicitors Remuneration Act, 1881, and the provisions of the said first-mentioned General Order as amended as aforesaid shall, with the exception of Clause 6 and Rule 11 in Part I of Schedule I of the said Order, apply accordingly.

49 Service of notices, etc.

49.—(1) Subject to the provisions of the Housing of the Working Classes Acts as to the service of any notice, summons, writ or other proceeding at law or otherwise on local authorities, any notice, order, or other document required or authorised to be served under those Acts may be served either—

• (a) by delivering it to the person on whom it is to be served; or

• (b) by leaving it at the usual or last-known place of abode of that person; or

• (c) by forwarding it by post in a pre-paid registered letter addressed to that person at his usual or last-known place of abode, or in the case of an incorporated company or registered society addressed to the secretary of the company or society at the registered or principal office of the company or society; or

• (d) if addressed to the “owner” or “occupier” of premises, by delivering it to some person on the premises, or if there is no person in the premises on whom it can be so served, then by affixing it to some conspicuous part of the premises

• (2) Subject as aforesaid, any notice, order or other document which is by the Housing of the Working Classes Acts required or authorised to be served on the owner or occupier of any premises may be addressed to the “owner” or “occupier” of the premises (naming them) without further name or description.

50 Application of provisions of section 11 of the Labourers (Ireland) Act, 1906, amending the Lands Clauses Acts.

50.—Paragraphs (1) to (8) and paragraph (12) of section 11 of the Labourers (Ireland) Act, 1906, which amend the Lands Clauses Acts with respect to the payment of purchase money, the conveyance of land and other matters shall apply to the taking of land otherwise than by agreement under the Lands Clauses Acts as amended by the Housing of the Working Classes Acts by a local authority for the purposes of those Acts, in like manner as the said paragraphs apply to a district council so taking land for the purposes of the Labourers (Ireland) Acts, 1883 to 1930, with the modification that in paragraph (1) of the said section 11 of the Labourers (Ireland) Act, 1906, the words “Lands Clauses Acts” shall be substituted for the words “Land Purchase Acts.”

51 Miscellaneous amendments of the Housing (Ireland) Act, 1919.

51.—(1) Paragraph (b) of sub-section (1) of section 8 of the Housing (Ireland) Act, 1919, shall be amended by the addition of the words “are suitable or” after the word “which” in the said paragraph.

• (2) Sub-section (2) of section 8 of the Housing (Ireland) Act, 1919, shall be amended by the addition of the following paragraph:—

• (iii) the lease or sale under the powers conferred by this Act to philanthropic societies or bodies of persons approved of by the Minister of any estate or interest in any houses which are suitable or might be made suitable as houses for the working classes with a view to such houses being maintained or being made suitable and maintained as houses for the working classes by such philanthropic societies or bodies of persons.

• (3) Paragraph (ii) of sub-section (2) of section 8 of the Housing (Ireland) Act, 1919, shall be amended by the addition of the words “factories, workshops, places of worship, playgrounds, places of recreation, open spaces” after the word “gardens” in the said paragraph.

• (4) Paragraph (b) of sub-section (1) of section 11 of the Housing (Ireland) Act, 1919, shall be amended by the addition of the words “factories, workshops, places of worship, playgrounds, places of recreation, open spaces” after the word “gardens” in the said paragraph.

• (5) Sub-section (2) of section 11 of the Housing (Ireland) Act, 1919, shall have effect as if the words from “subject to any condition” to “thereon, and” were omitted therefrom.

• (6) Section 17 of the Housing (Ireland) Act, 1919, which confers powers on the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland to make loans to private persons shall become a permanent enactment and any provision in any Act in force at the date of the passing of this Act which limits the period for which the said section is to remain in force shall cease to have effect.

52 Execution by local authorities of works under section 20 of the Housing (Ireland) Act, 1919.

52.—Where an owner or other person has failed to execute any work which he has been required to execute under bye-laws made by a local authority in pursuance of section 20 of the Housing (Ireland) Act, 1919, the local authority by whom such bye-laws are enforced may after giving to him not less than twenty-one days' notice in writing themselves execute the works and recover the costs and expenses and for that purpose the provisions of Part III of this Act with respect to the enforcement of notices requiring the execution of repairs and the recovery of expenses by local authorities shall apply with such modifications as are necessary.

53 Assessment of compensation in respect of existing houses acquired by a local authority.

53.—Where a local authority acquire compulsorily any house which is suitable or might be made suitable for persons of the working classes for the purposes of Part III of the Act of 1890, as amended by any subsequent enactment including this Act, the compensation payable in respect thereof shall be assessed in accordance with the provisions contained in Part II of the Third Schedule to this Act.

54 Minor and consequential amendments of housing enactments.

54.—The amendments specified in the Second Column of the Fourth Schedule to this Act which relate to minor or consequential details shall be made in the sections and sub-sections of the housing enactments specified in the First Column of that Schedule.

PART V Labourers Cottages.

55 Increase of rate for purposes of Labourers (Ireland) Acts, 1883 to 1930.

55.—(1) Section 17 of the Labourers (Ireland) Act, 1883, shall be amended by the substitution therein of the words “two shillings” for the words “one shilling” in the proviso to the said section.

• (2) Section 12 of the Labourers (Ireland) Act, 1906, shall be amended by the substitution of the word “sixpence” for the word “three-pence” in the said section.

56 Suspension of operation of section 15 of the Labourers (Ireland) Act, 1883.

56.—(1) The operation of section 15 of the Labourers (Ireland) Act, 1883, shall be suspended until the expiration of a period of five years from the passing of this Act and where any provisional order has been confirmed before the passing of this Act or is confirmed after the passing of this Act but before the expiration of the said period, time shall for the purposes of the said section be reckoned as if the order had been confirmed on the last day of the said period and not previously.

• (2) Nothing in this section shall affect any right, obligation or liability acquired, accrued or incurred under the said section 15 of the Labourers (Ireland) Act, 1883, before the passing of this Act, for the enforcement whereof proceedings have been commenced in any court before the first day of October, 1931, and are pending at the passing of this Act and any such proceedings may be continued as if this Act had not been passed.

57 Power of Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland to lend money for the purposes of the Labourers (Ireland) Acts, 1883 to 1930.

57.—A sanitary authority may in the exercise of any power of borrowing conferred upon them by the Labourers (Ireland) Acts, 1883 to 1930, borrow money from the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland and the said Commissioners may with the consent of the Minister for Finance and on the recommendation of the Minister lend such money to such sanitary authority under the Public Works (Ireland) Acts, 1831 to 1886, as amended by the Public Works Loans Act, 1897, and notwithstanding anything contained in the said Acts such loan may be made by the said Commissioners for such period and at such rate of interest as the Minister for Finance may from time to time prescribe.

58 Power to acquire buildings for purposes of Labourers (Ireland) Acts, 1883 to 1930.

58.—Notwithstanding anything contained in the Labourers (Ireland) Acts, 1883 to 1930, a sanitary authority acting in the execution of these Acts may with the sanction of the Minister for the purpose of providing accommodation for agricultural labourers acquire any building and may alter, enlarge, improve or repair any such building so acquired by them so as to render such building in all respects fit for habitation by agricultural labourers.

PART VI. Acquisition of Small Dwellings.

59 Advances to persons intending to construct houses under the Small Dwellings Acquisition (Ireland) Acts, 1899 and 1919.

59.—(1) The Small Dwellings Acquisition Act, 1899, as amended by the Housing (Ireland) Act, 1919, shall have effect subject to the following amendments:—

• (a) An advance under those Acts may be made to a person intending to construct a house, and in such case the limitation in those Acts requiring that the person to whom the advance is made must be resident in the house, shall be construed as requiring that the person should be a person intending to reside in the house when constructed;

• (b) The statutory condition requiring the proprietor of a house in respect of which an advance has been made to reside in the house shall have effect for a period of three years from the date when the advance is made, or from the date on which the house is completed, whichever is the later, but no longer, and compliance with this condition may at any time be dispensed with by the local authority;

• (c) Where an advance is made in respect of a house in course of construction, the advance may be made by instalments from time to time as the building of the house progresses, so that the total advance does not at any time before the completion of the house exceed fifty per centum of the value of the work done up to that time on the construction of the house including the value of the interest of the person to whom the advance is made in the site thereof;

• (d) A person shall not, by reason only of the fact that an advance is made to him under those Acts, be disqualified from being elected as or being a member of the local authority by whom the advance is made or any committee of such local authority.

• (2) Paragraph (c) of sub-section (2) of section 15 of the Small Dwellings Acquisition Act, 1899, is hereby repealed.

60 Increase of value of houses in respect of which advances may be made.

60.—Sub-section (1) of section 1 of the Small Dwellings Acquisition Act, 1899, as amended by the Housing (Ireland) Act, 1919, shall be amended by the substitution therein of one thousand pounds for eight hundred pounds as the limit of the market value of houses in respect of which advances may be made.

PART VII. Amendments of the Housing Acts, 1925 to 1930.

61 Increase of aggregate amount of grants under Housing Acts, 1925 to 1930.

61.—Section 4 of the Housing Act, 1930, is hereby repealed and in lieu thereof it is hereby enacted that the aggregate amount of grants made or to be made under section 3 of the Housing Act, 1925 (No. 12 of 1925), as amended by section 3 of the Housing Act, 1928 (No. 31 of 1928), together with the aggregate amount of the grants made or to be made under section 3 of the Housing Act, 1929 (No. 12 of 1929), shall not exceed the sum of one million, two hundred and eighty thousand pounds.

62 Extension of period for erection of houses by private persons.

62.—The First Schedule to the Housing Act, 1929 (No. 12 of 1929), as amended by section 5 of the Housing Act, 1930 (No. 22 of 1930), shall in its application to houses erected by private persons have effect as if there were inserted therein the following rule, and the said Schedule and also section 2 of the first-mentioned Act shall be construed and have effect accordingly, that is to say:—

63 Continuance of assistance to private persons erecting houses.

63.—(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Housing Acts, 1925 to 1930, as amended by this Act, the Minister may under section 3 of the Housing Act, 1929 (No. 12 of 1929), as modified by this section, continue to make grants to private persons erecting houses to which that Act as modified by this section applies.

• (2) For the purposes of this section the aggregate amount of the grants made or to be made under the Housing Acts, 1925 to 1930, as amended by this Act, shall be increased by the sum of twenty-five thousand pounds.

• (3) The Housing Act, 1929 (No. 12 of 1929) shall for the purposes of this section, have effect subject to the following modifications, that is to say:—

• (a) Paragraph (a) of sub-section (1) of section 3 of the said Act shall have effect as if there were substituted therein “£20” for “£45”;

• (b) Paragraphs (b), (c) and (d) of sub-section (1) and sub-section (3) of section 5 and sub-sections (1) and (2) of section 7 of the said Act shall not apply;

• (c) No grant shall be made by the Minister under the said Act unless the local authority within whose functional area the house is erected make a grant in respect of the house of an amount equivalent to that made by the Minister;

• (d) For rules 2 and 4 of the First Schedule to the said Act there shall be substituted the following rules:—

• (a) 950 square feet if such house is erected in a county borough, borough, urban district or town; or

• (b) 1,250 square feet if such house is erected elsewhere;

• (4) This section shall continue in force until the 31st day of December, 1933, and shall then expire.

PART VIII. Financial Provisions.

64 State contributions to expenses of provision of houses for the working classes.

64.—(1) The Minister may with the consent of the Minister for Finance out of monies to be provided by the Oireachtas, make contributions not exceeding the amounts and over periods not exceeding the periods hereinafter specified to local authorities and public utility societies towards the expenses incurred by them in the provision of houses for the working classes and agricultural labourers, that is to say:—

• (a) in the case of houses to which this paragraph applies erected for the purpose of accommodating persons displaced by any operations of a local authority under the Housing of the Working Classes Acts—

• (i) forty per centum of the annual loan charges in respect of such houses over a period not exceeding fifteen years and thirty-three and one-third per centum of such annual loan charges over a subsequent continuous period not exceeding twenty-two years, if such houses each contain two or more separate tenements and are erected on land acquired under Part II of this Act as being land comprised in or surrounded by or adjoining a clearance area or land included in an improvement scheme made and confirmed under Part I of the Act of 1890 before the passing of this Act or with the consent of the Minister on any other land;

• (ii) thirty per centum of the annual loan charges in respect of such houses over a period not exceeding fifteen years and twenty per centum of such annual loan charges over a subsequent continuous period not exceeding fifteen years, if such houses each contain only one tenement;

• (b) in the case of houses to which this paragraph applies which have not been erected for the purpose specified in paragraph (a) hereof twenty per centum of the annual loan charges in respect of such houses over a period not exceeding thirteen years and fifteen per centum of the annual loan charges over a subsequent continuous period not exceeding five years;

• (c) in the case of houses to which this paragraph applies which have not been erected for the purpose specified in paragraph (a) hereof and are not houses to which paragraph (b) applies, fifteen per centum of the annual loan charges in respect of such houses over a period not exceeding twenty years;

• (d) in the case of houses erected by a local authority under the Labourers (Ireland) Acts, 1883 to 1930, after the passing of this Act for the accommodation of agricultural labourers, twenty per centum of the annual loan charges in respect of such houses over a period not exceeding thirty five years;

• (e) in the case of houses erected by a public utility society the erection of which is begun after the passing of this Act, fifteen per centum of the annual loan charges in respect of such houses over a period not exceeding twenty years.

• (2) The foregoing sub-section shall subject to the provisions therein contained apply as follows:—

• (a) Paragraph (a) thereof shall apply to houses erected by a local authority under Part III of the Act of 1890 as amended by any subsequent Act, including this Act—

• (i) which are erected under housing schemes the loans in respect of which have been sanctioned by the Minister after the 1st day of April, 1931, and before the passing of this Act; or

• (ii) the erection of which is begun and completed after the passing of this Act;

• (b) Paragraph (b) thereof shall apply to houses erected by a local authority under Part III of the Act of 1890, as amended as aforesaid under housing schemes the loans in respect of which have been sanctioned by the Minister during the period between the 1st day of April, 1931, and the passing of this Act;

• (c) Paragraph (c) thereof shall apply to houses erected by a local authority under Part III of the Act of 1890, as amended as aforesaid, the erection of which is begun and completed after the passing of this Act.

• (3) The Minister shall not make any contribution under this section towards the expenses incurred by local authorities or public utility societies in the erection of any houses in respect of which grants have been or undertaken to be paid by him under the Housing Acts, 1925 to 1930.

• (4) Where a local authority under section 8 of the Housing (Ireland) Act, 1919, as amended by this Act, acquire any house which is suitable or might be made suitable as a house for the working classes for the purpose of the lease or sale thereof to a philanthropic society or body of persons approved of by the Minister with a view to its being maintained or made suitable by such society or body of persons as a house for the working classes, the Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, out of monies to be provided by the Oireachtas, subject to a maximum of two hundred pounds, make a grant of a sum not exceeding one half of the expenses incurred by the local authority in the acquisition of such house and one half of any expenses incurred by such local authority or such society or body of persons in altering, enlarging, improving or repairing such house, if such expenses in so far as they are incurred by a local authority are defrayed otherwise than out of borrowed monies.

• (5) Regulations shall be made by the Minister with the approval of the Minister for Finance regulating and imposing conditions and restrictions with respect to the making of contributions and grants under this section and any such regulations may prescribe the maximum rate of interest and the maximum of any loan for the purpose of limiting the amount of contribution based on annual loan charges.

• (6) In this section the expression “annual loan charges” means the sums payable by a local authority or public utility society as the case may be in a local financial year in repayment of any loan (including interest charges) borrowed by such authority or society for the purposes of the provision of houses to which this section applies and includes any sums payable to a sinking fund, redemption fund or other like fund established for the repayment of any such loan, and the expression “public utility society” has the same meaning as in the Housing (Ireland) Act, 1919.

65 Remission of rates on small dwelling houses.

65.—(1) A local authority having power to levy rates shall in every of the seven local financial years after the valuation for rating of a dwelling house to which this section applies remit two-thirds of the rates leviable in respect of that house in that year by the local authority.

• (2) This section applies to any dwelling house the erection of which is begun and completed after the passing of this Act, the floor area of which does not exceed 1,250 square feet but does not apply to any such house erected by a local authority under the Housing of the Working Classes Acts or the Labourers (Ireland) Acts, 1883 to 1919, as amended by this Act.

• (3) Section 12 of the Local Government Act, 1927 (No. 3 of 1927) and section 13 of the Housing (Gaeltacht) Act, 1929 (No. 41 of 1929) shall not apply to any dwelling house to which this section applies.

• (4) For the purposes of this section, the floor area of a dwelling house shall be computed in accordance with such rules as may be prescribed by the Minister.

66 Allocation of Irish Housing Fund.

66.—The sums liable to be paid or set apart by any local authority in respect of moneys borrowed by that authority for the purpose of the erection of houses under the provisions of the Housing of the Working Classes Acts, in respect of the expenses of the provision of which contributions are made by the Minister under this Act 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.

FIRST SCHEDULE Clearance Orders.

• (a) publish in one or more newspapers circulating within their district a notice in the prescribed form stating the fact of such order having been made and describing the area comprised therein and naming a place where a copy of the order and of the map referred to therein may be seen at all reasonable hours; and

• (b) serve on every owner, lessee and occupier (except tenants for a month or a less period than a month) of any building included in the area to which the order relates and so far as it is reasonably practicable to ascertain such persons, on every mortagee thereof, a notice in the prescribed form stating the effect of the order and that it is about to be submitted to the Minister for confirmation, and specifying the time within and the manner in which objections thereto can be made.

SECOND SCHEDULE. Compulsory Purchase Orders.

PART I.

Provisions applicable in the case of Compulsory Purchase Orders made for the purposes of this Act and subject to the modifications contained in Part II of this Schedule in the case of such Orders made for the purposes of Part III of the Act of 1890.

• (a) the Lands Clauses Acts (except sections one hundred and twenty-seven to one hundred and thirty-two of the Lands Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845) as amended by the provisions contained in the Second Schedule to the Act of 1890 and the Housing of the Working Classes Acts;

• (b) the Acquisition of Land (Assessment of Compensation) Act, 1919, as amended by the Acquisition of Land (Reference Committee) Act, 1925 (No. 22 of 1925).

• (i) The compensation shall be assessed in accordance with such of the provisions of the Housing of the Working Classes Acts relating to the assessment of compensation in respect of land purchased compulsorily as are applicable to the particular case;

• (ii) The arbitrator shall not take into account any building erected or any improvement or alteration made or any interest in land created after the date on which notice of the order having been made is published in accordance with the provisions of this Schedule if, in the opinion of the arbitrator, the erection of the building or the making of the improvement or alteration or the creation of the interest in respect of which a claim is made was not reasonably necessary and was carried out with a view to obtaining or increasing compensation.

• (a) publish in one or more newspapers circulating within their district a notice in the prescribed form stating the fact of such an order having been made and describing the area comprised therein and naming a place where a copy of the order and of the map referred to therein may be seen at all reasonable hours; and

• (b) serve on every owner, lessee and occupier (except tenants for a month or a less period than a month) of any land to which the order relates, and, so far as it is reasonably practicable to ascertain such persons, on every mortgagee thereof, a notice in the prescribed form stating the effect of the order and that it is about to be submitted to the Minister for confirmation, and specifying the time within and the manner in which objections thereto can be made.

Provided that—

• (a) the Minister may require any person who has made an objection to state in writing the grounds thereof, and may confirm the order without causing a public local inquiry to be held if he is satisfied that every objection duly made relates exclusively to matters which can be dealt with by the arbitrator by whom the compensation is to be assessed;

• (b) the order as confirmed by the Minister shall not—

• (i) authorise the local authority to purchase compulsorily any land which the order would not have authorised them so to purchase if it had been confirmed without modification;

• (ii) authorise the authority to purchase as being land comprised in a clearance area any land shown in the original order as being outside that area;

• (c) if the Minister is of opinion that any land included by the local authority in a clearance area ought not to have been so included, he shall in confirming the order so modify it as to exclude that land for all purposes from the clearance area; but if in any such case he is of opinion that the land may properly be purchased by the authority under section seven of this Act, he shall further modify the order so as to authorise the local authority to purchase that land under the said section seven and not as being land comprised in the clearance area.

PART II

Modifications of Part I of this Schedule in the application thereof to Compulsory Purchase Orders made for the purposes of Part III of the Act of 1890.

The provisions contained in Part I of this Schedule shall apply to the making, submission and confirmation of compulsory purchase orders made for the purposes of Part III of the Act of 1890 subject to the following modifications, that is to say: paragraph 3, so much of paragraph 4 as requires the service of notices on mortgagees and the provisos (b) (ii) and (c) to paragraph 5 shall not apply.

THIRD SCHEDULE.

PART I.

Rules as to Assessment of Compensation applicable in the case of land comprised in a clearance area.

The arbitrator shall assess the compensation to be paid for the land, including any buildings thereon, as the value at the time the valuation is made of the land as a site cleared of buildings and available for development in accordance with the requirements of the building bye-laws for the time being in force in the district less such sum as shall be estimated to be the cost of clearing and levelling such land.

PART II.

Rules as to Assessment of Compensation applicable in the case of land purchased under Part II of this Act, not being land comprised in a Clearance Area.

Fourth schedule. MINOR AND CONSEQUENTIAL AMENDMENTS OF HOUSING ENACTMENTS.

Fifth Schedule. ENACTMENTS REPEALED.