Land Act , 1965

1 Definitions.

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

“congested area” has the meaning assigned to it by subsection (1) of section 4;

“the Minister” means the Minister for Lands;

“prescribed” means prescribed by the appropriate rules or regulations referred to in section 2;

“works” means any works whatsoever and includes any river, stream, natural or artificial watercourse, canal, drain, pond, lake or other area covered by water, and any natural or artificial bank or embankment;

every reference to a holding or land shall be construed as including a reference to part or parts of a holding or land and to a parcel of land in whole or in part and to an incorporeal hereditament in whole or in part;

every reference to purchase money shall be construed as including a reference to any redemption price of a superior interest, any resumption price, any compensation or any fund, and any residue of such redemption price, resumption price, compensation or fund, and any share in such redemption price, resumption price, compensation or fund, and any residue of such share.

2 Rules and regulations.

2.—(1) The power of making rules conferred by subsections (1) and (2) of section 3 of the Land Act, 1933, shall extend to and be exercisable for making rules for carrying into effect the provisions (other than provisions relating to land purchase finance) of this Act.

(2) The Minister for Finance may make rules and regulations for carrying into effect the provisions of this Act relating to land purchase finance and may by such rules and regulations adapt to the requirements of this Act any provisions relating to land purchase finance contained in any Act passed before this Act.

3 Payments and expenses.

3.—The payments made and expenses incurred by the Minister and by the Land Commission in giving effect to this Act and in the administration thereof shall, to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

4 Order declaring area to be a congested area.

4.—(1) Each of the following shall be a congested area for the purposes of this Act—

(a) a county or portion of a county specified in the Second Schedule to this Act;

(b) such other area as may from time to time be declared by order of the Minister to be a congested area.

(2) When making an order, under subsection (1) of this section, the Minister shall have regard to the size of the holdings, the quality of the land and the type or types of farming carried on in the area to be declared a congested area.

(3) The Minister may by order amend or revoke an order under subsection (1) of this section.

5 Advances for purchase of land by persons in congested areas.

5.—(1) The Land Commission may, in accordance with regulations under this section, make an advance to a qualified person in connection with the purchase by him of land.

(2) (a) The Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, make regulations for the purpose of giving effect to this section and any such regulations may include such supplemental or incidental provisions as appear to the Minister to be expedient.

(b) Regulations under this section may, in particular but without prejudice to the generality of paragraph (a) of this subsection, make provision in relation to all or any of the following matters—

(i) the charging of the advance on the land, whether by charging order made by the Land Commission or otherwise;

(ii) the obtaining by the Land Commission of security, whether by charge or otherwise, for an advance under this section;

(iii) the amount of an advance under this section;

(iv) the method of repayment of an advance under this section;

(v) the payment of interest on an advance under this section;

(vi) the payment by a qualified person to the Land Commission of a fee or fees for an inspection or inspections deemed necessary by the Land Commission in respect of an application for an advance under this section;

(vii) the application of such existing provisions in the Land Purchase Acts or the Land Reclamation Act, 1949, as the Minister deems necessary, relating to vesting of land and to the apportionment, consolidation, charging and recovery of advances under this section and the adaptation where necessary of references in such provisions.

(3) (a) Stamp duty shall not be chargeable on any instrument made for the purpose of this section.

(b) No fee or other payment shall be charged or imposed by the Registry of Deeds in respect of any document which is necessary for or in relation to an advance under this section.

(4) In this section—

“qualified person” means a person (including a joint owner or tenant in common) to whom in the opinion of the Land Commission an advance ought to be made and who is the tenant or proprietor of a holding which is—

(a) situate in a congested area,

(b) suitable, in the opinion of the Land Commission, for land settlement purposes, and

(c) agreed to be sold to the Land Commission within such period as is specified in regulations under this section.

6 Grant of life annuity under this Act.

6.—(1) Whenever a person (in this section referred to as the vendor) who is elderly, incapacitated or blind, sells an interest in land voluntarily to the Land Commission (whether such interest is held severally, jointly, or in common) the Land Commission may, at the option of the vendor, and in lieu of the payment in cash of the whole or part of the purchase price, grant to the vendor a life annuity in accordance with regulations under this section.

(2) A life annuity under this section shall be of such value as, on the date of the closing of the sale of the interest, is actuarially equivalent (in accordance with such tables as, on that date, stand approved of by the Minister for Finance for the purposes of this section) to the whole or part of the purchase price in lieu of the payment of which the life annuity is granted.

(3) In the case of a vendor who on the date of the closing of the sale is married and whose spouse (not being interested jointly or in common in the land) is alive on that date, an annuity under this Act shall be so calculated as to provide—

(a) an annuity (in this Act and any regulations under this section referred to as a primary annuity) payable until the death of either the vendor or the vendor's spouse, and

(b) an annuity (in this Act and any regulations under this section referred to as a secondary annuity) of an amount equal to one half of the amount of the primary annuity payable from the death of the vendor or the spouse of the vendor until the death of the surviving spouse.

(4) A vendor who on the date of the closing of the sale is unmarried or is a widower or widow may nominate a person who is a dependant of the vendor, and, if such nomination is approved by the Land Commission, subsection (3) of this section shall apply to the vendor and the dependant in the same manner as if the dependant were the spouse of the vendor.

(5) (a) The Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, make regulations for the purpose of giving effect to this section and any such regulations may include such supplemental or incidental provisions as appear to the Minister to be expedient.

(b) Regulations under this section may, in particular but without prejudice to the generality of paragraph (a) of this subsection, make provision in relation to all or any of the following matters—

(i) prescribing the class or classes of persons who for the purposes of this section shall be deemed to be elderly, incapacitated or blind;

(ii) the payment by the Land Commission of the vendor's costs and expenses incurred in relation to the sale of the interest to the Land Commission;

(iii) the minimum purchase price or part of a purchase price in respect of which the vendor may exercise the option mentioned in subsection (1) of this section;

(iv) the period within which the vendor shall exercise the said option (if any);

(v) the grant by the Land Commission of a right of residence in a dwellinghouse on the land to the vendor for the life of the vendor and thereafter to the surviving spouse or dependant (if any) of the vendor for the life of that spouse or dependant;

(vi) the conditions (if any) affecting such right of residence.

(c) Every regulation made under this section shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made.

(6) In this section—

“dependant” means, in relation to a vendor, a member of the family of the vendor who, on the date of the closing of the sale, is wholly or in part dependant on the earnings of the vendor;

“member of the family” means father, mother, step-father, step-mother, son, daughter, grandson, granddaughter, step-son, step-daughter, brother, sister, half-brother, half-sister, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece, first cousin, son-in-law or daughter-in-law and, in the case of a female vendor, her illegitimate child.

(7) In deducing any relationship for the purposes of this section, a person adopted under the Adoption Acts, 1952 and 1964, shall be considered the legitimate offspring of the adopter or adopters.

7 Payment of certain purchase annuities, etc., in full.

7.—(1) Whenever a payment to which this section applies becomes due to the Land Commission, such payment shall, notwithstanding anything contained in Part III of the Land Act, 1933, or in section 42 of the Land Act, 1939, be payable in full by the person or persons liable from time to time to make such payment.

(2) This section applies to a rent, annual and additional sum, purchase annuity, purchase money in cash, interest on purchase money and any other payment payable to the Land Commission in respect of land, or an incorporeal hereditament, not situate in a congested area, which either is sold by the Land Commission by public auction or private contract or is allotted under a scheme approved of by the Land Commission after the passing of this Act to a person referred to in paragraph (a) or paragraph (f) of subsection (1) of section 31 of the Land Act, 1923; provided however, that where, subsequent to the passing of this Act, the area in which such land is situate is declared by order of the Minister under subsection (1) of section 4 of this Act to be a congested area, this section shall not, as on and from the gale day next after the making of the order, apply to such land, and provided that this section shall not apply to a payment in respect of land or an incorporeal hereditament which the Land Commission (by reason of a default in the payment of any money, a breach of condition, or any other default) have either caused to be sold or have taken up or obtained possession of, and the purchase annuity or other payment in respect of which has been revised under Part III of the Land Act, 1933.

(3) A certificate under the common seal of the Land Commission certifying that a payment is in respect of land, or an incorporeal hereditament, mentioned in subsection (2) of this section shall be prima facie evidence of the fact so certified.

(4) The Land Commission shall have for the recovery of any payment referred to in this section the same remedies as they have for the recovery of unpaid instalments of purchase annuities.

8 Power of Lay Commissioners to summon witnesses.

8.—(1) For the removal of doubt, it is hereby enacted that the Lay Commissioners may for the purposes of such of their functions as may require a hearing do all or any of the following things—

(a) summon witnesses to attend before them,

(b) examine on oath (which any Lay Commissioner is hereby authorised to administer) witnesses attending before them,

(c) require any such witness to produce to them any document in his power or control.

(2) A witness before the Lay Commissioners at such a hearing shall be entitled to the same immunities and privileges as if he were a witness before the High Court.

(3) A summons shall be signed by at least one Lay Commissioner.

(4) If any person—

(a) on being duly summoned as a witness before the Lay Commissioners at such a hearing makes default in attending, or

(b) being in attendance as a witness at such a hearing refuses to take an oath legally required by the Lay Commissioners to be taken, or to produce any document in his power or control legally required by the Lay Commissioners to be produced by him, or to answer any question to which a Lay Commissioner may legally require an answer, or

(c) does any other thing which would, if the Lay Commissioners were a court of law having power to commit for contempt of court, be contempt of such court,

the Lay Commissioners may certify the offence of that person under the common seal of the Land Commission to the High Court and the High Court may, after such inquiry as it thinks proper to make, punish or take steps for the punishment of that person in like manner as if he had been guilty of contempt of the High Court.

9 Power of local authority to contribute to cost of certain works by Land Commission.

9.—(1) For the purpose of removal of doubt, it is hereby declared that a local authority has and always had power to make a payment to the Land Commission by way of contribution towards the cost of works carried out or proposed to be carried out by the Land Commission from which, on the completion of the works, the local authority has derived or is likely to derive a benefit.

(2) In this section “local authority” means a council of a county, a corporation of a county or other borough, a council of an urban district, or any other statutory body which may be concerned in works mentioned in subsection (1) of this section.

10 Exoneration of Minister for Lands and Land Commission from certain obligations and liabilities.

10.—(1) For the purpose of removal of doubt, it is hereby declared that, subject to subsection (2) of this section, nothing contained in or done under the Land Purchase Acts or any other enactment or any rule of law or any implied contract shall operate or be deemed ever to have operated to impose on the Minister for Lands or the Land Commission—

(a) any obligation to cleanse, maintain, repair or restore any works, or

(b) any liability in respect of an act or omission of an officer, servant or agent of the Minister or the Land Commission (not being a negligent act or omission) in relation to the construction, cleansing, maintenance, repair or restoration of any works, being an act or omission constituting a tort on or in relation to any land purchased or agreed to be purchased under the Land Purchase Acts or dealt with under the Irish Church Act, 1869, or the Irish Church Act Amendment Act, 1881, or the Congested Districts Board (Ireland) Acts, or on or in relation to any land adjoining such first-mentioned land.

(2) Where land is during any period in the sole and exclusive occupation of the Land Commission, subsection (1) of this section shall not operate to relieve the Land Commission during such period from—

(a) any obligation (however imposed or arising) to cleanse, maintain, or restore any works on that land, or

(b) any liability in respect of any act which was done, or omission which occurred, when carrying out the construction, cleansing, maintenance, repair or restoration of any works, being an act or omission constituting a tort on or in relation to that land or on or in relation to any land adjoining such first-mentioned land.

(3) The fact that the Land Commission has at any time or times constructed, cleansed, maintained, repaired or restored any works shall not, of itself, operate or be deemed ever to have operated to impose a liability on the Land Commission to cleanse, maintain, repair or restore such works.

11 Exemption of Land Commission from liability for certain rates.

11.—(1) Where in respect of any hereditament not being a hereditament consisting of land without a building or buildings thereon—

(a) the county rate or municipal rate in respect of the local financial year in which this Act is passed or any subsequent local financial year is made on the Land Commission, and

(b) the Land Commission certify under their common seal that the building or buildings comprised in the hereditament were unoccupied at the date of the making of the said rate,

the relevant rates shall not be payable by the Land Commission or by a subsequent occupier of the hereditament.

(2) Where, after the date of the making of the county rate or municipal rate, the building or buildings comprised in such a hereditament are occupied by an occupier other than the Land Commission during any period in the local financial year in which this Act is passed or any subsequent local financial year, a part of the relevant rates for such local financial year bearing to the whole of the said relevant rates the same proportion as that period bears to a year shall be payable by that occupier and shall be recoverable in the same manner as if he had been originally rated for such building or buildings and, in default of payment by him, shall be payable by and recoverable from any subsequent occupier of the building or buildings.

(3) In this section “relevant rates” means the rates (whether for county rate or municipal rate) payable in respect of any building or buildings comprised in a hereditament as respects which the Land Commission has certified in pursuance of subsection (1) of this section that the building or buildings were unoccupied at the date of the making of the county or municipal rate in respect of the hereditament.

12 Prohibition of letting, subletting or subdivision of certain holdings without consent of Land Commission.

12.—(1) An agricultural holding shall not be let, sublet or subdivided without the consent in writing of the Land Commission, and such consent may be either general or particular and may be subject to such conditions (if any) as the Land Commission think fit.

(2) The power of the Land Commission to withhold their consent under this section shall be exercised solely to prevent the creation or continuance of holdings which, in the opinion of the Land Commission, are not economic holdings.

(3) Any attempted or purported letting, subletting or subdivision in contravention of this section shall be null and void as against all persons; provided, however, that in any case where the consent of the Land Commission under this Act is given after the attempted or purported letting, subletting or subdivision, such consent shall, if the Land Commission so direct, so operate as to validate with retrospective effect such attempted or purported letting, subletting or subdivision.

(4) Subsection (1) of this section shall not apply to any holding which is not subject to purchase annuity or other payment payable to the Land Commission, and either—

(a) the whole of such holding is situate within the boundary of any county borough, borough, urban district or town, or