Landlord and Tenant (Ground Rents) Act , 1967

1 Commencement.

1.—This Act shall come into operation on such day as may be appointed by order of the Minister.

2 Interpretation.

2.—(1) In this Act—

“the Act of 1931” means the Landlord and Tenant Act, 1931;

“the Act of 1958” means the Landlord and Tenant (Reversionary Leases) Act, 1958;

“building lease” has the meaning assigned to it by section 4 of the Act of 1958;

“business” means any trade, profession or business, whether carried on for gain or reward or not, and the public service and “used for the purposes of business” means used wholly or in part for the purposes of business;

“the Court” means the Circuit Court;

“development” has the meaning assigned to it by the Local Government (Planning and Development) Act, 1963;

“fee simple” does not include the interest in land of a person holding the land under a fee farm grant;

“immediate lessor”, in relation to a lessee or yearly tenant, means the person for the time being entitled to the next superior interest in the land held by the lessee or tenant, as the case may be;

“lessee” shall, where the context so admits, be construed as including the personal representatives and successors in title of the lessee;

“lessor” shall, where the context so admits, be construed as including the personal representatives and successors in title of the lessor;

“the Minister” means the Minister for Justice;

“planning authority” has the meaning assigned to it by the Local Government (Planning and Development) Act, 1963;

“prescribed” means prescribed by regulations made by the Minister under this Act and cognate words shall be construed accordingly;

“proprietary lease” has the meaning assigned to it by section 7 of the Act of 1958;

“superior lessor”, in relation to a lessee or yearly tenant, means any person entitled to an interest in the land held by the lessee or tenant superior to the interest of the person from whom the lessee or tenant holds the land.

(2) References in this Act to a covenant, condition or agreement in a lease include references to a reservation, stipulation or proviso or to any other similar provision in the lease.

(3) References in this Act to the county registrar for the area in which any land is situate shall, where the land is situate in theareas of two or more county registrars, be construed as references to the county registrar for the area in which the larger or largest portion of the land is situate.

(4) References in this Act to any enactment shall be construed as references to that enactment as amended by any subsequent enactment.

3 General right to acquire fee simple.

3.—(1) A person who, as respects any land, is a person to whom this section applies, shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, have the right as incident to his existing interest in the land to enlarge that interest into a fee simple, and for that purpose to acquire by purchase the fee simple in the land and any intermediate interests therein.

(2) Subject to the subsequent provisions of this section, this section applies, as respects any land, to the following persons:

(a) a person holding the land under a building lease, whether granted before or after the commencement of this Act,

(b) a person holding the land under a proprietary lease, whether granted before or after the commencement of this Act,

(c) a person who held the land under—

(i) a building lease which has expired, or

(ii) a proprietary lease which has expired,

and who is entitled to be granted a reversionary lease of the land under the Act of 1958, and

(d) in case the land is a tenement, within the meaning of the Act of 1931—

(i) a person occupying the land under a lease for a term of not less than ninety-nine years which will not expire within twenty-five years after the date of the service by the person of a notice under section 4 of this Act in relation to the land and which reserves a yearly rent (whether redeemed at any time or not) of an amount that is less than the amount of the rateable valuation of the land at the commencement of this Act,

and

(ii) a person who, or whose predecessors in title, has or have been continuously in occupation of the land as yearly tenants during the whole of the period of twenty-five years next preceding the date of the service by the person of a notice under section 4 of this Act in relation to the land at a yearly rent of an amount that, at the date of the service of the notice aforesaid, is less than the amount of the rateable valuation of the land at that date.

(3) The references in subsection (2) of this section to a building lease and a proprietary lease do not include references to—

(i) a lease of land which is used for the purposes of business or includes a building divided into not less than four separate and self-contained flats, being a lease which contains provisions enabling the amount of the rent reserved by the lease to be altered within twenty-six years from the commencement of the lease (not being provisions enabling such rent to be altered once only and within five years from such commencement or upon the erection after such commencement of any buildings upon the land or upon the breach of a covenant, condition or agreement in the lease),

(ii) a lease granted before the commencement of this Act of land which is used for the purposes of business, being a lease which contains provisions requiring the lessee to carry on business on the land which is restricted in whole or in part to dealing in commodities produced or supplied by the lessor,

(iii) a lease of land containing a covenant, condition or agreement by the lessee to erect a building or buildings or carry out development on the land if and so long as the covenant, condition or agreement has not been fully complied with,

(iv) a lease made by the Commissioners of Irish Lights, or

(v) a lease made by a harbour authority, within the meaning of the Harbours Act, 1946, as lessor, whether before or after the passing of that Act.

(4) This section does not apply, as respects any land, to a person who—

(a) has been declared, by virtue of subsection (1) of section 15 of the Act of 1958, not to be entitled to a reversionary lease of the land under that Act on the expiration of a building or proprietary lease and is in possession of the land under the building or proprietary lease or by virtue of subsection (2) of that section,

(b) occupies that land as lessee under a lease of the kind specified in paragraph (d) of subsection (2) of this section or as a yearly tenant if the buildings on the land were not erected by the person while in occupation of the land or by another person while in occupation of the land as lessee or tenant, but it shall be presumed until the contrary is shown that the buildings were so erected.

(5) (a) The inclusion in the certificate signed by or on behalf of the Commissioner of Valuation on an extract from the Valuation List issued pursuant to section 9 of the Annual Revision of Rateable Property (Ireland) Amendment Act, 1860, of a statement that a valuation shown in the extract is the rateable valuation obtaining on a date specified in the certificate shall be prima facie evidence, for the purposes of paragraph (d) of subsection (2) of this section, of that fact.

(b) Where land demised by a lease or held on a yearly tenancy does not on a particular date bear a separate rateable valuation, the Commissioner of Valuation shall have power for the purposes of this subsection to apportion the rateable valuation or valuations of the properties in which the land was comprised on that date and to charge a fee for the apportionment. Every such fee shall be determined, accounted for and applied in the same manner as the fees charged by the Commissioner pursuant to the said section 9.

(6) Where—

(a) a building lease or a proprietary lease expired within five years before the commencement of this Act,

(b) the person who held the land to which the lease related under the lease is, at such commencement, in possessionof that land under a yearly tenancy arising by implication from the acts of the parties or as a tenant at will or without obtaining a new tenancy, and

(c) no person is, immediately before such commencement, entitled to be granted a reversionary lease under the Act of 1958,

the person shall, during the twelve months immediately after the commencement of this Act, have the same rights in relation to the acquisition of the fee simple in the land under this Act as he would have if he were entitled to be granted a reversionary lease of the land under the Act of 1958.

4 Notice of intention to acquire fee simple.

4.—A person who proposes to acquire the fee simple in land by virtue of this Act shall serve a notice in the prescribed form upon each of the following persons who can be found and ascertained, that is to say, the person who is for the time being entitled to the next superior interest in the land, every (if any) person who is, in relation to the land, the superior lessor of the person so proposing and every (if any) person who is the owner of an incumbrance thereon.

5 Procedure in relation to acquisition of fee simple.

5.—(1) (a) A person holding land under a building lease shall not be entitled to acquire the fee simple in the whole of the land under this Act unless he obtains the consent to the acquisition of every (if any) person holding the land or any of it under a proprietary lease.

(b) A person holding land under a building lease shall not be entitled to acquire the fee simple in part of the land under this Act unless—

(i) he obtains the consent to the acquisition of every (if any) person holding the part or any of it under a proprietary lease, and

(ii) he excludes, from the notice or notices under section 4 of this Act in relation to the part, the remainder of the land.

(2) (a) A person holding land under a proprietary lease shall not be entitled to acquire the fee simple in the whole of the land under this Act unless he obtains the consent to the acquisition of every (if any) person holding the land or any of it under a sublease which is itself a proprietary lease.

(b) A person holding land under a proprietary lease shall not be entitled to acquire the fee simple in part of the land under this Act unless—

(i) he obtains the consent to the acquisition of every (if any) person holding the part or any of it under a sublease which is itself a proprietary lease, and

(ii) he excludes, from the notice under section 4 of this Act in relation to the part, the remainder of the land.

(3) A person who is entitled to acquire under this Act the fee simple in land held by him under a lease shall be entitled to have the rent payable by him in respect of the land and any other land held under the same lease apportioned under this Act between the land the fee simple in which he is acquiring and the other land.

6 Conveyance of fee simple.

6.—(1) Where, in relation to land the fee simple in which is proposed to be acquired by a person under this Act, a notice under section 4 of this Act is served, the person by whom it is served and the person upon whom it is served shall, without unreasonable delay, take all necessary steps to effect a conveyance free from incumbrances of the fee simple and any intermediate interests in the land to the person proposing to acquire the fee simple.

(2) In subsection (1) of this section “incumbrances” does not include a mortgage or charge on the interest of the person proposing to acquire the fee simple, and, upon conveyance of the fee simple in land to a person who is acquiring the fee simple therein under this Act and whose previous interest in the land was subject to such a mortgage or charge, the mortgage or charge shall, if it has not been extinguished, be deemed to be a mortgage or charge on the fee simple in the land.

7 Notice requiring information.

7.—(1) For the purpose of securing the joinder of all necessary parties in the conveyance of the fee simple in land to a person entitled to acquire it under this Act, the person may—

(a) serve a notice in the prescribed form upon his immediate lessor in relation to the land requiring information as to the nature and duration of his reversion in the land and the existence and nature of any incumbrance thereon, the name and address of the person for the time being entitled to the next superior interest in theland and of the owner of any such incumbranee and any other information reasonably necessary for the purpose aforesaid, and

(b) serve a similar notice upon each other person having a superior interest in the land.

(2) Where a person upon whom a notice may be served under subsection (1) of this section in relation to land cannot be found or ascertained, a notice in the prescribed form may be served upon the person receiving the rent in respect of the land requiring the name and address of the person to whom the rent is paid by the person upon whom the notice is served and any other information reasonably necessary for the purpose specified in subsection (1) of this section.

(3) A person upon whom a notice is served under this section shall, within one month of such service, give so much of the information required by the notice as is within his possession or procurement to the person by whom the notice is served.

8 Provisions in relation to parties to conveyance of fee simple.

8.—(1) Where a person who is required by this Act to convey or join in the conveyance of the fee simple in land is, by reason of having a fiduciary capacity or a limited estate or by reason of restrictive covenants in the lease under which he holds, incapable in law of conveying or joining in (as the case may be) the conveyance of the fee simple, the county registrar for the area in which the land is situate may, on the application of any person concerned, empower the person so required to convey or join in conveying (as the case may be) the fee simple.

(2) Where a person who is required by this Act to convey or join in conveying the fee simple in land is an infant or a person of unsound mind, or cannot be found or refuses or fails to execute such conveyance, the county registrar for the area in which the land is situate may, on the application of any person concerned, appoint an officer of the Court to execute such conveyance for and in the name of the person so required and thereupon the execution of such conveyance by such officer for and in the name of such person shall for all purposes be as effectual as the execution thereof by such person.

(3) Where any person who is required by this Act to convey or join in conveying the fee simple in land is unknown or unascertained, the county registrar for the area in which the land is situate may, on the application of the person entitled under this Act to acquire the fee simple, appoint any person who is receiving the rent in respect of the interest in the land of the person so entitled, or such other person as the county registrar may think fit to appoint, to represent such unknown or unascertained person in all proceedings in connection with the conveyance of the fee simple in the land, and may, at the same time or subsequently, appoint an officer of the Court to execute such conveyance for and on behalf of the person so required and unknown or unascertained and thereupon the execution of such conveyance by such officer for and on behalf of such person shall for all purposes be as effectual as the execution thereof by such unknown or unascertained person.

(4) Where under subsection (2) or (3) of this section, a county registrar appoints a person to execute, or join in the execution of, a conveyance of the fee simple in land for and in the name of or for and on behalf of any person, the county registrar may order that the purchase money payable to that person in consideration of the conveyance of his interest in the land be paid into Court before the execution of the conveyance and, upon such payment, any estate, right or interest in or claim against the land of that person existing at the time of such payment shall be transferred and shall attach to the money and the Court may make such order, or give such direction, for the disbursement and distribution of the money and any interest or dividends thereon, as it may deem proper.

(5) Where a person upon whom a notice under section 4 of this Act in relation to land is required to be served cannot be found or ascertained, the person shall be deemed, for the purposes of this section, to be a person who is required by this Act to convey or join in conveying the fee simple in the land.

(6) A power conferred on a county registrar by this section or by section 14 of this Act shall be exercised in relation to an infant or a person of unsound mind who is a ward of court only by leave of the court of which he is a ward, and the power conferred on the Court by subsection (4) of this section shall be exercised in relation to any such ward who is a ward of the High Court in accordance with the directions of the High Court.

9 Liability for costs in relation to acquisition of fee simple.

9.—A person (in this section referred to as the applicant) who proposes to acquire the fee simple in land by virtue of this Act shall be liable for the payment of the reasonable costs and expenses actually and necessarily incurred in complying with the provisions of this Act by a person upon whom a notice under section 4 of this Act in relation to the land has been served but, if a notice under section 10 of this Act in relation to the land is served on the person, the applicant shall not be liable for the payment of any such costs or expenses incurred by the person after the service of the latter notice.

10 Power to discontinue acquisition of fee simple.

10.—Where a notice under section 4 of this Act in relation to land is served by a person, the person may, at any time before conveyance to him of the fee simple in the land, discontinue the acquisition of the fee simple by serving a notice in the prescribed form upon each person upon whom a notice under the said section 4 was served stating that he is withdrawing the said notice and does not intend to acquire the fee simple in the land.

11 General right to apportionment of rent.

11.—(1) Where land demised by a lease (being either a building lease or a proprietary lease) is held by more than one person each of whom is a lessee under a building lease or a proprietary lease, an assignee from any such lessee of part of such land or a successor in title of any such assignee and the rent reserved by the first-mentioned lease is being paid to the lessor by one only of the persons, that person shall be entitled to have the rent apportioned between the part of the land held by him and the part of the land held by each such other person who is liable for the payment of part of the rent to the person so entitled.

(2) Where a rent reserved by a lease is apportioned under this Act between different parts of the land demised by the lease—