Committee Reports > List of Committees > Dáil > 1926 > Select Committee of Land Bill (No. 2), 1926 > Report - Land Bill (No. 2), 1926

SCEIDEAL.

SCHEDULE.

SECTION 2.

1. Line 37, after the words “for his own use” to insert the words “provided that the income tax, if any, due in respect of the holding shall be deducted from such added sum on the distribution of the purchase money.”

SECTION 3.

2. In line 54, sub-section (3), after the word “Commission” to insert the words “as well as of that of any other person entitled to or having an interest in the timber on the holding.”

SECTION 4.

3. After sub-section (1) to insert the following sub-section and to renumber sub-sections (2), (3), and (4) accordingly:—

(2) Where a holding or part of a holding which is excluded from the operation of the Land Act, 1923, solely by reason or on account of its potential or actual value or utility as building ground, was at the passing of the said Act held by the tenant under a lease (other than a building lease), the tenant shall at the expiration of such lease, if in bona fide occupation of the holding or the part thereof so excluded as aforesaid, be deemed to be a tenant of a present ordinary tenancy from year to year at the rent or apportioned rent as the case may be, and subject to the conditions of his lease, so far as such conditions are applicable to a tenancy from year to year, although the lease may not have been existing at the passing of the Land Law (Ireland) Act, 1881.

4. To add the following sub-sections at the end of the section:—

(6) On the expiration of five years from the passing of this Act where any lands, which were at the passing of the Land Act, 1923, tenanted lands excepted from the provisions of sub-section (1) of section 24 of the said Act by reason or on account of their potential or actual value or utility as building ground, have not been resumed and utilized for building purposes during the said period, the Judicial Commissioner may order that the Land Act, 1923, shall apply to the whole or any part of the said lands and the provisions of the said Act shall apply thereto as from such date and subject to such conditions as the Judicial Commissioner may direct. Provided that no such order as aforesaid shall be made in respect of any lands if the landlord proves to the satisfaction of the Judicial Commissioner that the intends forthwith to resume the same (if not then resumed) with the definite purpose of utilizing them as building ground, and the Judicial Commissioner is satisfied that the lands will be utilized for building purposes within such further period of time as may be fixed by him.

Upon every application by a tenant for an order pursuant to this sub-section, the Judicial Commissioner shall have and may exercise the powers of sub-division and apportionment conferred on him by sub-section (1) of this section.

(7) During the aforesaid period of five years the tenant of the lands so excluded shall not be compelled to quit the same or any part thereof, except in consequence of the breach of some one or other of the conditions of his tenancy, unless the landlord is desirous of resuming the lands or part thereof for the immediate purpose of utilizing the same as building ground.

NEW SECTION.

5. To insert a new section before section 5 as follows:—

A holding shall not be excluded from the provisions of sub-section (1) of section 24 of the Land Act, 1923, by reason only of the fact that there is a mill building upon it, where it is proved to the satisfaction of the Land Commission that the building has ceased to be used as a mill, and where, having regard to all the circumstances of the case, the Land Commission consider that the holding is substantially agricultural or pastoral or partly agricultural or partly pastoral in character.

SECTION 6.

6. Line 8, to number the first paragraph (1).

7. Line 11, after the word “land” to insert the words “constituting or.”

8. Line 13, to omit the words “at the date of such purchase” and in lieu thereof to insert the words “before the first day of September, nineteen hundred and twenty-two.”

9. In line 25, to omit the words from “in this section” to the end of the paragraph.

10. In line 25, to insert after the word “aforesaid” the following proviso:—

“provided that this section shall not apply to (a) tenanted lands, where by reason of the extent and character of the lands the Land Commission are of opinion that the provisions of the Land Act, 1923, should not apply, or, (b) to tenanted lands vested in the Land Commission under any Act prior to the Land Act, 1923, so long as the fee-simple thereof remains vested in the Land Commission.”

11. In line 28, to number the paragraph (2).

NEW SECTION.

Payment in lieu of rent where particulars of a holding are furnished after the date of this Act.

12. To insert before section 7 a new section as follows:—

Where the particulars prescribed by section 22 of the Land Act, 1923, in respect of a holding to which that Act applies have not been furnished to the Land Commission prior to the passing of this Act and such particulars are furnished after the passing of this Act, then the provisions of section 20 of the Land Act, 1923, shall apply to the holding from the gale day next preceding the date on which such particulars are furnished to the Land Commission, from which gale day the liability of the tenant for payment in lieu of rent and of the Land Commission for payment of the sum equivalent to the sum to be collected as payment in lieu of rent pursuant to section 20 of the Land Act, 1923, shall commence; provided that the rent payable by the tenant from the gale day next preceding the passing of the Land Act, 1923, shall be reduced by 25 per cent. and that nothing in this section shall alter the mutual rights and liabilities of landlord and tenant under section 19 of the said Act.

NEW SECTION.

13. To insert before section 7 a new section as follows:—

Restitution of possession in certain cases.

Where, in the case of a holding to which the provisions of the Land Act, 1923, are by this Act made applicable, the tenant of such holding has been ejected at any time since the gale day next preceding the 16th day of June, 1926, such tenant shall, on payment to the landlord of two years’ rent or such less sum as may be due in respect of arrears of rent together with the landlord’s costs of the ejectment proceedings, be entitled to be reinstated in his holding as if a writ of restitution had been applied for and obtained by him under Section Seventy-One of the Landlord and Tenant Act (Ireland) 1860.

14. That the Land Act, 1923, shall be amended to make provision for the reinstatement on their holdings of bona fide evicted tenants who were evicted in the days of the Plan of Campaign and whose holdings are now in possession of the respective original landlords or their successors or other persons.

SECTION 7.

15. Line 37, after the word “provided” to insert the words “to be the average annual drainage maintenance rate payable in respect of the holding.”

16. Line 42, to delete sub-section (2) and substitute therefor the following sub-section:—

(2) The average annual drainage maintenance rate payable in respect of the holding shall be ascertained by taking for each of the last five years preceding the passing of this Act in which a drainage maintenance rate was levied by the drainage trustees of the arterial drainage district in which the holding is situate the decimal proportion applicable to the holding of the total drainage maintenance rate levied for such year: provided that if five rates have not been struck during the period of ten years next preceding the passing of this Act the average annual drainage maintenance rate shall be ascertained and determined by the Land Commission in such other manner as they may think fit.

SECTION 9.

17. Line 9, after the words “such holding” to insert the words “or if he be then dead in his personal representatives.”

18. Line 51, after sub-section (3), to insert the following sub-sections, and re-number sub-section (4) as sub-section (6):—

(4) Every holding vested in the tenant thereof on the appointed day pursuant to the provisions of this section shall be deemed to be registered land within the meaning of section 19 (1) of the Local Registration of Title (Ireland) Act, 1891, and subject to the provisions of that Act as from the beginning of that day. The holding shall accordingly be exempt from the provisions of the Acts relating to the Registry of Deeds as from the beginning of the appointed day, and registration thereof shall be completed in the Land Registry as of that day, and all deeds or documents dealing therewith shall on and after that day be lodged in the Land Registry.

(5) The memorial of the registration required to be given to the Registrar of Deeds by sub-section (4) of section 19 of the Local Registration of Title (Ireland) Act, 1891, shall be a copy of the Final List.

SECTION 13.

19. Line 41, sub-section (3) after the words “fund and” to insert the following words “shall be raised by means of the poor rate as a county-at-large charge. Such expenditure.”

20. Line 45, to delete the word “raised” and substitute therefor the word “reimbursed.”

SECTION 16.

21. Line 34, after the word “re-sale” to insert the words “and disposal of the purchase annuities arising thereon.”

SECTION 17.

22. Line 63, to delete sub-section (4) and substitute therefor the following sub-section:—

“(4) a certificate purporting to be under the common seal of the Land Commission shall be evidence that every sum stated therein to be due to them is so due, and is payable by the person or persons named in such certificate as being liable therefor.”

NEW SECTION.

23. To insert before section 18 a new section as follows:—

Provisions making the proceeds of lettings available to satisfy claims of the Land Commission.

Where lands, in respect of which purchase annuities, rents, interest in lieu of rent, interest on purchase money, compounded arrears of rent or payments in lieu of rent are payable to the Land Commission, are let in conacre or otherwise by or on behalf of the proprietor or tenant, the annuities, rents, interest in lieu of rent, interest on purchase money, compounded arrears of rent and payment in lieu of rent, so payable as aforesaid, shall be a first charge on the proceeds of such lettings, and it shall be the duty of the person receiving such proceeds, after deducting his proper and necessary fees and expenses, to apply the proceeds, so far as required, in satisfaction of the claim of the Land Commission for moneys due to them on account of the said payments. All moneys so due to the Land Commission, and not properly accounted for, shall be recoverable by the Land Commission from the person who has received the proceeds of such lettings as a debt due by him to the State. Provided that nothing in this section shall affect the right of the Land Commission to exercise any other powers that they have for the recovery of the balance of any debt not recovered under the provisions of this section.

SECTION 18.

24. Line 6, to omit the words “circuit court or civil bill.”

NEW SECTION.

25. To insert before section 20 a new section as follows:—

Provisions as to the sale of holdings by the Land Commission by private contract.

Where the Land Commission is entitled to cause a holding to be sold, they may, if they deem it expedient, and whether the holding is situated in a congested district or not, sell it by private contract, either as one holding or in lots, at such price or prices as the Commissioners, other than the Judicial Commissioner, shall consider to represent the selling value having regard to the conditions of the district in which the holding is situate, and all the circumstances of the case. The certificate of the Land Commission that the price realised on any such sale is adequate shall be binding and conclusive on all parties.

NEW SECTION.

26. To insert before section 20 a new section as follows:

Notice of intended sales.

Notice of every intended sale by the Land Commission, either by public auction or by private contract, of a holding which they are entitled to cause to be sold shall be published in Iris Oifigiúil at least ten days before the sale, and the Land Commission shall transmit a copy of the said Notice to the person who appears to them to be the owner or the tenant of the holding by registered post addressed to him at the holding.

SECTION 21.

27. Line 55, after the word “have” to insert the words “at any time whether before or after the passing of this Act.”

28. Line 58, after the word “order” to insert the words “under this section.”

NEW SECTION.

29. To insert before section 23 a new section as follows:—

Labourers’ cottages.

(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in section 7 of the Labourers (Ireland) Act, 1896, any Local Authority in whom is vested any cottage erected or acquired under the Labourers (Ireland) Acts, 1883 to 1919, which has ceased to be required for the purposes of those Acts, may, with the sanction of the Minister for Local Government and Public Health and subject to such conditions as he may prescribe, sell such cottage together with the land attached thereto to the Land Commission for a price payable in 4½% Land Bonds.

(2) The annual income from the Land Bonds or if such bonds are sold with the consent of the Minister for Local Government and Public Health or are redeemed, then the capital sum arising from such sale or redemption shall be applied towards the repayment of any moneys borrowed and outstanding in respect of the improvement scheme in pursuance of which such cottage with any land attached thereto was provided, and if no such moneys are outstanding the annual income or the proceeds of sale or redemption of Land Bonds as the case may be, shall be carried to the credit of the rate or fund out of which expenses under the Labourers (Ireland) Acts are defrayed.

NEW SECTION.

30. To insert before section 24 a new section as follows:—

Provisions as fishing rights.

Regulations made by the Minister for Lands and Agriculture may provide for the sale by the Land Commission to tenant purchasers of fishing rights in any rivers or waters adjoining or intersecting the holdings purchased by them at such price repayable by means of purchase annuities as the Land Commission may consider reasonable, such annuities to be consolidated with the standard purchase annuities of the holdings.

31. After sub-section (3) to add the following sub-section:—

“(4) Regulations made by the Land Commission with respect to turbary remaining vested in them under this section may, if they think fit, provide for the payment by the persons authorised by them to cut turf on a holding under such regulations to the purchaser of the holding of such sums by way of turbary rents as the Land Commission may deem reasonable.”

SECTION 24.

32. Line 17. To insert after the word “purchased” the words “and are of opinion that undertakings can be obtained from such persons or others to purchase the lands at prices and on terms and conditions approved of by them.”

33. To delete sub-section (4) and substitute therefor the following sub-section:—

“(4) From the date of the purchase of the lands by the Land Commission interest at the rate of 4½ per cent. per annum and sinking fund at the rate of one quarter of one per cent. per annum upon so much of the purchase money, as the Land Commission shall certify each half year represents the difference between the total amount of the advance made for the purchase of the lands and the total prices paid or agreed to be paid by purchasers of the lands from the Land Commission shall, subject to the approval of the Minister for Finance, be paid to the Land Commission out of moneys to be provided by the Oireachtas.”

NEW SECTION.

34. To insert before section 25 a new section as follows:—

Fee Farm grants: renewable leases and leases for long terms.

(1) The owner of a parcel of untenanted land situate in a non-congested districts county, which is held under a fee farm grant, lease for lives or years renewable for ever, or lease for a term of years of which sixty or more were unexpired at the date of the passing of the Land Act, 1923, may apply to the Land Commission for an order declaring that the parcel shall vest in the Land Commission on the appointed day in like manner as if the parcel were situate in a congested districts county.

(2) Where an application is made to the Land Commission for a declaration pursuant to the last preceding sub-section and it is proved to the satisfaction of the Land Commission:

(a) that the applicant is in bona fide occupation of the parcel of untenanted land and uses and cultivates the same as an ordinary farmer in accordance with proper methods of husbandry; and

(b) that the rent payable by the applicant in respect of the parcel of untenanted land is equal to or exceeds what in the opinion of the Land Commission would have been the fair rent of the lands comprised in the parcel if the same had at the passing of the Land Act, 1923, constituted a holding held by the applicant as a statutory tenant thereof subject to a third term judicial rent; and

(c) that the applicant is willing to repurchase and that the parcel should be resold to the applicant

the Land Commission may, unless in their opinion it ought to be retained for improvement or enlargement or for utilization in connection with the relief of congestion, by order declare that the parcel of untenanted land shall vest in the Land Commission on the appointed day and the provisions of the Land Act, 1923, shall apply to such parcel in like manner and with the like consequences as if the parcel were situate in a congested districts county.

NEW SECTION.

35. To insert before section 25 a new section as follows:—

Amendment of section 38 of the Land Act, 1923.

Section 38 of the Land Act, 1923 shall have effect as though at the end thereof the following words were added:—

Provided that the redemption price fixed by the Judicial Commissioner shall in no case exceed the standard price fixed for tenanted land of similar character as agricultural land in same neighbourhood as based on sub-section 1 of section 25 of the Land Act, 1923.

SECTION 28.

36. To delete clauses (b) and (c) and substitute therefor the the following clause:—

“(b) from the date of the declaration interest at the rate of 4½ per cent. per annum and sinking fund at the rate of one quarter of one per cent. per annum upon so much of the purchase money as the Land Commission shall certify each half year should not be a charge on the lands shall, subject to the approval of the Minister for Finance, be paid to the Land Commission out of moneys to be provided by the Oireachtas.”

SECTION 30.

37. Line 51. After the word “pursuance” to delete the word “to” and substitute the word “of.”

SECTION 31.

38. Line 10. To delete sub-section (1) and to substitute therefor the following sub-section:—

“(1) Where any land subject to a rent charge created under section 14 of the Shannon Electricity Act 1925 is sold under the Land Purchase Acts the rent charge shall not be redeemed out of the purchase money of the land on the sale thereof under the said Acts, but such lands shall continue to be subject thereto notwithstanding any provision of the Land Purchase Acts or any Vesting Order made thereunder.”

NEW SECTION.

39. To insert before section 33 a new section as follows:—

Payments to personal representatives of agents.

Any payment which may be made to an Agent under sub-section (8) of section 40 of the Land Act 1923 may be made to the personal representative of such agent, in the event of his death before the allocation of the purchase money.

NEW SECTION.

40. To insert before section 33 a new section as follows:—

Registration to be compulsory in certain cases.

Registration under the Local Registration of Title (Ireland) Act 1891 of the ownership of freehold land shall be compulsory in the following cases, that is to say:—

(a) Where the land has been at any time sold and conveyed to or vested in a purchaser under any of the provisions of the Purchase of Land (Ireland) Acts and the purchase annuity has been redeemed before lodgment of the application for first registration:

(b) Where the land has been vested by the Land Commission in a purchaser for cash: and

(c) Where any rent formerly issuing out of the land has been redeemed under section 38 of the Land Act, 1923:

and the provisions of the Local Registration of Title (Ireland) Act 1891 relating to freehold lands, the registration of the ownership of which is by that Act declared to be compulsory shall apply to such cases.

NEW SECTION.

Vesting of holdings of tenants of the Land Commission.

41. To insert before section 33 a new section as follows:—

(1) If the tenant of any holding on an Estate purchased by the Congested Districts Board refuses to enter into an agreement for the purchase of the holding, or of a new holding consisting of part of the original holding, or of a new holding consisting of the whole or part of the original holding and other land upon the terms offered by the Land Commission and at the price which they are prepared to advance, then, notwithstanding that the tenants on the Estate to the extent of three-fourths in number and rateable value may not have agreed to purchase their respective holdings, the Land Commission (other than the Judicial Commissioner) may, after serving notice upon the tenant and considering any objections made by him, make an Order declaring him to be the purchaser of the original or new holding as the case may be for such price and upon such terms and conditions as may be specified in the Order, and the tenant shall thereupon be deemed to have entered into a Purchase Agreement on the date named in the Order for the purchase of the original or new holding as the case may be for the price, and upon the terms and conditions so specified, and the purchase shall be completed accordingly.

(2) An appeal shall lie from any Order under this section to the Judicial Commissioner who shall have power to reverse or confirm the Order or to make any Order which might have been made by the Land Commission.

NEW SECTION.

Amendment of section 65 (2) of the Land Act, 1923.

42. To insert before section 33 a new section as follows:—

Sub-section (2) of section 65 of the Land Act, 1923, shall be amended to read as follows—

(2) (a) In the case of any holding which is subject to any charges in respect of an annuity in favour of the Board of Works created in pursuance of the Landlord and Tenant (Ireland) Act 1870 so much of the 44th and 45th sections of the said Act as prohibits, without the consent of the Board, the alienation, assignment, sub-division or sub-letting of a holding charged as in the said sections mentioned and declares that, in the event of such prohibition being contravened, the holding shall be forfeited to the Board, and also so much of section 2 of the Landlord and Tenant (Ireland) Act, 1872, as relates to the sale of holdings in lieu of forfeiture, shall be repealed. During such time as any part of the annuity charged on such holding remains unpaid the proprietor thereof shall not sub-divide or let the holding without the consent of the Commissioners of Public Works, and every attempted sub-division or letting in contravention of this provision shall be void as against all persons, and on any such contravention the Commissioners may, at their option, declare that the holding do vest in themselves, or they may cause it to be sold and the Land Commission shall on the application of the Commissioners issue an order to the Under-Sheriff to put the purchaser into possession of the holding or any part thereof so sold, and such order shall when delivered to the Under-Sheriff be executed by him in like manner as a writ for delivery of possession. An order for possession issued under this section shall be deemed to be an execution order within the meaning of the Enforcement of Court Orders Act, 1920.

(b) The proceeds derived from every such sale shall in the first instance be applied by the Commissioners in payment of any moneys due on foot of the annuity, and in redemption of so much of the said annuity as shall at the time of such sale remain charged on the holding and of all costs and expenses incurred by them in relation to such sale or otherwise in respect of the said holding and the balance shall be paid to the person entitled by law to receive the same.