Labourers Act, 1936

Consolidation of cottage and holding subject to the Land Purchase Acts.

27.—(1) If the owner of any cottage which has been purchased from a board of health under this Act is or becomes also the registered owner under the Land Purchase Acts of a holding which is subject to a purchase annuity payable to the Irish Land Commission, the Irish Land Commission may make an order (in this section referred to as a consolidating order) declaring such cottage and such holding to be one holding for the purposes of the said Acts as on and from the date (in this section referred to as the date of consolidation) specified in that behalf in such order.

(2) Where a consolidating order has been made in relation to a cottage which is subject to an annuity (in this sub-section referred to as the cottage purchase annuity) payable to a board of health under this Act and a holding which is subject to a purchase annuity (in this sub-section referred to as the land purchase annuity) payable to the Irish Land Commission, then as on and from the date of consolidation specified in such order, the following provisions shall have effect, that is to say:—

(a) such cottage and such holding shall be deemed for the purposes of the Land Purchase Acts to be one holding (in this sub-section referred to as the consolidated holding), and the owner of such cottage and such holding shall for the said purposes be deemed to be the proprietor of the consolidated holding, and the conditions imposed by the said Acts on the proprietor of a holding for the purchase of which the Irish Land Commission have made an advance under the said Acts shall apply to such proprietor accordingly;

(b) the cottage purchase annuity and the land purchase annuity shall each continue to be payable as a separate annuity;

(c) the land purchase annuity and any unpaid arrears thereof accrued due before the said date of consolidation shall be charged on and recoverable out of the consolidated holding in the same manner and in the same priority as the land purchase annuity was immediately before the said date of consolidation charged on and recoverable out of the original holding;

(d) the following provisions shall apply in respect of the cottage purchase annuity, that is to say:—

(i) the cottage purchase annuity shall, in lieu of being paid to such board of health, be paid to the Irish Land Commission, and shall, unless previously redeemed under this paragraph, continue to be so paid until the expiration of the payment period in respect of such cottage,

(ii) the cottage purchase annuity shall be payable to the Irish Land Commission by equal half-yearly instalments on the gale days on which the land purchase annuity is or, in the case of the cesser of the land purchase annuity before the cottage purchase annuity, was payable, and the first instalment shall be payable on the first gale day after the said date of consolidation, subject however as follows:—

(I) if the period commencing on the said date of consolidation and ending immediately before the said first gale day is less than six months, the instalment payable on foot of the cottage purchase annuity on the said first gale day shall be reduced proportionately,

(II) if the payment period in respect of such cottage expires on a day other than a gale day, there shall be payable to the Irish Land Commission on foot of the cottage purchase annuity on the expiration of the said payment period an instalment which bears to the cottage purchase annuity the same proportion as the period commencing on the last gale day in the said payment period and ending at the expiration of the said payment period bears to one year,

(iii) the cottage purchase annuity shall be charged on the consolidated holding,

(iv) the cottage purchase annuity shall rank as a charge on the consolidated holding next in priority to the land purchase annuity,

(v) the cottage purchase annuity shall be deemed to be an annuity for the repayment of moneys advanced under the Land Purchase Acts for the purchase of a holding, and the Irish Land Commission shall have for the recovery of any unpaid instalments thereof the like remedies as they have for the recovery of unpaid instalments of a land purchase annuity,

(vi) all arrears of the cottage purchase annuity accrued due after the said date of consolidation shall be a charge on and made good out of the Guarantee Fund under the Land Purchase Acts under like arrangements as are applicable to arrears of land purchase annuities,

(vii) the cottage purchase annuity may be redeemed at any time by payment to the Irish Land Commission of such sum as, in the opinion of the Minister for Finance, represents the value of all the instalments thereof which have not then accrued due,

(viii) the cottage purchase annuity may be reduced by redemption of part thereof by payment to the Irish Land Commission of such sum as, in the opinion of the Minister for Finance, represents the value of that part of all the instalments thereof which have not then accrued due,

(ix) all moneys received by the Irish Land Commission in respect of instalments of the cottage purchase annuity shall be disposed of in such manner as the Minister for Finance shall direct,

(x) all moneys received by the Irish Land Commission in respect of the redemption of the cottage purchase annuity or any part thereof shall be paid by the Irish Land Commission to such board of health and applied by them in such manner as the Minister may direct;

(e) notwithstanding anything contained in the Land Purchase Acts, no part of the land purchase annuity shall be redeemable until the whole of the cottage purchase annuity is either redeemed or ceases to be payable;

(f) so long as both the cottage purchase annuity and the land purchase annuity continue to be payable, such annuities shall, for the purposes of the collection and recovery thereof, be deemed to be a consolidated annuity of an amount equal to the sum of the said two annuities;

(g) unless and until the cottage purchase annuity has been wholly redeemed, the Irish Land Commission shall, on every date subsequent to the said date of consolidation when, if such consolidating order had not been made, the owner of such cottage would have been liable to pay to such board of health an instalment of the cottage purchase annuity, be liable either to pay to such board of health or, if any debt is due to the Irish Land Commission by such board of health, to place to the credit of such board of health, the following amount, that is to say:—

(i) in case the cottage purchase annuity has not been reduced by redemption, an amount equal to the amount of such instalment,

(ii) in case the cottage purchase annuity has been reduced by redemption, an amount which bears to the amount of such instalment the same proportion as the cottage purchase annuity after such reduction bore to the cottage purchase annuity before such reduction;

(h) the following provisions shall have effect in relation to any arrears of the cottage purchase annuity which accrued due before the said date of consolidation—

(i) the Irish Land Commission shall not be liable to collect or pay to such board of health such arrears,

(ii) such arrears shall be recoverable by such board of health as a simple contract debt in a court of competent jurisdiction;

(i) every provision of this Act which—

(i) imposes on the owner of such cottage an obligation to pay to such board of health any instalment of the cottage purchase annuity, or

(ii) imposes on the owner of such cottage an obligation to comply with any statutory condition, or

(iii) confers any power or imposes any duty on such board of health in relation to cottages purchased under this Act, or

(iv) relates to restrictions on mortgaging and charging cottages,

shall, subject to the provisions of the immediately preceding paragraph, cease to have effect in relation to such owner or cottage, but without prejudice to the application of any provision of the Land Purchase Acts;

(j) no provision of this Act shall be construed as imposing any duty on the Irish Land Commission in relation to such cottage which is not imposed by the Land Purchase Acts as applied by this sub-section to the consolidated holding.