Landlord and Tenant (Ireland) Act, 1870

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Compensation in respect of improvements.

Exception of certain improvements.

Exception of certain tenancies.

4. [¹] Any tenant of a holding who is not entitled to compensation under sections one and two of this Act, or either of such sections, or if entitled does not make any claim under the said sections, or either of them, may on quitting his holding, and subject to the provisions of section three of this Act, claim compensation to be paid by the landlord under this section in respect of all improvements on his holding made by him or his predecessors in title.

Provided that—

(1.) A tenant shall not be entitled to any compensation in respect of any of the improvements following; that is to say,—

(a.) In respect of any improvement made before the passing of this Act, and twenty years before the claim of such compensation shall have been made, except permanent buildings and reclamation of waste land; or,

(b.) In respect of any improvement prohibited in writing by the landlord as being and appearing to the Court to be calculated to diminish the general value of the landlord’s estate, and made within two years after the passing of this Act, or made during the unexpired residue of a lease granted before the passing of this Act; or,

(c.) In respect of any improvement made either before or after the passing of this Act in pursuance of a contract entered into for valuable consideration therefor; or,

(d.) (Subject to the rule in this section mentioned as to contracts) in respect of any improvement made, either before or after the passing of this Act, in contravention of a contract in writing not to make such improvement; or,

(e.) In respect of any improvement made either before or after the passing of this Act which the landlord has undertaken to make, except in cases where the landlord has failed to perform his undertaking within a reasonable time:

(2.) A tenant of a holding under a lease or written contract made before the passing of this Act shall not be entitled on being disturbed by the act of the landlord in or on quitting his holding to any compensation in respect of any improvement, his right to which compensation is expressly excluded by such lease or contract:

(3.) A tenant of a holding under a lease made either before or after the passing of this Act for a term certain of not less than thirty-one years, or in case of leases made before the passing of this Act for a term of a life or lives with or without a concurrent term of years, and which leases shall have existed for thirty-one years before the making of the claim, shall not be entitled to any compensation in respect of any improvement unless it is specially provided in the lease that he is entitled to such compensation, except permanent buildings and reclamation of waste land, and tillages or manures, the benefit of which tillages or manures is unexhausted at the time of the tenant quitting his holding:

(4.) A tenant of a holding, who is quitting the same voluntarily shall not be entitled to any compensation in respect of any improvement when it appears to the Court that such tenant has been given permission by his landlord to dispose of his interest in his improvements to an incoming tenant upon such terms as the Court may deem reasonable, and the tenant has refused or neglected to avail himself of such permission:

(5.) Out of any moneys payable to the tenant under this section all sums due to the landlord from the tenant or his predecessors in title in respect of rent, or in respect of any deterioration of the holding arising from non-observance on the part of the tenant of any express or implied covenant or agreement, may be deducted by the landlord, and also any taxes payable by the tenant due in respect of the holding and not recoverable by him from the landlord.

Any contract between a landlord and a tenant whereby the tenant is prohibited from making such improvements as may be required for the suitable occupation of his holding and its due cultivation shall be void both at law and in equity, but no improvement shall be deemed to be required for the suitable occupation of a tenant’s holding and its due cultivation which appears to the Court to diminish the general value of the estate of the landlord, nor shall anything in this Act contained authorize or empower any tenant or occupier, without the previous consent in writing of the landlord, to break up or till any land or lands usually let, occupied, or used as grazing or grass lands, or let expressly as grazing or meadow land, or to cut timber without the consent of the landlord; provided that the tenant may cut timber planted and registered by him or his predecessors in title.

Any contract made by a tenant by virtue of which he is deprived of his right to make any claim which he would otherwise be entitled to make under this section shall, so far as relates to such claim, be void both at law and in equity, subject, however, to the enactment contained in the section of this Act relating to the partial exemption of certain tenancies, and to the provision in this section as to any improvement made in pursuance of a contract entered into for valuable consideration therefor.

Where a tenant has made any improvements before the passing of this Act on a holding held by him under a tenancy existing at the time of the passing thereof, the Court in awarding compensation to such tenant in respect of such improvements shall, in reduction of the claim of the tenant, take into consideration the time during which such tenant may have enjoyed the advantage of such improvements, also the rent at which such holding has been held, and any benefits which such tenant may have received from his landlord in consideration, expressly or impliedly, of the improvements so made.

[¹ Extended to claims by certain tenants for compensation in respect of trees planted, 51 & 52 Vict. c. 37. s. 2.]