Land Law (Ireland) Act, 1881

Part IV.

Provisions Supplemental to Preceding Parts.

Miscellaneous.

Regulations as to sales and application to court to fix rent.

13. (1.) Where proceedings are or have been taken by the landlord to compel a tenant to quit his holding, the tenant may sell his tenancy at any time before but not after the expiration of six months from the execution of a writ or decree for possession in an ejectment for nonpayment of rent and at any time before but not after the execution of such writ or decree in any ejectment other than for nonpayment of rent; and any such tenancy so sold shall be and be deemed to be a subsisting tenancy notwithstanding such proceedings, without prejudice to the landlord’s rights, in the event of the said tenancy not being redeemed within said period of six months; and, if any judgment or decree in ejectment has been obtained before the passing of this Act, such tenant may within the same periods respectively apply to the court to fix the judicial rent of the holding, but subject to the provisions herein contained such application shall not invalidate or prejudice any such judgment or decree, which shall remain in full force and effect.

(2.) Where the sale of any tenancy is delayed by reason of any application being made to the court or for any other reasonable cause, the court may, on the application of the tenant, and on such terms and conditions as the court may direct, enlarge the time during which the tenant may exercise his power of sale, or in case of ejectment for nonpayment of rent redeem the tenancy.

(3.) Where any proceedings for compelling the tenant of a present tenancy to quit his holding shall have been taken before or after an application to fix a judicial rent and shall be pending before such application is disposed of, the court before which such proceedings are pending shall have power, on such terms and conditions as the court may direct, to postpone or suspend such proceedings until the termination of the proceedings on the application for such judicial rent; and the pendency of any such proceedings for compelling the tenant to quit his holding shall not interfere with the power of the court to fix such rent, or with any right of the tenant resulting from the rent being so fixed; and in such case any order made by the court for fixing the rent shall operate in the same manner as if such order had been made on the day of the date of application.

Provided, that proceedings shall not be taken by a landlord to compel a tenant to quit his holding for breach of any statutory condition, save as follows:

(a.) Where the condition broken is a condition relating to payment of rent, then by ejectment subject to the provisions of the statutes relating to ejectment for non-payment of rent; and

(b.) Where the condition broken is any other statutory condition, then by ejectment founded on notice to quit.

(4.) Where a notice to quit is served by a landlord upon a tenant for the purpose of compelling the tenant to quit his holding during the continuance of a statutory term in his tenancy in consequence of the breach by the tenant of any statutory condition other than the condition relating to payment of rent, the tenant may, at any time before the commencement of an ejectment founded on such notice to quit, apply to the land commission, and after the commencement, or at the hearing of any such ejectment, may apply to the court in which the ejectment is brought, for an order restraining the landlord from taking further proceedings to enforce such notice to quit.

If the land commission or court to which such application is made are of opinion that adequate satisfaction for the breach of such condition can be made by the payment of damages to the landlord, and that the tenant may justly be relieved from the liability to be compelled to quit his holding in consequence of such breach, the commission or court may make an order restraining further proceedings on the notice to quit, upon the payment by the tenant of such sum for damages, as they shall then, or after due inquiry, award to the landlord in satisfaction for the breach of the statutory condition, together with the costs incurred by the landlord in respect to the notice to quit and the proceedings subsequent thereto.

If the land commission or court are of opinion that no appreciable damage has accrued to the landlord from the breach of such condition, and that the tenant may justly be relieved as aforesaid, they may make an order restraining further proceedings on the notice to quit, upon such terms as to costs as they may think just.

(5.) The service of a notice to quit, to enforce which no proceedings are taken by the landlord, or the proceedings to enforce which are restrained by the court, shall not operate to determine the tenancy.

(6.) A tenant compelled to quit his holding during the continuance of a statutory term in his tenancy, in consequence of the breach by the tenant of any statutory condition, shall not be entitled to compensation for disturbance.