Land Act, 1936

• Permanent Page URL

Tenancies created after 9th August, 1923.

37.—(1) Where, on the application of the occupier of a parcel of untenanted land and after notice to all interested parties, the Lay Commissioners (other than the members of the Appeal Tribunal) are satisfied—

(a) that such land is held by the said occupier thereof under a contract of tenancy (other than a fee farm grant, a lease for lives or years renewable for ever, or a lease for a term of sixty or more years) entered into after the 9th day of August, 1923, and before the 14th day of October, 1933, and

(b) that such contract of tenancy was not a letting for temporary depasturage, agistment, or conacre or for temporary convenience or to meet a temporary necessity, and

(c) that such land is being worked by such occupier as an ordinary farm in accordance with proper methods of husbandry, and

(d) that, having regard to all the circumstances of the case, it would be in the interests of the country that such land should be sold under the Land Purchase Acts to the said occupier thereof,

the said Lay Commissioners may by order declare that the provisions of the Land Act, 1923 (as amended and extended by subsequent enactments, including this Act) relating to tenanted land shall apply to such land.

(2) Whenever the Lay Commissioners (other than the members of the Appeal Tribunal) make in respect of any land such order as is authorised by the next preceding sub-section of this section, the provisions of the Land Act, 1923 (as amended and extended by subsequent enactments, including this Act) relating to tenanted land shall, subject to such appeal as is hereinafter mentioned and subject to the provisions of this section, apply to such land as if it were tenanted land within the meaning of the Land Act, 1923 , as so amended and extended.

(3) Where, on the application of the owner of a parcel of untenanted land and after notice to all interested parties, the Lay Commissioners (other than the members of the Appeal Tribunal) are satisfied—

(a) that such land is held by the said owner thereof under a fee farm grant made after the 9th day of August, 1923, and before the 14th day of October, 1933, or under a lease similarly made for lives or years renewable for ever or under a lease similarly made for sixty or more years, and

(b) that such owner is in bona fide occupation of such land and occupies and uses it in the same manner as an ordinary farmer in accordance with proper methods of husbandry, and

(c) that such land is not required for the relief of congestion or for the purpose of resale to the persons or bodies mentioned in section 31 of the Land Act, 1923 , as extended by the Land Act, 1933 , and

(d) that, having regard to all the circumstances of the case, it would be in the interests of the country that such land should be sold under the Land Purchase Acts to the said owner thereof, and

(e) that such owner is willing to purchase such land under the said Acts,

the said Lay Commissioners may by order declare that such land shall vest in the Land Commission on the appointed day as if it were tenanted land.

(4) Whenever the Lay Commissioners (other than the members of the Appeal Tribunal) make in respect of any land such order as is authorised by the next preceding sub-section of this section, such land shall vest in the Land Commission on the appointed day as if it were tenanted land within the meaning of the Land Act, 1923 , as amended and extended by subsequent enactments and the provisions of section 44 (except sub-section (1) thereof) of the Land Act, 1931 , as amended by section 42 of the Land Act, 1933 , and by this Act shall apply to such land with the modification that every reference to an application under the said section 44 shall be construed and have effect as a reference to an application under the said next preceding sub-section of this section.

(5) Whenever the Lay Commissioners (other than the members of the Appeal Tribunal) make in respect of any land such order as is authorised by whichever of the preceding sub-sections of this section is applicable to the case, the following provisions shall apply and have effect in relation to such land and shall so apply and have effect by way of modification of the statutory provisions applied to such land by such order and the said preceding sub-sections, that is to say:—

(a) in sub-sections (2) and (3) of section 19 of the Land Act, 1923 , the words “the appointed day” shall be substituted for the words “the passing of this Act”, and in the said sub-section (2) the reference to the first gale day in the year 1920 shall be construed and have effect as a reference to such gale day prior to the appointed day as will permit three years' arrears and not more than three years' arrears to be compounded under the said section 19 and the reference to the second gale day in the year 1920 shall be construed and have effect as a reference to the gale day next after such gale day prior to the appointed day as aforesaid;

(b) in fixing the standard purchase annuity of such land, the Land Commission shall have regard to the value of such land at the date of the said order but not so as to lessen the amount of such standard purchase annuity on account of a deterioration in value of such land which is, in the opinion of the Land Commission, due to the wilful neglect or default of the applicant for such order;

(c) the purchase annuity payable by the purchaser on the sale of such land under the Land Purchase Acts in consequence of the said order shall consist of—

(i) the said standard purchase annuity, and

(ii) the additional annuity (if any) in respect of compounded arrears of rent added to the purchase money, and

(iii) an annuity at the rate of four and three-quarters per cent. on the contribution of the State to the standard price of such land, and

(iv) an annuity at the rate of four and three-quarters per cent. on a sum equivalent to two per cent. of the purchase money of such land;

(d) the annual sum payable under sub-section (2) of section 28 of the Land Act, 1923 , shall be equivalent to the purchase annuity as calculated under the next preceding paragraph of this sub-section, and the additional sum payable under sub-section (3) of the said section 28 shall be computed accordingly;

(e) Part III of the Land Act, 1933 , shall not apply or have effect in relation to the said purchase annuity or to the said annual sum or to the said additional sum.

(6) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (4) of section 9 of the Purchase of Land (Ireland) Act, 1891 , or in paragraph (a) of sub-section (2) of section 24 of the Land Act, 1923 , the Lay Commissioners (other than the members of the Appeal Tribunal) shall not be precluded from making an order under this section in respect of a parcel of untenanted land by reason only of the fact that such parcel is a part of a holding purchased under any Land Purchase Act, but in every such case section 14 of the Land Act, 1923 , as amended by this Act shall apply and have effect.

(7) The Land Bond Act, 1934 (No. 11 of 1934), shall apply to land bonds created and issued by the Minister for Finance for the purposes of this section in like manner as the said Act applies to land bonds created and issued by the said Minister for the purposes of the Land Act, 1923 , or any of the Acts amending or extending that Act.

(8) An appeal shall lie to the Appeal Tribunal from every order made by the Lay Commissioners (other than the members of the Appeal Tribunal) under this section, and the decision of the Appeal Tribunal on any such appeal shall be final subject only to an appeal to the Supreme Court on questions of law.