Land Act, 1936

Amendment of sub-section (2) of section 24 of the Land Act, 1923.

40.—(1) Paragraphs (b), (c) and (g) of sub-section (2) of section 24 of the Land Act, 1923 , and the whole of section 36 of the Land Act, 1933 , are hereby repealed and in lieu thereof it is hereby enacted that sub-section (1) of the said section 24 shall not apply to—

(a) any land which, during the whole or substantially the whole of the five years next before the institution of proceedings in relation thereto under the Land Purchase Acts, was not substantially agricultural or pastoral or partly agricultural and partly pastoral in character, or

(b) any holding the main object of the letting of which was for a residence and which, during the whole or substantially the whole of the five years next before the institution of proceedings in relation thereto under the Land Purchase Acts, retained its residential character, or

(c) any parcel of untenanted land which, during the whole or substantially the whole of the five years next before the institution of proceedings in relation thereto under the Land Purchase Acts, was a demesne, home farm, park, garden, or pleasure ground, or

(d) any land which, during the whole or substantially the whole of the five years next before the institution of proceedings in relation thereto under the Land Purchase Acts, was a glebe within the meaning of the Glebe Lands, Representative Church Body, Ireland, Act, 1875 , and was during the whole or substantially the whole of the said five years, held or occupied by ecclesiastical persons within the meaning of the said Act, or

(e) any land not exceeding thirty acres which was, within five years before the institution of proceedings in relation thereto under the Land Purchase Acts, acquired for the purpose of being used and occupied as a glebe within the meaning of the Glebe Lands, Representative Church Body, Ireland, Act, 1875 , and is, at the time of the institution of such proceedings, used and occupied as such glebe.

(2) The following provisions shall have effect in relation to the application of the foregoing sub-section of this section to any land, that is to say:—

(a) regard shall be had to the actual user or character of such land, and the fact (if it exists) that such user or character was a contravention of a covenant, condition, or agreement shall be disregarded unless the landlord shows that he did not know of such contravention or that he actively objected thereto, and

(b) no regard shall be had to any determination before the passing of this Act that sub-section (1) of section 24 of the Land Act, 1923 , did not apply to such land.

(3) The following provisions shall have effect in relation to holdings usually occupied by a person in connection with a parcel of untenanted land which is a demense, home farm, park, garden, or pleasure ground, that is to say:—

(a) sub-section (1) of section 24 of the Land Act, 1923 shall apply to every such holding as from the passing of this Act;

(b) in the application of section 19 of the Land Act, 1923 , to any such holding the words “the appointed day” shall be substituted for the words “the passing of this Act” where the latter words occur in sub-section (2) and sub-section (3) of the said section 19 , and the reference in the said sub-section (2) 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 in the said sub-section (2) 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;

(c) in fixing the standard purchase annuity of any such holding, the Land Commission shall have regard to the value of such holding at the passing of this Act but not so as to lessen the amount of such standard purchase annuity on account of a deterioration in value of such holding which is, in the opinion of the Land Commission, due to the wilful neglect or default of the tenant of such holding;

(d) the purchase annuity payable by the purchaser under the Land Purchase Acts of any such holding shall consist of—

(i) the standard purchase annuity of such holding, 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 holding, and

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

(e) 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;

(f) Part IΠ 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;

(g) 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 sub-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.

(4) References in this Act to sub-section (2) of section 24 of the Land Act, 1923 , shall (where the context so admits) be construed and have effect as references to the joint operation of that sub-section (as amended by this Act) and the first sub-section of this section.