S.I. No. 26/1967 - Purchase of Land (Advances by Land Commission) Regulations, 1967.

S.I. No. 26 of 1967.

PURCHASE OF LAND (ADVANCES BY LAND COMMISSION) REGULATIONS, 1967.

I, MICHEÁL Ó MORÁIN, Minister for Lands, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 5(2) (a) of the Land Act, 1965 (No. 2 of 1965), hereby make the following Regulations:—

1 Title.

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Purchase of Land (Advances by Land Commission) Regulations, 1967.

2 Definitions.

2. In these Regulations—

" the Act " means the Land Act, 1965 ;

" advance " means an advance made by the Land Commission pursuant to section 5 of the act and, save as is provided by these Regulations, references to an advance or to an annuity in the Land Purchase Acts (other than in section 5 of the act) or in Rules and Regulations made thereunder shall not be construed as relating to an advance pursuant to section 5 of the act or to an annuity in repayment of an advance ;

" an annuity " means an annuity as defined in Article 6 ;

" holding " means a holding agreed to be sold to the Land Commission in accordance with section 5 of the act.

3 Sale of holding to Land Commission.

3. For the purpose of subsection (4)(c) of section 5 of the act, the period within which a holding shall be sold to the Land Commission shall be one year from the date on which the Land Commission agree to purchase the holding.

4 Limit of Advance.

4. An advance shall not exceed such amount as the Land Commission, with the consent of the Minister for Finance in general or in particular, shall authorise.

5 Conditions relating to the making of an advance.

5. It shall be a condition attaching to every offer of an advance that the land in respect of which the advance will be made will be (a) security, in the opinion of the Land Commission, for such advance and (b) not required by them for the purposes of the Land Acts ; and, in making an advance in any particular case, the Land Commission may impose such other conditions as they consider necessary.

6 Terms of Repayment.

6. Subject to the provisions of Articles 8, 9, 11, 12 and 14, an advance shall be repayable as to principal and interest by means of an annuity payable in equal half-yearly instalments over a period of 35 years.

7 Rate of interest.

7. For the purpose of these Regulations the interest rate shall be the same as that prescribed in the land bond order current at the date of sanction of the advance.

8 Commencement date.

8. Repayment of an advance shall commence to run from the first gale day, as provided for in these Regulations, after the date of the making of the advance.

9 Instalments.

9. Instalments shall be payable in arrear on the gale days applicable to any other annuity payable to the Land Commission in respect of the land for which the advance is made or, where such land is not subject to any other annuity, on 1st May and 1st November each year.

10 Non-revision.

10. An annuity or that portion of a consolidated annuity which represents an annuity shall not be subject to revision under Part III of the Land Act, 1933 (No. 38 of 1933).

11 Abatement.

11. The first, second, third, fourth and fifth instalments of principal and interest shall be abated by five-sixths, four-sixths, three-sixths, two-sixths and one-sixth, respectively, and for purposes of redemption and amortisation the sinking fund element in these instalments before abatement shall be deemed to have been paid in full.

12 Broken Period.

12. In respect of any broken period between the making of an advance and the first gale day as provided for in these Regulations, interest only calculated on a day-to-day basis and abated by five-sixths shall be payable on the first gale day.

13 Charging of advance.

13. Land in respect of which an advance is made may be charged with such advance by charging order made by the Land Commission and, whether created by order or by deed, such charge shall take priority over all charges and incumbrances whether statutory or otherwise, except sums payable to the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland and any annuity payable to the Land Commission.

14 Consolidation of annuities.

14. Where land on which an annuity is charged is or becomes subject to any other annuity payable to the Land Commission, such annuities shall stand consolidated to form one consolidated annuity and the provisions of paragraphs (1) and (2) of Rule 31 of the Land (Finance) Rules, 1925, shall apply thereto.

15 Restriction on sale, etc.

15. Land on which an annuity is charged shall not within a period of ten years from the date of such charging be let, sublet, transferred, assigned or subdivided without the consent of the Land Commission, and any such consent may be made subject to such condition as to apportionment or redemption of the annuity as the Land Commission may think fit to impose. Any attempted or purported letting, subletting, transfer, assignment or subdivision in contravention of this Article shall be null and void as against all persons.

16 Arrears.

16. All arrears of annuity shall be a charge on the Guarantee Fund under the Land Purchase Acts and shall be made good to the Exchequer out of that Fund. All half-yearly instalments of annuities which remain unpaid on 31st January and 31st July in each year immediately following the gale days on which they accrue due shall be deemed to be arrears and all such arrears and payments on account thereof shall be dealt with under like arrangements as are applicable to purchase annuities within the meaning of the Land Purchase Acts and the Rules and Regulations made thereunder.

17 Remedies for recovery of advance.

17. The Land Commission shall have all such rights and remedies for the recovery of money payable to them in respect of an advance as they have under the Land Purchase Acts for the recovery of unpaid instalments of purchase annuities.

18 Redemption.

18. An annuity may be redeemed in whole or in part by payment to the Land Commission of a sum representing the redemption value of such annuity (or part) calculated at the appropriate date. So far as it may extend, every sum received in or towards the redemption of a consolidated annuity, of which an annuity is a component part, shall be applied in redemption of the component parts in the following order, viz. first, in or towards redemption of the annuity in repayment of the advance and thereafter in the order set out in Rule 5(2), Land (Finance) Rules, 1956 ( S.I. No. 83 of 1956 ).

19 Inspection Fee.

19. Where, in connection with an application for an advance, an inspection or inspections of land or lands is or are deemed necessary, a fee of £3.3 0d. shall be payable by the applicant to the Land Commission prior to each such inspection.

20 Grant towards expenses.

20. Subject to the consent of the Minister for Finance in general or in particular, the Land Commission may, in their absolute discretion, provide a qualified person with such grant as they consider reasonable towards the expenses incurred in connection with or incidental to the purchase by him of the land for which an advance has been made.

GIVEN under my Official Seal this 27th day of January, 1967.

MICHEÁL Ó MORÁIN,

Minister for Lands.

The Minister for Finance consents to the making of the foregoing Regulations.

GIVEN under the Official Seal of the Minister for Finance this 27th day of January, 1967.

CHARLES J. HAUGHEY,

Minister for Finance.

EXPLANATORY NOTE.

These Regulations are for the purpose of bringing into operation the scheme of loans authorised by section 5 of the Land Act, 1965 . Under this scheme the Land Commission may make loans to progressive farmers in congested areas to enable them to purchase alternative viable holdings of their choice, provided their existing holdings are suitable for land settlement purposes and are agreed to be sold to the Land Commission for such purposes. The arrangements might, therefore, be described as a "self-migration" scheme and this scheme will be additional to and not in substitution for the traditional migration programme implemented by the Land Commission.