Land Act, 1965

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Grant of life annuity under this Act.

6.—(1) Whenever a person (in this section referred to as the vendor) who is elderly, incapacitated or blind, sells an interest in land voluntarily to the Land Commission (whether such interest is held severally, jointly, or in common) the Land Commission may, at the option of the vendor, and in lieu of the payment in cash of the whole or part of the purchase price, grant to the vendor a life annuity in accordance with regulations under this section.

(2) A life annuity under this section shall be of such value as, on the date of the closing of the sale of the interest, is actuarially equivalent (in accordance with such tables as, on that date, stand approved of by the Minister for Finance for the purposes of this section) to the whole or part of the purchase price in lieu of the payment of which the life annuity is granted.

(3) In the case of a vendor who on the date of the closing of the sale is married and whose spouse (not being interested jointly or in common in the land) is alive on that date, an annuity under this Act shall be so calculated as to provide—

(a) an annuity (in this Act and any regulations under this section referred to as a primary annuity) payable until the death of either the vendor or the vendor's spouse, and

(b) an annuity (in this Act and any regulations under this section referred to as a secondary annuity) of an amount equal to one half of the amount of the primary annuity payable from the death of the vendor or the spouse of the vendor until the death of the surviving spouse.

(4) A vendor who on the date of the closing of the sale is unmarried or is a widower or widow may nominate a person who is a dependant of the vendor, and, if such nomination is approved by the Land Commission, subsection (3) of this section shall apply to the vendor and the dependant in the same manner as if the dependant were the spouse of the vendor.

(5) (a) The Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, make regulations for the purpose of giving effect to this section and any such regulations may include such supplemental or incidental provisions as appear to the Minister to be expedient.

(b) Regulations under this section may, in particular but without prejudice to the generality of paragraph (a) of this subsection, make provision in relation to all or any of the following matters—

(i) prescribing the class or classes of persons who for the purposes of this section shall be deemed to be elderly, incapacitated or blind;

(ii) the payment by the Land Commission of the vendor's costs and expenses incurred in relation to the sale of the interest to the Land Commission;

(iii) the minimum purchase price or part of a purchase price in respect of which the vendor may exercise the option mentioned in subsection (1) of this section;

(iv) the period within which the vendor shall exercise the said option (if any);

(v) the grant by the Land Commission of a right of residence in a dwellinghouse on the land to the vendor for the life of the vendor and thereafter to the surviving spouse or dependant (if any) of the vendor for the life of that spouse or dependant;

(vi) the conditions (if any) affecting such right of residence.

(c) Every regulation made under this section shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made.

(6) In this section—

“dependant” means, in relation to a vendor, a member of the family of the vendor who, on the date of the closing of the sale, is wholly or in part dependant on the earnings of the vendor;

“member of the family” means father, mother, step-father, step-mother, son, daughter, grandson, granddaughter, step-son, step-daughter, brother, sister, half-brother, half-sister, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece, first cousin, son-in-law or daughter-in-law and, in the case of a female vendor, her illegitimate child.

(7) In deducing any relationship for the purposes of this section, a person adopted under the Adoption Acts, 1952 and 1964 , shall be considered the legitimate offspring of the adopter or adopters.