Arrears of Rent (Ireland) Act 1882

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Citation: 1882 c. 47
• Year: 1882

Arrears of Rent (Ireland) Act, 1882

(45 & 46 Vict.) CHAPTER 47.

An Act to make provision respecting certain Arrears of Rent in Ireland.

[18th August 1882]

B E it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

PART I.

Settlement of Arrears of Rent.

1 Settlement by Land Commission of arrears of rent.

(1)1. (1.) In the case of any holding to which the Land Law (Ireland) Act, 1881, applies, and which is valued under the Acts relating to the valuation of rateable property in Ireland at not more than thirty pounds a year, if on the application of the landlord and the tenant of such holding, or of either of them after ten days notice in the prescribed manner by the landlord or his agent to the tenant, or by the tenant to the landlord or his agent, the following circumstances (in this Act referred to as preliminary conditions) are proved to the satisfaction of the Irish Land Commission, namely,—

(a. ) That the rent payable in respect of the year of the tenancy expiring on the last gale day of the tenancy in the year one thousand eight hundred and eighty-one (which year of the tenancy is in this Act referred to as ‘the year expiring as aforesaid’) has been satisfied on or before the thirtieth day of November one thousand eight hundred and eighty-two; and

(b. ) That antecedent arrears of rent are due to the landlord; and

(c. ) That the tenant is unable to discharge such antecedent arrears, without loss of his holding, or deprivation of the means necessary for the cultivation thereof,

the Irish Land Commission (in this Act referred to as the Land Commission) may make an order for the payment to or for the benefit of the landlord of a sum equal to one half of such antecedent arrears, subject to the limitation that the sum so paid shall not exceed the yearly rent payable in respect of the holding for the year of the tenancy next preceding the year expiring as aforesaid: Provided that for the purpose of application under the provisions of sections two, ten, and thirteen respectively of this Act, the Land Commission may in respect of such notice extend the periods in the said sections respectively mentioned for any time not exceeding ten days.

(2) (2.) On such order for payment to or for the benefit of the landlord being made by the Land Commission, all such antecedent arrears of rent shall, subject as herein-after mentioned, be released and extinguished, and any judgment, decree, or security for the rent of the holding, and any judgment or decree for the recovery of the holding on account of the nonpayment of rent, shall be vacated so far as regards any rent due in respect of the holding before the last gale day in the year expiring as aforesaid, but shall not be vacated so far as regards any rent subsequently accrued due, or any costs due in pursuance of such judgment, decree, or security: Provided that in the event of a sale of the tenancy within seven years from the making of such order the arrears of rent dealt with by such order and not satisfied by payment or remission shall, to an amount not exceeding one year of such arrears nor one half of the proceeds of such sale, be a sum payable to the landlord out of such proceeds within the meaning of the Land Law (Ireland) Act, 1881 . For the purposes of this Act the saleable value of the tenant's interest shall, so far as the Commissioners think it reasonable, be taken into account in ascertaining whether the tenant is unable to discharge such antecedent arrears.

(3) (3.) All payments on account of rent made by the tenant to the landlord in or subsequent to the year expiring as aforesaid, but before the thirtieth day of November one thousand eight hundred and eighty-two, shall be deemed to have been made on account of the rent payable in respect of the year expiring as aforesaid, to the extent to which the rent for that year had at the time of such payment accrued due, provided that where it appears that, according to the ordinary course of dealing between the landlord and tenant of a holding, the rent of such holding has usually been paid on some day after the day on which it became legally due, the usual day of payment shall be deemed, for the purposes of this sub-section, to be the time at which the rent accrued due.

(4) (4.) A remission by the landlord of the whole or any part of the rent payable in respect of the year expiring as aforesaid shall be deemed to be a satisfaction of the amount of rent so remitted; provided that no remission made for any previous year shall be credited to the year expiring as aforesaid.

(5) (5.) The Land Commission, if satisfied on the occasion of any application made under this Act that it is just so to do, may authorise the tenant to make to the Land Commission any payments on account of the rent payable in respect of the year of the tenancy expiring as aforesaid which the tenant might otherwise have made to the landlord, and such payment shall for the purposes of this Act be deemed to have been made to the landlord, and the Land Commission shall, having first given public notice in the prescribed manner, cause any sum so paid by the tenant to be paid to the person appearing to such Commission to be entitled thereto as landlord.

(6) (6.) Any money payable under this Act by the Land Commission to the landlord shall be paid to the person entitled as landlord without cost, except so far as may be caused by disputed title or by the person so entitled failing to comply with the rules for the time being in force relating to the payment of such money: Provided always, that where two or more parties are entitled to the arrears, the Land Commission shall have power to decide the rights of the parties, and the proportion in which the sums so ordered to be paid to or for the benefit of the landlord shall be divided amongst them.

2 Modification in case of evicted tenant when restored to holding.

2. Any tenant evicted from his holding for nonpayment of rent, or whose tenancy has been purchased for the landlord at any sale under and by virtue of any writ of execution founded upon a judgment obtained by the landlord for an arrear of rent due in respect of such holding, may, if his landlord agrees to reinstate him, apply, with the consent of his landlord in the prescribed manner, during the time limited for applications under this Act to the Land Commission under this Act, and the Land Commission may make an order under this Act in the same manner as if the tenant had not been evicted or his tenancy had not been sold.

Any tenant evicted for nonpayment of rent whom the landlord does not agree to reinstate, but who is entitled to apply for a writ of restitution in pursuance of the seventy-first section of the ^{Landlord and Tenant Law Amendment Act (Ireland), 1860}, may apply during the time limited for applications under this Act to the Land Commission under this Act, and the Land Commission may make an order under this Act in the same manner as if the tenant had not been evicted, and on an application being made to the court having cognizance of the case for a writ of restitution, that court shall deal with the case as if the tenant had paid all arrears of rent up to the last gale day in the year expiring as aforesaid, and on compliance by the tenant with the other conditions of the said Act of 1860 the court may order his restitution: Provided that an order of the Land Commission under this section shall not take effect until and unless the tenant is restored to his holding.

For the purpose of enabling any such evicted tenant to make an application to the Land Commission under the first section of this Act, the Land Commission shall have power, on application made by him within six months from the time of eviction, and during the time limited for applications under this Act, to enlarge the time during which he may redeem his tenancy for a period not exceeding three months, subject to such terms and conditions as may seem just.

3 Application of Act to existing leases.

3. This Act shall apply to holdings subject to existing leases within the meaning of section twenty-one of the Land Law (Ireland) Act, 1881, in like manner as it applies to any other holding.

PART II.

Supplemental Provisions.

4 Powers of Land Commission.

4. For the purposes of this Act the Land Commission may exercise all such powers vested in them for the purpose of the execution of the ^{Land Law (Ireland) Act, 1881}, as are referred to in the first schedule to this Act, and shall have full jurisdiction to hear and determine all matters, whether of law or fact, that may be required to be determined by them for the purposes of this Act, and they shall have power to retain in their hands any moneys which may be payable to a landlord until they have decided to whom such moneys are legally payable, and they shall in respect of such moneys have all the powers vested in the court by the thirty-seventh section of the ^{Landlord and Tenant (Ireland) Act, 1870}, in respect of the distribution of purchase moneys, in the same manner as if the moneys so payable to the landlord were purchase moneys.

The Land Commission shall not be subject to be restrained in the execution of their powers under this Act by the order of any court, nor shall any proceedings before them be removed by certiorari into any court.

The Land Commission may of its own motion, or shall on the application of any party to any proceeding pending before it unless it considers such application frivolous and vexatious, state a case in respect of any question of law arising in such proceedings, and...