Housing (Tenant Purchase of Apartments) Regulations 2011

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Year: 2011
• Citation: IR SI 679/2011

Notice of the making of this Statutory Instrument was published in

“Iris Oifigiúil” of 30th December, 2011.

I, PHIL HOGAN, Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by sections 5 and 58 (4) of the Housing Act 1966 (No. 21 of 1966) and sections 3 , 32 (6), 54 (6), 67 (12) and 77 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 (No. 22 of 2009), as adapted by the Environment, Heritage and Local Government (Alteration of Name of Department and Title of Minister) Order 2011 ( S.I. No. 193 of 2011 ), hereby make the following regulations:

Part 1

Preliminary and general

Citation

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Housing (Tenant Purchase of Apartments) Regulations 2011.

Commencement

2. These Regulations come into operation on 1 January 2012.

Interpretation

3. (1) In these Regulations—

“the Act of 2009” means the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 (No. 22 of 2009); and

“the Act of 2011” means the Multi-Unit Developments Act 2011 (No. 2 of 2011).

(2) In these Regulations, except where the context requires otherwise in Regulations 6 and 19 and Schedules 1 and 2, a reference to “tenant” shall, in the case of an apartment where there are 2 or more tenants, be taken to be a reference to “tenants”.

Part 2

Tenant plebiscite

Appointment of returning officer

4. Where a housing authority adopts a section 53 proposal in respect of an apartment complex, the manager of that authority shall appoint forthwith an employee of the authority to be the returning officer for the purposes of the tenant plebiscite in that complex.

Returning officer

5. The returning officer shall be responsible for the proper administration of the tenant plebiscite.

Electoral roll

6. (1) The returning officer shall—

(a) compile a list of the name of the tenant of each apartment in the apartment complex the subject of the section 53 proposal, including, in cases where there are 2 or more tenants of an apartment, the name of each such tenant, and

(b) having regard to section 54(4) of the Act of 2009, ascertain the total number of tenants entitled to vote in the tenant plebiscite.

(2) The list prepared under paragraph (1) shall constitute the electoral roll for the tenant plebiscite.

(3)(a) Subject to subparagraph (b), each tenant in the electoral roll shall be numbered consecutively according to either the number or the location of the apartment that he or she occupies in the apartment complex, or a combination of both.

(b) in the case of an apartment where there are 2 or more tenants, the names of each such tenant shall be listed together and assigned a single number in the electoral roll.

Last day and time for receipt of ballot papers

7. Subject to section 52(1)(b)(i) of the Act of 2009, the returning officer shall fix the last day and hour for receiving completed ballot papers.

Ballot paper

8. (1) The ballot paper for the tenant plebiscite shall be in the form set out in Schedule 1.

(2) Every ballot paper shall have a counterfoil attached to it.

Issue of ballot papers

9. (1) The returning officer shall issue ballot papers to tenants as soon as practicable after fixing the last day and hour for receiving completed ballot papers.

(2) Every ballot paper shall, at the time of its issue be marked with an official mark, which shall be embossed or perforated so as to be visible on both sides of the paper, and the number, name and address on the electoral roll of the tenant to whom it is being issued shall be entered on the back of the ballot paper.

(3) The number on the electoral roll of the tenant to whom a ballot paper is issued shall be entered on the counterfoil for that ballot paper.

(4) A mark shall be placed in a copy of the electoral roll opposite the number of the tenant to denote that the particulars referred to in paragraph (2) have been entered on the ballot paper and that the number on the electoral roll of the tenant has been entered on the counterfoil.

(5) The counterfoil shall be detached from the ballot paper before it is issued and shall be retained by the returning officer.

Posting, etc., of ballot papers

10. (1) In issuing ballot papers to tenants, the returning officer shall, in addition to the documents referred to in section 54(5) of the Act of 2009, issue with each such ballot paper a postage-prepaid envelope addressed to the returning officer.

(2) The returning officer shall post the ballot papers in the presence of the Cathaoirleach or Leas-Chathaoirleach of the local authority concerned.

(3) The posting of ballot papers may be attended by members of the local authority other than those referred to in paragraph (2) and by such other persons as the returning officer may authorise.

(4) Where a posted envelope that contained the documents referred to in paragraph (1) is, before the closing day for the receipt of completed ballot papers, returned to the returning officer as not having been delivered to the relevant tenant, the returning officer may readdress the envelope and send it by post to that tenant.

Ballot box

11. The returning officer shall provide a ballot box for the reception of ballot papers returned by tenants.

Receipt of ballot paper envelopes

12. The returning officer shall, immediately on receipt of postage-prepaid envelopes, place them unopened in the ballot box provided in accordance with Regulation 11.

Receipt of envelopes

13. If the returning officer receives, before the close of the ballot, an envelope other than a postage-prepaid envelope and finds therin a ballot paper which would have been appropriate to send to him or her in a postage-prepaid envelope, he or she shall—

(a) securely close the envelope,

(b) endorse thereon, and sign, a statement that he or she has closed the envelope with the contents intact,

(c) place the closed envelope in the ballot box that he or she has provided, and

(d) thereafter treat the envelope as a postage-prepaid envelope.

Ballot papers received late

14. Any ballot paper received by the returning officer after the hour on the last day fixed for receipt thereof shall not be placed in the ballot box.

Attendance at count proceedings

15. The following persons may be present at the opening of the ballot box, the scrutiny of the ballot papers and the counting of the votes:

(a) the returning officer and his or her assistants and clerks,

(b) members of the local authority concerned,

(c) tenants of the apartment complex in respect of which the plebiscite is being held and members of their households, and

(d) such other persons as the returning officer may authorise.

Opening of ballot box

16. The returning officer shall open the ballot box as soon as practicable after the hour on the last day fixed for the receipt of completed ballot papers.

Opening of envelopes

17. When the ballot box has been opened, the returning officer shall take all the envelopes out of the ballot box, open the envelopes and count and note the number of ballot papers received.

Treatment of ballot papers

18. For the purposes of—

(a) scrutinising ballot papers under—

(i) Regulation 20 in order to discover any papers liable to be rejected as invalid for the reasons set out in paragraphs (f) and (g) of Regulation 19, and

(ii) Regulation 23, and

(b) counting the votes under Regulation 25,

the returning officer shall cause the ballot papers to be kept face upwards and shall take due precautions to prevent any person from seeing the details printed or otherwise entered on the backs of the said papers.

Invalid ballot papers

19. Any ballot paper—

(a)which does not bear the official mark, or

(b) on which the details do not correspond with the details on the relevant entry on the electoral roll, or

(c) which has not been signed by the tenant concerned, or

(d) which has been signed by a person other than the tenant concerned, or

(e) in the case of an apartment where there are 2 or more tenants, the ballot paper has not been signed by a majority of the tenants of the apartment, or

(f) on the front of which the mark “x” or any other mark indicating a preference is not placed at all, or

(g) on the front of which anything is written or marked which, in the opinion of the returning officer, is calculated to identify the voter,

shall be invalid.

Scrutiny of ballot papers

20. The returning officer shall cause the ballot papers to be scrutinised for the purpose of discovering any papers liable to be rejected as invalid.

Treatment of invalid ballot papers

21. The returning officer shall—

(a) endorse the word “rejected” on any ballot paper which is invalid,

(b) prepare a statement showing the number of ballot papers rejected for each reason set out in Regulation 19, and

(c) set aside the ballot papers rejected as invalid.

Invalid preferences

22. (1) In the case of a ballot paper not rejected as invalid under Regulation 19 and subject to paragraph (2)—

(a) a preference—

(i) indicated by a mark that is neither the mark “x” nor any other mark which, in the opinion of the returning officer, clearly indicates a preference, or

(ii) indicated by the mark “x” or any other mark which, in the opinion of the returning officer, clearly indicates a preference, but which is not so placed as to indicate a “Yes” or a “No” answer to the question concerned, or

(b) preferences that indicate a “Yes” and a “No” answer to the same question,

shall be invalid.

(2) A preference shall not be invalid by reason only of its bearing the figure “1” or the word “one” or any other mark which, in the opinion of the returning officer, clearly indicates a “Yes” or “No” answer to the question concerned.

(3) For the avoidance of doubt, a preference indicating a “Yes” or “No” answer to a question on the ballot paper shall not be invalid by reason only that a preference in respect of the other question on the ballot...