Landlord and tenant (ground rents) act, 1978

• Enactment Date: 16 May 1978
• Act Number: 7

Number 7 of 1978
LANDLORD AND TENANT (GROUND RENTS) ACT, 1978
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
Section 1. Definitions. 2. Restriction on right to create leases of dwellings. 3. Extension of section 2. 4. Sales of dwellings by housing authority. 5. Short title, construction and collective citation.
Number 7 of 1978
LANDLORD AND TENANT (GROUND RENTS) ACT, 1978
AN ACT TO PREVENT THE CREATION OF NEW LEASES RESERVING GROUND RENTS ON DWELLINGS AND TO PROVIDE FOR RELATED MATTERS. [16th May, 1978]
BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:
	Definitions.	1.—In this Act—
	“the Act of 1958” means the Landlord and Tenant (Reversionary Leases) Act, 1958 ;
	“the Act of 1967” means the Landlord and Tenant (Ground Rents) Act, 1967 ;
	“dwelling” does not include a separate and self-contained flat in premises divided into two or more such flats;
	“person” includes his personal representatives and successors in title.
	Restriction on right to create leases of dwellings.	2.—(1) Subject to subsection (2), a lease of land made after the passing of this Act shall be void if the lessee would, apart from this section, have the right under section 3 of the Act of 1967 to enlarge his interest into a fee simple and the permanent buildings are constructed for use wholly or principally as a dwelling.
	(2) Subsection (1) shall not apply where the lease is a reversionary lease under the Act of 1958.
	(3) The construction of permanent buildings for use wholly or principally as a dwelling on land which is held under a lease made after the passing of this Act shall render the lease void if the existence of the buildings, as so constructed, immediately before the making of the lease would have rendered the lease void under subsection (1).
	(4) A person who has given consideration for a lease that is void under subsection (1) shall have the right to acquire the fee simple in the land and any intermediate interests therein as if he were a person to whom section 3 of the Act of 1967 applies at the expense, as to both purchase money and costs, of the person who purported to grant the lease.
	(5) (a) Where, immediately before the passing of this Act—
	(i) a person holds land under a lease for a term of not less than ninety-nine years, of which at least fifty years are unexpired, and
	(ii) permission exists under Part IV of the Local Government (Planning and Development) Act, 1963 (including permission granted on an outline application under regulations made under section 25 of that Act) for the development of the land, wholly or mainly by the construction of dwellings,
	that person shall, during the period of one year after such passing, have the right to acquire under the Act of 1967 the fee simple in the land and any intermediate interests therein, except in a case in which he has entered into an enforceable agreement with another person for the assignment to that person of his interest under the lease or for the grant of a lease for a term of not less than ninety-nine years, in which case the latter person shall during that period of one year have such right.
	(b) Section 18 (1) (b) of the Act of 1967 (which refers to the maximum purchase price) shall not apply in any such case.
	(6) Where the trustees of a trust established by any enactment for the provision of dwellings are prevented by reason of this section from disposing of such dwellings to their tenants by way of lease, they shall be empowered in lieu thereof to dispose of them to their tenants by the grant of the fee simple.
	(7) Where a lease is rendered void under subsection (3)—
	(a) a sublease of any portion of the land shall not be terminated thereby, if the buildings referred to in subsection (3) are not constructed, either wholly or in part, on that portion,
	(b) the...