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27 1958

HOUSING (AMENDMENT) ACT, 1958

PART II

Financial Provisions

Continuance of certain sections.

6. —(1) The reference to the 1st day of April, 1958, contained (by virtue of section 6 of the Act of 1956) in paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of section 16 of the Act of 1948, paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of section 20 of that Act and paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of section 24 of the Act of 1952 shall be construed as a reference to the 1st day of April, 1960.

(2) The reference to the 1st day of April, 1958, contained in paragraph (ii) of subsection (1) and paragraph (ii) of subsection (2) of section 11 of the Act of 1956 shall be construed as a reference to the 1st day of April, 1960.

(3) This section shall have and be deemed to have had effect as on and from the 1st day of April, 1958.

Additional grants where certain grants are made under section 3 of Housing (Gaeltacht) Act, 1929.

7. —(1) Where a grant is made to a person under subsection (2) or subsection (3) (inserted by the Housing (Gaeltacht) (Amendment) Act, 1953 ) of section 3 of the Housing (Gaeltacht) Act, 1929 , the housing authority may make to that person a grant of an amount not exceeding the amount of the grant made under that section.

(2) A grant shall not be made under section 9, 10 or 11 of the Act of 1952 in respect of a house in respect of which a grant is made under this section.

(3) For the purposes of this section a housing authority shall have the like powers of borrowing as are conferred on such authority for the purposes of the Housing of the Working Classes Acts or the Labourers Acts.

(4) Subsection (1) of this section shall have effect only in respect of grants to persons improving or extending a house or providing and installing therein a private water supply and sewerage facilities if the improvement or extension or provision and installation commenced on or after the 30th day of June, 1958.

Amendment of section 16 of and the Second Schedule to the Act of 1948.

8. —(1) Section 16 of the Act of 1948 is hereby amended by the insertion after subsection (3) of the following subsections:

“(3A) Where a grant is made to a person reconstructing a house under this section by the Minister and the reconstruction commenced on or after the 30th day of June, 1958, the housing authority may make to that person a grant of an amount not exceeding the amount of the grant made by the Minister.

(3B) A grant shall not be made under section 9, 10 or 11 of the Act of 1952 in respect of a house in respect of which a grant is made under subsection (3A) of this section.

(3C) For the purposes of subsection (3A) of this section a housing authority shall have the like powers of borrowing as are conferred on such authority for the purposes of the Housing of the Working Classes Acts or the Labourers Acts.”

(2) The Second Schedule to the Act of 1948 is hereby amended by the substitution of—

(a) “100” for “80” in the second and third columns respectively,

(b) “120” for “100” (inserted by subsection (1) of section 19 of the Act of 1952) in the said columns, and

(c) “140” for “120” (inserted by the said subsection) in the said columns.

(3) In the case of a grant under section 16 of the Act of 1948 to a person or public utility society erecting a house in an area where, at the date of the application for the grant, no public piped water supply or public sewerage scheme has been provided or is being provided, the Second Schedule to the Act of 1948 shall have effect as if each sum specified in the third column thereof were increased by twenty-five pounds.

(4) (a) Subsection (2) of this section shall have effect only in respect of grants under section 16 of the Act of 1948 to persons reconstructing houses if the reconstruction commenced on or after the 30th day of June, 1958.

(b) Subsection (3) of this section shall have effect only in respect of grants to persons or public utility societies erecting houses if the erection commenced on or after the 30th day of June, 1958.

Grants under section 7 of the Act of 1952.

9. —Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (5) of section 11 of the Act of 1956, a grant may be made under section 7 of the Act of 1952 to a person providing and installing in a dwellinghouse a private water supply and sewerage facilities, if the provision and installation of the water supply and sewerage facilities commenced before the 25th day of July, 1956, and are completed on or before the 1st day of April, 1960.

Amendment of section 33 of the Act of 1952.

10. —(1) Section 33 of the Act of 1952 is hereby amended by the substitution of “£100” for “£80” in paragraph (a) of subsection (2).

(2) In applying paragraph (a) of subsection (2) of the said section 33, as amended by subsection (1) of this section, the reference to £100 shall, in relation to a separate dwelling with more than three rooms, be construed—

(a) in the case of a separate dwelling with five or more rooms—as a reference to £140, and

(b) in any other case—as a reference to £120.

(3) This section shall have effect only in respect of grants to housing authorities executing works referred to in subsection (2) of the said section 33 if the execution of the works commenced on or after the 30th day of June, 1958.

Amendment of section 12 of the Act of 1954 and of section 9 of the Act of 1956.

11. —(1) Section 12 of the Act of 1954 is hereby amended by the substitution of “£100” for “£80” in paragraph (a) of subsection (1) and section 9 of the Act of 1956 is hereby amended by the substitution of “£100” for “£80”, “£140” for “£120” and “£120” for “£100” in subsection (1).

(2) The following paragraph is hereby substituted for paragraph (I) of subsection (2) of section 12 of the Act of 1954:

“(I) (a) the house to be repaired or improved is certified by the housing authority (or, in the case of an appeal, by the Minister) to be suitable for repair or improvement, and

(b) the Minister is satisfied that the proposed works are essential for the purpose of providing suitable housing accommodation, and”.

(3) Notwithstanding the amendment effected by subsection (2) of this section, grants by a housing authority under subsection (3) of section 12 of the Act of 1954 may, if the authority think fit, be confined to—

(a) persons of such class or classes, and/or

(b) persons executing works on houses of such type or types, as may be determined by the authority.

(4) Subsection (1) of this section shall have effect only in respect of grants to persons executing repair or improvement works on houses if the execution of the works commenced on or after the 30th day of June, 1958.

Amendment of section 11 of the Act of 1956.

12. —(1) Section 11 of the Act of 1956 is hereby amended by the substitution of “£50” for “£40” in subsection (1) and of “£25” for “£20” in subsection (2).

(2) The following subsection is hereby inserted after subsection (2) of section 11 of the Act of 1956:

“(2A) The Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, and subject to regulations made under this section, make, out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas, to a person providing and installing in a dwellinghouse a private water supply and private sewerage facilities a grant not exceeding £75, if—

(i) the dwellinghouse is situate in an area where, at the date of the application for the grant, no public piped water supply or public sewerage scheme has been provided or is being provided, and

(ii) the provision and installation of the water supply and sewerage facilities commence on or after the 30th day of June, 1958, and are completed on or before the 1st day of April, 1960, and comply with the conditions set out in the said regulations.”

(3) The following subsections are hereby inserted after subsection (2A) (inserted by this section) of section 11 of the Act of 1956:

“(2B) Where a grant is made to a person under this section by the Minister in respect of the provision and installation of a private water supply or private sewerage facilities or both such supply and such facilities and the provision and installation commenced on or after the 30th day of June, 1958, the housing authority may make to that person a grant of an amount not exceeding the amount of the grant made by the Minister.

(2C) A grant shall not be made under section 9, 10 or 11 of the Act of 1952 in respect of a house in respect of which a grant is made under subsection (2B) of this section.

(2D) For the purposes of subsection (2B) of this section a housing authority shall have the like powers of borrowing as are conferred on such authority for the purposes of the Housing of the Working Classes Acts or the Labourers Acts”.

(4) Subsection (1) of this section shall have effect only in respect of grants under section 11 of the Act of 1956 to persons providing and installing a private water supply or private sewerage facilities or both such supply and such facilities if the provision and installation commenced on or after the 30th day of June, 1958.

Advances by housing authorities for reconstruction, repair, and improvement of houses.

13. —(1) A housing authority may, subject to such conditions as may be approved by the Minister, make an advance to a person (in this section referred to as the borrower) carrying out reconstruction, repair or improvement works on a house, provided that the authority is satisfied that—

(a) after the proposed works are carried out, the house will in all respects be fit for human habitation, and

(b) the proposed works are essential for the purpose of providing suitable housing accommodation, and

(c) the house is suitable for reconstruction, repair or improvement, as the case may be.

(2) An advance under this section in respect of a house shall not exceed seventy-five per cent. of the amount which, in the opinion of the housing authority, the house, if sold in the open market at the date on which the advance is authorised by the housing authority, might reasonably be expected to realise.

(3) An advance under this section shall be repaid with interest within such period not exceeding fifteen years from the date of the payment of the advance or, if the advance is paid in instalments, the date of the payment of the first instalment as may be determined by the housing authority.

(4) Repayment of an advance under this section in respect of a house shall be secured by—

(a) an instrument vesting the ownership of the house in the housing authority subject to the right of redemption by the borrower, or

(b) where such ownership is already vested in the housing authority subject to the right of redemption by the borrower to secure the repayment of an advance in respect of the house under the Small Dwellings Acquisition Acts, 1899 to 1957, as amended by this Act, an instrument of further charge charging the repayment of the advance (together with the interest payable thereon) under this section on the house and making the said right of redemption subject also to the repayment of the advance (together with the interest payable thereon) under this section.

(5) An advance under this section in respect of a house may be paid in instalments from time to time during the carrying out of the works on the house but the total amount of instalments paid at any time shall not exceed the cost of so much of the works as is completed at that time.

(6) (a) For the purposes of this section a housing authority shall have the like powers of borrowing as are conferred on such authority for the purposes of the Housing of the Working Classes Acts or the Labourers Acts.

(b) Money borrowed pursuant to this subsection may be lent to a housing authority by means of an issue from the local loans fund as if such loan constituted a local loan within the meaning of the Local Loans Fund Acts, 1935 to 1957, and was authorised by an Act of the Oireachtas.

(7) For the purposes of this section “ownership” shall be such interest or combination of interests in a house as will constitute either a fee simple (including fee farm) interest in possession or a leasehold interest in possession of such number of years unexpired at the date on which the advance under this section in respect of the house is authorised by the housing authority as is equal to or greater than the sum of the term fixed for the repayment of the advance and fifteen years.

Contributions by Minister to annual loan charges of housing authorities.

14. —(1) The Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Finance and subject to regulations made under this section, make out of moneys to be provided by the Oireachtas, during such period not exceeding fifty years as the Minister may determine, a contribution towards the annual loan charges incurred by a housing authority in respect of money borrowed by them for the provision under the Labourers Acts or under section 24 of the Act of 1950 of cottages or other housing accommodation to which this section applies—

(a) not exceeding sixty-six and two-thirds per cent. of such annual loan charges where the Minister is satisfied that such cottages or other housing accommodation are used for the accommodation of—

(i) persons displaced by the collapse or destruction of their former dwellings or by any of the operations of such housing authority under the Housing of the Working Classes Acts, or

(ii) persons in need of rehousing on medical, compassionate or other similar grounds whose circumstances would not permit them to be so rehoused otherwise,

(b) not exceeding thirty-three and one-third per cent. of such annual loan charges in any other case.

(2) This section applies only to cottages and housing accommodation the erection or provision of which was or shall be commenced on or after the 30th day of June, 1958, and in respect of which a loan to the housing authority was or shall be sanctioned on or after that date.

(3) Every contribution to annual loan charges made by the Minister under this section shall be paid in such manner and at such time or times as the Minister may prescribe by regulations under this section.

(4) For the purposes of this section, the amount of any money borrowed by a housing authority for the provision under the Labourers Acts or under section 24 of the Act of 1950 of cottages or other housing accommodation to which this section applies shall be deemed not to exceed an amount calculated in such manner as may be prescribed by the Minister by regulations under this section, and the amount of the annual loan charges in respect of such money (limited as aforesaid) shall be deemed not to exceed the sums (including interest charges) which would have been payable by the housing authority in any local financial year in repayment of such money (limited as aforesaid) with interest to the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland, if such money had been borrowed from such Commissioners.

(5) Where a contribution has been or will be made under section 6 of the Act of 1932 towards the annual loan charges in respect of money borrowed for the provision of cottages or other housing accommodation under the Labourers Acts, a contribution shall not be made in respect of such charges under this section.

(6) Section 13 of the Act of 1950 shall have effect as if the reference to a contribution to annual loan charges under section 6 of the Act of 1932 included a reference to contributions to annual loan charges under this section.

(7) The Minister may make regulations for the purposes of this section.

Subsidy by Minister in respect of certain annual loan charges of local authorities.

15. —(1) The Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Finance and out of moneys to be provided by the Oireachtas, pay to a housing authority and the commissioners of a town in respect of money to which this section applies borrowed for the purposes of the Housing of the Working Classes Acts or the Labourers Acts, a subsidy (in this section referred to as an interest subsidy) equal to the difference between the loan charges incurred in respect of such money and the loan charges on the same amount calculated at such lesser rate or rates of interest as may be determined by the Minister.

(2) The interest subsidy shall not be reckoned as a contribution to loan charges for the purposes of section 6 of the Act of 1932, as amended.

(3) This section shall apply only to money borrowed from the local loans fund on or after the 5th day of May, 1948, for the provision of houses, cottages or other housing accommodation to which the Housing (Loan Charges Contributions) Regulations, 1932 to 1951, apply.

Provisions consequential on termination of Labourers' Cottages Fund.

16. —(1) In this section—

the Act” means the Labourers (Ireland) Act, 1906;

the Fund” means the Labourers' Cottages Fund created by section 13 (repealed by this Act) of the Act;

the Exchequer Contribution” means the Exchequer contribution under the Purchase of Land (Ireland) Act, 1891.

(2) On the 1st day of April, 1959,—

(a) the moneys and securities which, immediately before such day, stood to the credit of the Fund, together with any interest accrued thereon shall, in accordance with the directions of the Minister for Finance, be paid into or transferred to the Savings Certificates Reserve Fund and there placed to the credit of the Principal Reserve Account,

(b) the Minister for Finance shall cause to be written off from the assets of the local loans fund the capital (as determined by that Minister) which is outstanding in respect of housing loans and which would, but for this Act, fall to be repaid from moneys received from the Exchequer Contribution.

(3) The Minister for Finance shall cause to be written off, with effect from the 1st day of December, 1958, from the advances referred to in subsection (1) of section 17 of the Act such amounts as he considers reasonable having regard to the repeal of that section by this Act.

(4) As respects the financial year ending on the 31st day of March, 1960, and every subsequent financial year, the Exchequer Contribution shall be reduced by the amount required to provide for the following sums, that is to say:

(a) £29,205 6s. 2d., being the sum which, but for the repeal by this Act of section 18 of the Act, would be payable towards the repayment of the loans referred to in that section, and

(b) £4,901 11s. 6d., being the sum which, but for the repeal by this Act of section 13 of the Act, would be payable to the Fund under that section,

and the said sums shall accordingly cease to be paid.

(5) Where any capital is written off under paragraph (b) of subsection (2) of this section—

(a) the corresponding liability of the local loans fund to the Exchequer shall stand discharged,

(b) notwithstanding subsection (2) of section 14 of the Local Loans Fund Act, 1935 , it shall not be necessary to recoup and pay to the local loans fund the amount written off, and

(c) notwithstanding subsection (3) of that section, liability to pay the amount written off shall cease.

Provisions consequential on termination of Irish Housing Fund.

17. —(1) In this section—

the Act” means the Housing of the Working Classes (Ireland) Act, 1908;

the Fund” means the Irish Housing Fund created by section 5 (repealed by this Act) of the Act.

(2) On the 1st day of April, 1959—

(a) the moneys and securities which, immediately before that day, stood to the credit of the Fund, together with any interest accrued thereon shall, in accordance with the directions of the Minister for Finance, be paid into or transferred to the Savings Certificates Reserve Fund and there placed to the credit of the Principal Reserve Account,

(b) the Minister for Finance shall cause to be written off from the assets of the local loans fund the capital (as determined by that Minister) which is outstanding in respect of housing loans and which would, but for this Act, fall to be repaid from sums received from the Fund.

(3) (a) Subject to the consent of the Minister for Finance, the Minister shall, on or as soon as conveniently may be after the 1st day of April, 1959, make, out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas, to each local authority paying relevant amounts, such payment as he considers is equivalent to the sums which that local authority would, but for the repeal by this Act of section 5 of the Act, receive under that section by reference to those amounts.

(b) A local authority shall apply any payment made to them under paragraph (a) of this subsection to the repayment of borrowed money or, with the consent of the Minister, to any purpose to which capital money may be properly applied.

(c) In this subsection “relevant amounts” means, in relation to a local authority amounts—

(i) which, but for the repeal by this Act of section 5 of the Act, would be included in the annual housing charge referred to in that section of that local authority, and

(ii) which are in respect of moneys borrowed otherwise than from the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland.

(4) Where any capital is written off under paragraph (b) of subsection (2) of this section—

(a) the corresponding liability of the local loans fund to the Exchequer shall stand discharged,

(b) notwithstanding subsection (2) of section 14 of the Local Loans Fund Act, 1935 , it shall not be necessary to recoup and pay to the local loans fund the amount written off, and

(c) notwithstanding subsection (3) of that section liability to pay the amount written off shall cease.