PART I

Preliminary

1. —(1) This Act may be cited as the Landlord and Tenant (Amendment) Act, 1980.

(2) The Landlord and Tenant (Ground Rents) Act, 1967 , the Landlord and Tenant (Amendment) Act, 1971 , the Landlord and Tenant (Ground Rents) Act, 1978 , the Landlord and Tenant (Ground Rents) (No. 2) Act, 1978 , and this Act shall be construed together as one Act and may be cited together as the Landlord and Tenant Acts, 1967 to 1980.

2. —This Act shall come into operation on such day as the Minister by order appoints.

3. —(1) In this Act, except where the context otherwise requires—

“Act of 1931” means the Landlord and Tenant Act, 1931 ;

“Act of 1958” means the Landlord and Tenant (Reversionary Leases) Act, 1958 ;

“Act of 1967” means the Landlord and Tenant (Ground Rents) Act, 1967 ;

“business” means any trade, profession or business, whether or not it is carried on for gain or reward, any activity for providing cultural, charitable, educational, social or sporting services, and also the public service and the carrying out by an authority being the council of a county, the corporation of a county or other borough, the council of an urban district, the commissioners of a town, a health board under the Health Act, 1970 , or a harbour authority under the Harbours Act, 1946 , of any of their functions;

“controlled dwelling” means a controlled dwelling under the Rent Restrictions Act, 1960 ;

“the Court” means the Circuit Court;

“covenant” includes condition and agreement and any reservation, stipulation or other similar provision in a lease or tenancy;

“development” and “development plan” have the meanings assigned by the Local Government (Planning and Development) Act, 1963 ;

“immediate lessor” means the person for the time being entitled to the next superior interest in premises held by any other person under a lease or other contract of tenancy or otherwise;

“improvement certificate” has the meaning assigned by section 55 (1);

“improvement consent” has the meaning assigned by section 48 (2) (a);

“improvement notice” has the meaning assigned by section 48 (1);

“improvement objection” has the meaning assigned by section 48 (2) (c);

“improvement order” has the meaning assigned by section 52 (3);

“improvement undertaking” has the meaning assigned by section 48 (2) (b);

“landlord” means the person for the time being entitled to receive (otherwise than as agent for another person) the rent paid in respect of premises by the tenant thereof and, where the context so admits, includes a person who has ceased to be so entitled by reason of the termination of his tenancy;

“lease” means an instrument in writing, whether under or not under seal, containing a contract of tenancy in respect of any land in consideration of a rent or return and includes a fee farm grant;

“lessee” includes tenant and the personal representatives and successors in title of a lessee;

“lessor” includes landlord and the personal representatives and successors in title of a lessor;

“the Minister” means the Minister for Justice;

“planning authority” has the meaning assigned by the Local Government (Planning and Development) Act, 1963 ;

“planning permission” means a permission for the development of land if required by and granted under Part IV of the Local Government (Planning and Development) Act, 1963 , and, where regulations under section 25 of that Act make provision for outline applications, includes a permission granted on such an application;

“predecessors in title”—

(a) when used in relation to a tenant, means all previous tenants under the same tenancy as the tenant or any tenancy of which that tenancy is or is deemed to be a continuation or renewal, and

(b) when used in relation to a landlord, means all previous landlords;

“prescribed” means prescribed by regulations made by the Minister under this Act;

“Rent Restrictions Acts”, when used without reference to particular years, includes, where the context so admits, a reference to the Increase of Rent and Mortgage Interest (Restrictions) Act, 1923 , to the Rent Restrictions Act, 1946 , and to the Rent Restrictions Acts, 1960 and 1967;

“reversionary lease” has the meaning assigned by section 30;

“state authority” means any authority being a Minister of the Government, the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland or the Irish Land Commission;

“statutory tenancy” means a statutory tenancy under the Rent Restrictions Act, 1946 , or the Rent Restrictions Act, 1960 ;

“tenant” means the person for the time being entitled to the occupation of premises and, where the context so admits, includes a person who has ceased to be entitled to that occupation by reason of the termination of his tenancy;

“tenement” has the meaning assigned by section 5;

“work notice” has the meaning assigned by section 49 (1);

“work undertaking” has the meaning assigned by section 49 (2).

(2) A reference in this Act to a Part or section is to a Part or section of this Act unless it is indicated that reference to some other enactment is intended.

(3) A reference in this Act to a subsection, paragraph or other division is to the subsection, paragraph or other division of the provision in which the reference occurs, unless it is indicated that reference to some other provision is intended.

(4) A reference in this Act to any enactment shall be construed as a reference to that enactment as amended by any subsequent enactment.

4. —(1) In this section “the relevant date” means the date on which a State authority acquires the interest of the lessor or immediate lessor of any premises.

(2) Subject to the following subsections, this Act shall not bind a State authority in its capacity as lessor or immediate lessor of any premises.

(3) Where a State authority acquires the interest of the lessor or immediate lessor of any premises after the commencement of this Act, section 13 shall apply as if the expressions “at any time” and “at that time” in subsection (1) thereof were references to the relevant date and Part II shall apply accordingly.

(4) Subject to the provisions of this Act, in a case to which subsection (3) applies, the tenant shall be entitled to a new tenancy in the tenement beginning on the termination of the tenancy under which he holds at the relevant date but he shall not be entitled to a further renewal of his tenancy.

(5) In a case to which subsection (3) applies, subsection (2) shall not apply so as to disqualify any person for payment of compensation for improvements in respect of such improvements as may have been carried out before the relevant date.

5. —(1) In this Act “tenement” means—

(a) premises complying with the following conditions:

(i) they consist either of land covered wholly or partly by buildings or of a defined portion of a building;

(ii) if they consist of land covered in part only by buildings, the portion of the land not so covered is subsidiary and ancillary to the buildings;

(iii) they are held by the occupier thereof under a lease or other contract of tenancy express or implied or arising by statute;

(iv) such contract of tenancy is not a letting which is made and expressed to be made for the temporary convenience of the lessor or lessee and (if made after the passing of the Act of 1931) stating the nature of the temporary convenience; and

(v) such contract of tenancy is not a letting made for or dependent on the continuance in any office, employment or appointment of the person taking the letting;

or

(b) premises to which section 14 or 15 applies.

(2) For the purposes of subsection (1) (a) (iii), where a State authority holds premises under a lease or other contract of tenancy express or implied or arising by statute, the authority shall be deemed to be in exclusive occupation thereof notwithstanding that they may be occupied for the purposes of another State authority.

(3) Where—

(a) a person holds premises under a lease or other contract of tenancy express or implied or arising by statute, and

(b) that person is entitled to the occupation of the premises, and

(c) either—

(i) the premises are used with that person's permission by a private company for the purpose of carrying on a business which that person himself carried on in the premises up to the time when it began to be carried on by the private company, or

(ii) that person being a company which is another company's holding company, the premises are used for the purpose of carrying on a business by the other company, or

(iii) that person being a company which is another company's subsidiary, the premises are used for the purpose of carrying on a business by the other company, or

(iv) that person being a company which is another company's subsidiary, the premises are used for the purpose of carrying on a business by another subsidiary of the other company,

the private company, the other company or the other subsidiary (as the case may be) shall be deemed for the purposes of subsection (1) (a) (iii) to be the tenant of the premises and to be in exclusive occupation thereof.

(4) In subsection (3) “company”, “private company”, “holding company” and “subsidiary” have the same meanings respectively as in the Companies Act, 1963 .

6. —Where premises were or are provided or deemed to be provided by a housing authority under the Housing Act, 1966 , the following provisions shall, unless the premises are let for the purpose of carrying on, in all or part thereof, a business, have effect—

(a) if the premises are held by the housing authority in fee simple, this Act shall not apply to the premises;

(b) if the premises are held by the housing authority under a lease or other contract of tenancy express or implied or arising by statute, the housing authority shall be deemed for the purposes of this Act to be the tenant of the premises and to be in exclusive occupation thereof.

7. —Where a person retains possession of a tenement by virtue of the Rent Restrictions Act, 1960 , the tenancy arising by virtue of that Act on the retention shall, for the purposes of this Act (whether the retention began before or after the passing of this Act), be deemed to be a continuation of the tenancy on the termination of which the retention began.

8. —The jurisdiction conferred by this Act on the Court shall be exercised by the Judge of the Court for the time being assigned to the Circuit in which are situate the premises or any part of the premises in relation to which the jurisdiction is exercised.

9. —(1) The Minister may make regulations in relation to any matter referred to in this Act as prescribed.

(2) Every regulation made by the Minister under this Act shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the regulation is passed by either such House within the next subsequent twenty-one days on which that House has sat after the regulation is laid before it, the regulation shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under the regulation.

10. —The expenses incurred by the Minister in the administration of this Act shall, to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

11. —(1) The enactments mentioned in the Schedule are hereby repealed to the extent specified in the third column.

(2) The Landlord and Tenant (Amendment) Act, 1971 , shall have effect as if the references to provisions of the Act of 1958 were to the corresponding provisions of this Act.

(3) Any notice given under an enactment repealed by this Act shall, for the purpose of making a claim under this Act, be treated as a notice under the corresponding provision of this Act as if that provision of this Act as if that provision were in force when the notice was given.

(4) Subsections (2) and (3) are without prejudice to section 21 of the Interpretation Act, 1937 , which, amongst other matters, provides for the continuance of pending proceedings and the preservation of existing rights and liabilities.

12. —The rules of court for the purposes of any enactment repealed by this Act shall, pending the making of rules of court for the purposes of this Act, apply for such purposes with such adaptations as may be necessary.