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17 1989

BUILDING SOCIETIES ACT, 1989

PART I

Preliminary and General

Short title and commencement.

1. —(1) This Act may be cited as the Building Societies Act, 1989.

(2) This Act shall come into operation on such day or days as may be fixed by order or orders of the Minister, either generally or with reference to a particular purpose or provision, and different days may be so fixed for different purposes and different provisions.

Interpretation.

2. —(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—

Act of 1963” means the Companies Act, 1963 ;

Act of 1971” means the Central Bank Act, 1971 ;

alteration”, in relation to the memorandum or rules of a building society, includes any addition to or variation of the memorandum or rules, the rescission of any provision of the memorandum or rules, whether with or without the substitution of one or more than one provision in the memorandum or rules for any provision so rescinded, and cognate words shall be construed accordingly;

adoptable powers” means powers which, under any provision of this Act, must, in order to be exercisable, be adopted by the society and “adopt” or “adopted” means adopt or adopted by agreement on the formation of the society or subsequently by a special resolution;

the annual accounts” has the meaning assigned to it by section 77 ;

associated body” means a body in which the society holds shares or corresponding membership rights under section 28 ;

authorisation” means authorisation under section 17 ;

bank” means the holder of a licence under section 9 of the Act of 1971;

building society” means a building society incorporated or deemed by section 124 (2) to be incorporated under this Act;

Central Bank” means the Central Bank of Ireland;

commission” includes any gift, bonus, fee, payment or other benefit;

the Companies Acts” means the Companies Act, 1963 and every enactment which is to be construed with it as one Act;

contravention” includes failure to comply;

conversion resolution” has the meaning assigned to it by section 71 ;

Court” means the High Court;

deposit” includes loan and cognate expressions shall be construed accordingly;

dispose” and “disposition”, in relation to any property, include the granting of any interest in or right over it;

director” includes any person occupying the position of director, by whatever name called;

functions” includes powers and duties;

house” includes any building or part of a building used or suitable for use as a dwelling and any outoffice, yard, garden, or other land appurtenant thereto or usually enjoyed therewith and “housing” shall be construed accordingly;

housing loan” means a loan within the meaning of section 22 ;

member”, in relation to a society, means a member within the meaning of section 16 ;

Minister” means the Minister for the Environment;

mortgage” includes charge;

officer”, in relation to a building society or other body corporate, means a director, chief executive or secretary, by whatever name called, and, in relation to any offence, also includes any person who purports to act as an officer of the body;

prescribed” means prescribed by regulations made under this Act;

the public file”, in relation to a building society, has the meaning assigned to it by section 122 ;

repealed enactments” means the enactments repealed by section 6 ;

society” means a building society;

special resolution” has the meaning assigned to it by section 70 ;

subsidiary” has the same meaning as it has in the Companies Acts;

summary financial statement” has the meaning assigned to it by section 79 .

(2) In this Act in any reference to a person's shareholding in a society the value of the person's shares shall be taken as the amount standing to his credit in respect of payments made by him on the shares and interest credited to them by way of capitalisation.

(3) In this Act a reference to a Part, section, or Schedule is to a Part, section, or Schedule of this Act, unless it is indicated that reference to some other enactment is intended.

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

(5) In this Act a reference to an enactment shall be construed as a reference to that enactment as amended, adapted or extended by or under any subsequent enactment including this Act or regulations made under this Act.

(6) In this Act a reference to any provision of this Act shall, where appropriate, be construed as a reference to that provision as modified by regulation.

Regulations, directions, etc.

3. —(1) Regulations may be made by the appropriate authority, being the Minister, the Minister for Finance, the Minister for Justice or the Central Bank—

(a) for the general purposes or for any particular purpose of this Act, or

(b) prescribing any matter referred to in this Act as prescribed or to be prescribed, or in relation to any matter referred to as the subject of regulations.

(2) Regulations under this Act may apply either generally or by reference to a specified class or classes of societies, loans, assets, liabilities or powers of societies, or to a specified time or times, or during a specified period or periods or by reference to any other matter as the appropriate authority may consider appropriate.

(3) Without prejudice to any specific provision of this Act, any regulations thereunder may contain such incidental, consequential, transitional or supplementary provisions (including provisions for the purpose of effecting the transition from the repealed enactments to this Act) as may appear to the appropriate authority to be necessary or proper for any purpose of this Act or in consequence of, or to give full effect to, any provision of this Act.

(4) Every regulation made 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 House within the next 21 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 thereunder.

(5) The Central Bank may specify matters or give a direction in relation to any provision of this Act or of regulations made thereunder which provides for the specifying of such matters or the giving of such directions by it to a society and the following provisions shall apply—

(a) such specification or direction shall be given by an officer of the Central Bank duly authorised for that purpose,

(b) the provisions of subsections (2) and (3) shall, subject to any necessary modifications, apply to such specifications or directions as they apply to regulations but a specification or direction may also apply to an individual society.

Regulations to remove difficulties.

4. —If, in any respect, any difficulty arises in bringing any provision of this Act into operation or in relation to the operation of any such provision, the Minister may by regulations do anything which appears to him to be necessary or expedient for removing that difficulty, for bringing that provision into operation, or for securing or facilitating its operation, and any such regulations may modify any provision of this Act so far as may be necessary or expedient for carrying such provision into effect for the purposes aforesaid but no regulations shall be made under this section in relation to any provision of this Act after the expiration of 3 years commencing on the day on which the relevant provision of this Act came into operation.

Modification of Act to conform with changes in company and banking law.

5. —(1) If, on any modification of the enactments in force relating to companies or banks, it appears to the Minister to be expedient to modify the provisions of this Act for the purpose of assimilating the law relating to building societies to the law relating to companies or banks, the Minister may by regulations made with the consent of the Minister for Finance make such modifications of any provisions of this Act as he thinks appropriate for that purpose.

(2) The power conferred by subsection (1) includes power to modify the relevant provisions of this Act so as to—

(a) confer power to make orders, regulations, or other instruments;

(b) provide for the charging of fees but not any charge in the nature of taxation.

(3) Regulations under this section may—

(a) make consequential amendments to or repeals of other provisions of this Act;

(b) make such transitional or saving provisions as appear to the Minister to be necessary or expedient.

(4) In this section “modification” includes any addition and, as regards modifications of the enactments relating to companies or banks, any modification whether effected by any future Act or by a statutory instrument made after the passing of this Act under an Act whenever passed.

Repeals and consequential provisions.

6. —(1) Subject to subsections (2), (4) and (5), the enactments specified in column (2) of the First Schedule are hereby repealed to the extent specified in column (3) of the Schedule.

(2) Subject to subsection (3), Part III of the Building Societies Regulations, 1987 (S.I. No. 27 of 1987) as amended by the Building Societies Regulations (Amendment) Regulations, 1987 (S.I. No. 339 of 1987) shall continue in force, as if made by the Central Bank under section 11 (2) and with the substitution of “Central Bank” for “Registrar”, in relation to—

(a) loans made prior to the commencement of section 22 on the security of a mortgage of freehold or leasehold estate or interest in a house, and

(b) housing loans made on or after the said commencement.

(3) Rule I of the First Schedule to the said Regulations (redemption of loans) shall not apply to a housing loan, made on or after the commencement of section 22 , in respect of which the mortgage or loan agreement provides that the rate of interest may not be changed or may only be changed at intervals of not less than one year.

(4) A society that, immediately before the repeal of section 3 of the Building Societies (Amendment) Act, 1986 , is entitled, by virtue of that section and regulations thereunder, to make loans to members for the purpose of carrying out improvement works to a dwelling shall continue to be entitled to make such loans as if that section had not been repealed until, but only until—

(a) the date on which the memorandum of the society takes effect in accordance with section 124 (8), or

(b) the date on which the power to make loans under section 23 (1) (e) becomes exercisable by the society,

whichever is the earlier.

(5) Notwithstanding the repeal of the Building Societies Act, 1976 , sections 20, excepting subsections (9) and (11), and 21 of that Act, shall continue to apply in relation to the exercise by a building society of any function to which an authorisation under section 17 relates pending the coming into force of Part IX .

Service of notices.

7. —(1) Where a notice, direction or other document is authorised or required by or under this Act or regulations made thereunder to be served on a person, it shall, unless otherwise specified in this Act, be addressed to him and shall be served on or given to him in one of the following ways—

(a) where it is addressed to him by name, by delivering it to him;

(b) by leaving it at the address at which he ordinarily resides or, in a case in which an address for service has been furnished, at that address;

(c) by sending it by ordinary prepaid post addressed to him at the address at which he ordinarily resides or, in a case in which an address for service has been furnished, at that address; or

(d) in the case of an officer of a building society, by sending it to him by ordinary prepaid post addressed to him at the address of the chief office of the society.

(2) Any such document may—

(a) in the case of a building society or any other body corporate, be served on the secretary of the society or the body corporate;

(b) in the case of a partnership, be served on any partner; and

(c) in the case of an unincorporated association other than a partnership, be served on any member of its governing body.

Expenses.

8. —(1) The expenses incurred by the Minister and the Minister for Justice 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.

(2) The expenses incurred by the Minister for Finance in the administration of this Act shall be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

(3) The expenses incurred by the Central Bank in the administration of this Act shall be paid out of the general fund of the Bank.