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42 1923

LAND ACT, 1923

PART I.—FINANCE.

Power to create 4½ per cent. Land Bonds.

1. —(1) In order to provide for the payment of the sums which under this Act are to be paid in Bonds the Minister for Finance shall have power to create and issue, when and as required for the purpose, Bonds to be called 4½ per cent. Land Bonds, of such denominations (not in any case less than one pound) as the Minister may determine.

(2) The Bonds shall bear interest at the rate of four and one-half per cent. per annum on the nominal amount thereof payable in equal half-yearly instalments at such times in each year as may be fixed by the Regulations under which they are issued.

(3) The Bonds shall be redeemable at par together with the payment of all arrears of interest, and the Minister for Finance shall make arrangements for the redemption thereof by means of periodical drawings, and may make regulations for the drawing of such Bonds. Such regulations shall provide for the immediate redemption of Bonds transferred by order of the Judicial Commissioner in satisfaction of Death Duties, or in redemption of land purchase annuities charged on the lands acquired by the Land Commission under this Act:

Provided that any Bonds may at any time after the expiration of thirty years from the issue thereof, if not previously redeemed, be redeemed at par at such time and either by drawings or otherwise as the Minister for Finance may direct.

(4) The interest on the Land Bonds and the sums required for redemption of Land Bonds in accordance with the foregoing provisions shall be paid out of the Land Bond Fund established under this Act, and if the same shall be insufficient shall be charged upon and paid out of the Central Fund of Saorstát Eireann or the growing produce thereof as a first charge thereon after any charges created before the passing of this Act. Any sums so paid out of the Central Fund shall be treated as a temporary advance to the Land Bond Fund, and shall be made good out of the Guarantee Fund.

(5) For the purpose of redemption of the Bonds there shall be set aside in the Land Bond Fund at the close of each half-year the amount of the interest and payments in respect of Sinking Fund payable by the Land Commission, in accordance with the provisions hereinafter contained, together with any sums paid by tenant purchasers in redemption of purchase annuities payable under this Act, and any sums paid in cash by a purchaser on the sale to him by the Land Commission of any land vested in them under this Act, subject to the following deductions:—

(a) the amount of the interest on the Bonds so issued, and for the time being outstanding;

(b) the amount, if any, required for the payment off of any bonds which under this Act have been transferred by order of the Judicial Commissioner, in satisfaction of death duties or in redemption of land purchase annuities.

Advances to be made in 4½ per cent. Land Bonds.

2. —(1) Notwithstanding anything in any other enactment the purchase money to be paid by the Land Commission to vendors in pursuance of subsequent purchase agreements as hereinafter defined shall be paid by means of an issue of 4½ per cent. Land Bonds equal in nominal amount to the Purchase Money and carrying interest as from the date on which the land purchased is vested in the Land Commission.

(2) Land Bonds issued in pursuance of this section shall, as between the vendor and the Land Commission, be accepted by the vendor as the equivalent of the corresponding amount of purchase money, and any person having power to sell under the Land Purchase Acts, although he is not an absolute owner, may enter into a subsequent purchase agreement, notwithstanding that the purchase money is to be paid in Bonds, in pursuance of this section, instead of cash.

Superior interests and other charges to be paid in 4½ per cent. Land Bonds.

3. —The redemption price of all superior and intervening interests, incumbrances and other claims attaching to purchase money paid by means of 4½ per cent. Land Bonds or payable out of such interests, incumbrances and claims, together with all arrears of and interest on such interests, incumbrances and claims and the vendor's costs of sale and the costs of making title to such interests, incumbrances and claims, so far as the same are payable out of the purchase money, shall be paid and discharged by transferring to the person entitled thereto, out of the Land Bonds representing the purchase money, Land Bonds of equal nominal value, and such payment shall be deemed to be satisfaction to the extent of the nominal amount of the Land Bonds so transferred.

In fixing the redemption price of superior interests the Judicial Commissioner shall have regard to the price received by the vendor for the lands out of which such superior interests issue.

Prohibition of penal interest on mortgages pending sale.

4. —Where the instrument creating any mortgage, charge or incumbrance payable out of or charged upon the purchase money of lands taken under the Act provides that interest shall be accepted at a reduced rate upon prompt payment, no higher rate shall be due or recoverable in respect of arrears of interest or on account of any default or delay in payment of interest upon such mortgage, charge or incumbrance pending the completion of the sale.

Costs Fund.

5. —(1) For the purpose of recouping vendors in whole or in part for the costs of sale including costs of owners of superior and intervening interests, incumbrancers and other claimants against the purchase money advanced under this Act there shall be established a Costs Fund amounting to 2 per cent. on the total purchase moneys advanced under this Act.

This Fund shall be raised by the Minister for Finance by the issue of 4½ per cent. Land Bonds as and when required, the interest on the Bonds to be from time to time invested in 4½ per cent. Land Bonds and added to the Costs Fund.

(2) There shall be payable to the vendor out of the Costs Fund such sum in 4½ per cent. Land Bonds as the Judicial Commissioner shall certify to be reasonable having regard to the amount of work done in connection with the sale and the manner in which it has been done:

Provided that no payment shall be made under this section until all the lands of a vendor to be acquired or vested on the appointed day under this Act shall have been vested, unless and to the extent that the Judicial Commissioner shall direct.

Abolition of the percentage.

6. —The provisions of Section 48 of the Irish Land Act, 1903, shall not apply in respect of any land whether tenanted or untenanted purchased by or becoming vested in the Land Commission under or by virtue of this Act.

Recovery by the State of moneys paid through mistake.

7. —Any moneys, bonds, stock or securities paid or distributed by the Land Commission to the wrong person, through a mistake of law or fact, shall be recoverable by the Land Commission as if it were a debt due to the State.

Payment in Bonds.

8. —For the purpose of payment in 4½ per cent. Land Bonds in accordance with the provisions of this Act the amount of the purchase money and of every payment to be made thereout shall in all cases be calculated to the nearest pound.

Repayment of advances.

9. —(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act every advance made in pursuance of a subsequent purchase agreement shall be repaid, in the manner and at the times prescribed by the Minister for Finance, by means of a purchase annuity calculated at the rate of 4¾ per cent. on the amount thereof.

(2) The purchase annuity shall be paid until the whole of the advance in respect of which it is payable is ascertained in manner prescribed by the Minister for Finance to have been repaid.

(3) The provisions of the Provisional Government (Transfer of Functions) Order, 1922, shall not apply to purchase annuities payable in respect of advances made under this Act.

(4) The purchase annuity or any part thereof at any time outstanding may be redeemed in whole or in part by the person liable to pay that annuity by payment to the Land Commission in cash of such amount as shall be ascertained in accordance with Rules made by the Minister for Finance.

Establishment of Land Bond Fund.

10. —(1) There shall be established a Land Bond Fund under the control of the Minister for Finance out of which shall be paid the interest in respect of all Bonds issued under this Act together with the sums required for redemption of Bonds under this Act.

(2) Accounts of the receipts and expenditure of the Land Bond Fund both as regards capital and income shall be kept by the Minister for Finance and those accounts shall be audited by the Comptroller and Auditor-General and the accounts when audited shall be laid before the Oireachtas.

(3) For the purposes of this Act the Land Commission shall keep such accounts containing such particulars and entries as the Minister for Finance may direct and shall furnish those accounts to the Minister for Finance as and when required by him, and the said accounts shall be audited in such manner as the Minister for Finance may prescribe.

(4) Any balance to the credit of the capital or income account of the Land Bond Fund may be temporarily invested by the Minister for Finance in such manner as he may think fit.

Payments by the Land Commission.

11. —(1) Interest at the rate of four and one-half per cent. per annum shall be paid by the Land Commission to the Land Bond Fund on the nominal amount of all Bonds issued under this Act by the Minister for Finance to the Land Commission and not certified by the Minister for Finance to have been repaid.

(2) The Land Commission, where land is vested in them under this Act, shall, until the purchase annuities charged on the land cease to be payable, pay to the Land Bond Fund in respect of Sinking Fund five shillings per cent. per annum—

(a) in the case of tenanted land on the standard price thereof together with the addition (if any) in respect of compounded arrears of rent added to the purchase money from the appointed day;

(b) in the case of untenanted land on the amount of the advances made in respect of such land from the date on which such advances become repayable, and, in so far as such land has not been disposed of within a period of five years from the appointed day, on the amount of the price of such land from the expiration of said period until the lands have been resold;

(c) on the nominal amount of all Bonds issued for contribution to price and for the Costs Fund from the date of the issue of such Bonds until the same shall be certified by the Minister for Finance to have been repaid.

(3) The Land Commission shall pay to the Land Bond Fund in respect of Sinking Fund five shillings per cent. per annum—

(a) on the nominal amount of all Bonds issued for the price of Sporting Rights and Fisheries purchased by them under this Act from the date of the issue of such Bonds until the same shall be certified by the Minister for Finance to have been repaid;

(b) on the amount of advances made by them to proprietors of parcels of untenanted land in non-congested districts counties and of parcels purchased under the Land Purchase Acts for the redemption of Fee-farm or other rents, superior interests and charges from the date on which Land Bonds shall be issued in respect of such advances until the advances have been repaid.

(4) The Land Commission shall pay to the Land Bond Fund all sums received by them for the redemption of purchase annuities payable under this Act, and all sums paid in cash by purchasers on the sale by the Land Commission of any land vested in them under this Act.

(5) If at any time the said annual payments shall be in arrear for forty days, the amount in arrear shall be charged on, and forthwith made good out of, the Guarantee Fund.

(6) Payments by the Land Commission under the preceding sub-sections shall be made at such times in each year as may be prescribed by the Minister for Finance.

(7) A sum sufficient to pay the interest and sinking fund on the Bonds issued under this Act for contribution to price and for the Costs Fund shall be paid in each year to the Land Commission out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

Establishment of Purchase Annuities Fund.

12. —(1) The powers declared in section 6 of the Purchase of Land (Ireland) Act, 1891, to be exercisable by the Lord Lieutenant or by the Treasury, shall henceforth be exercised by the Minister for Finance, and the notice provided for by sub-section (2) of the said section shall cease to be required.

(2) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in the Provisional Government (Transfer of Functions) Order, 1922, all sums collected after the 31st day of March, 1923, in respect of purchase annuities in repayment of advances made or to be made in Saorstát Eireann in pursuance of purchase agreements under the Purchase of Land (Ireland) Act, 1891, or any later Land Purchase Act other than this Act shall so far as not already paid into the Exchequer be paid into a Fund entitled “The Purchase Annuities Fund” to be established under the control of the Minister for Finance, and there shall from time to time be paid thereout by the Minister for Finance to the appropriate authority for the credit of the Land Purchase Account or the Irish Land Purchase Fund as the case may be an amount equivalent to the purchase annuities accruing due in respect of the aforesaid advances.

For the purposes of this section purchase annuities shall be deemed to include interest payable in respect of an advance as aforesaid.

(3) The provisions heretofore applicable for making good any deficiency of the Land Purchase Account or of the Irish Land Purchase Fund shall apply as from the 1st day of April, 1923, in the case of the Purchase Annuities Fund in accordance with regulations to be made by the Minister for Finance.

(4) The Minister for Finance shall have power to make any adjustments rendered necessary by this section in relation to the Exchequer and the Purchase Annuities Fund and the Guarantee Fund in the case of transactions during the period from the 1st day of April, 1923, to the date of the passing of this Act.

Abolition of county limit on advances.

13. —The limit provided by the Land Purchase Acts with respect to the advances which may be made in any county shall not apply to any advances made in pursuance of this Act.

Redemption of Purchase Annuities in certain cases.

14. —Where land which is subject to a land purchase annuity has been acquired by the Land Commission under this Act then in such case the annuity for the repayment of the original advance shall be regarded and dealt with as a claim attaching to the purchase money of the land advanced under this Act.

Trinity College Dublin.

15. —(1) The provisions of sub-sections (1), (2), and (3) of section 39 of the Irish Land Act, 1903, providing for the payment to the public trustee of the sum of £5,000 per annum for the account of Trinity College, Dublin, and for the application of the said moneys shall cease to have effect and in lieu thereof the following provisions shall apply:—

(2) There shall be paid to the College out of moneys to be provided by the Oireachtas the sum of £3,000 per annum.

(3) The investments representing accumulations of the moneys so paid to the public trustee which were not required to make good loss of income to the College and accrued interest thereon shall be transferred to the Minister for Finance and such officer of the College as shall be nominated for the purpose by the Governing Body of the College.

(4) The dividends and income arising from the investments so transferred shall be applied by the College in such manner and for such purposes as to the College may seem proper.

(5) The investments so transferred may be varied from time to time with the consent and approval of the Minister for Finance.

(6) The College may from time to time with the consent of the Minister for Finance realise the whole or any part of the investments so transferred or any other investments for the time being representing the same and apply the moneys arising from such realisation for such purposes as to the College may seem proper and shall be approved of by the Minister for Finance.

Ireland Development Grant.

16. —All moneys standing to the credit of the Ireland Development Grant Account at the date of the passing of this Act shall be paid into the Exchequer.

Power to make Rules.

17. —The Minister for Finance shall have power to make rules for carrying the provisions of this part of this Act into effect and for adapting to the requirements of this Act such provisions of any enactment passed prior to this Act as relate to Land Purchase Finance.