First Previous (PART II. Financial.) Next (PART IV. Miscellaneous and General.)

30 1929

AGRICULTURAL CREDIT ACT, 1929

PART III.

Priority of Charges on Land.

Priority of certain charges in favour of the Corporation.

14. —(1) Where—

(a) a person is in occupation of land in respect of which rent or interest in lieu of rent or payment in lieu of rent or interest on purchase money is for the time being payable to the Irish Land Commission, and

(b) such person is certified by the Irish Land Commission to be the person by whom such rent or interest in lieu of rent or payment in lieu of rent or interest on purchase money (as the case may be) is payable at the date of such certificate, and

(c) such person (either alone or in conjunction with other persons) within one month after the date of such certificate charges such land in favour of the Corporation with payment of a principal sum not exceeding four hundred pounds, and

(d) the instrument effecting such charge is duly registered in the Registry of Deeds, and

(e) at the date of such instrument no lis pendens is registered in respect of such land in the Central Office of the High Court or in the Circuit Court Office for the county or county borough in which such land is situate,

then (subject to the provisions of this section) such charge shall as against such land be in priority to and shall override all estates and interests in and all incumbrances on and all claims against such land which are subsisting at the date of such instrument save and except the said rent, interest in lieu of rent, payment in lieu of rent or interest on purchase money (as the case may be), compounded arrears of rent within the meaning of the Land Purchase Acts, mortgages in favour of the Irish Land Commission, any land purchase annuity which may subsequently be charged on such land under the Land Purchase Acts, and any of the charges mentioned in paragraphs (a), (b), (d), (e) and (g) of section 47 of the Act of 1891.

(2) In any case in which all the circumstances mentioned in paragraphs (a) to (e) of the foregoing sub-section are present save that the person mentioned in the said paragraph (a) is in occupation of the land as personal representative of a deceased person and the certificate mentioned in the said paragraph (b) is to the effect that the rent, or interest in lieu of rent or payment in lieu of rent or interest on purchase money (as the case may be) is payable by the representative of the said deceased person and the charge mentioned in the said paragraph (c) is expressed to be made by the grantor or one of the grantors thereof as personal representative of the said deceased person, then the said sub-section shall apply to the said charge and such charge shall have priority accordingly and shall also be deemed to be made in due course and for the purpose of the administration of the estate of the said deceased person.

(3) Where at the date of an instrument effecting a charge on land which would, on such instrument being registered in the Registry of Deeds, be entitled to priority under this section, a caution under section 61 of the Act of 1891 as amended by this Act appears in the Land Registry in respect of such land, the relative priorities of such charge and of the estate, interest, incumbrance, or other claim against such land of the person by whom such caution was lodged shall, notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, be determined as if this Act had not been passed.

(4) In this Act—

a charge on land to which priority is given by this section is referred to as a priority charge;

a person by whom a priority charge is given is referred to as mortgagor;

estates and interests in and incumbrances on and claims against land which are postponed in priority by virtue of this section to a priority charge are collectively referred to as puisne claims;

a person entitled to a puisne claim is referred to as a puisne claimant; and

the expression “permanent improvement charge” means a priority charge in respect of which it is shown by the mortgagor that the principal sum secured by such charge was advanced by the Corporation solely for one or more of the following purposes, that is to say, constructing buildings on the land the subject of such charge or making on such land improvements of a permanent character calculated to increase or facilitate or conduce to the increase of the productivity of such land or paying the expenses of borrowing such money and giving security for the repayment thereof and that the said principal sum was actually expended wholly for one or more of those purposes.

Lodgment of cautions by puisne claimants.

15. —(1) Any person claiming to be entitled to an estate or interest in or incumbrance on or claim against any land not registered in the Land Registry which is a puisne claim against such land or would become a puisne claim against such land if a priority charge were created on such land, may (whether the instrument, if any, under which such claim arises is or is not registered in the Registry of Deeds) lodge under section 61 of the Act of 1891 a caution against the registration against such land on or after the first registration thereof of any dealing with such land in favour of the Corporation to the prejudice of such claim.

(2) Where a caution is lodged under section 61 of the Act of 1891 as extended by the foregoing sub-section in respect of any land, sub-section (2) of the said section 61 shall not apply to such caution but in lieu thereof such caution shall, on the first registration of such land, be entered on the folio relating to such land as a caution lodged under section 69 of the said Act and shall have effect accordingly.

Rights of puisne claimants.

16. —(1) A priority charge which is not a permanent improvement charge shall, as between the mortgagor by whom such charge was given and puisne claimants against land affected by such charge, be deemed to be charged on all and every (if any) estate and interest in such land to which such mortgagor was at the date of the registration of such charge in the Registry of Deeds or becomes at any time thereafter beneficially entitled in indemnification of all puisne claims against such land by puisne claimants.

(2) All moneys paid to the Corporation by, or out of the share, estate, or interest of a puisne claimant against land on foot of a priority charge which is not a permanent improvement charge on such land shall be repaid to such claimant by the mortgagor on demand with interest thereon at the rate of five per cent. per annum and until so repaid such moneys and the interest thereon shall be a debt due by the mortgagor to such person on all and every (if any) estate and interest to which the mortgagor is beneficially entitled in such land or the proceeds of the sale thereof at the date of such payment to the Corporation.

Protection of minors and lunatics.

17. —(1) Where land is subject to a priority charge which is not a permanent improvement charge and a person entitled at the date of the registration of such charge in the Registry of Deeds to a puisne claim against such land is at the date of such registration under the age of twenty-one years, or of unsound mind, such person shall be entitled at any time after such registration but, in the case of a person under the age of twenty-one years at the time of such registration, not after he attains the age of twenty-five years, to obtain from the Circuit Court an order that the mortgagor do, by giving security, lodgment of money in court or such other means as shall be approved of by the Court, give to such person an indemnity which in the opinion of the Court adequately protects the puisne claim of such person against the said priority charge and that in default of the mortgagor giving such indemnity within three months after the date of such order the said land be sold by the Court and the proceeds of such sale be applied according to law and that in any event the costs of such person in relation to such order, the application therefor and all proceedings thereunder when taxed as between solicitor and client be paid by the mortgagor.

(2) An indemnity given by a mortgagor in pursuance of an order under the foregoing sub-section shall be enforceable, with the leave of the Circuit Court and in such manner as that Court shall direct, whenever the priority charge in respect of which such indemnity was given is enforced to the prejudice of the puisne claim for the protection of which such indemnity was given or in such other circumstances as in the opinion of the said Court render it just and equitable that such indemnity should be enforced.

(3) The rights and benefits conferred on any person by this section shall be in addition and without prejudice to any other rights or benefits to which such person may be entitled under this Act.

(4) No order under sub-section (1) of this section shall be granted without notice to the mortgagor unless the Court shall think proper to dispense with such notice.

Lodgment of cautions by the Corporation.

18. —Whenever the Corporation claims to be an incumbrancer on unregistered land within the meaning of section 61 of the Act of 1891 by virtue of an instrument registered in the Registry of Deeds, it shall be lawful for the Corporation, notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in the said section, to lodge with the registering authority a caution under the said section, and where such caution is so registered it shall be lawful for the registering authority, on the first registration of such land, to register the incumbrance created by such instrument as a burden affecting such land with such priority (if any) as is given to such incumbrance by this Act or otherwise by law.

Priority charges by personal representative under Amending Act of 1928.

19. —In any case in which all the circumstances mentioned in paragraphs (a) to (e) of sub-section (1) of section 2 of the Amending Act of 1928 are present save that the person mentioned in the said paragraph (a) is dead and the fact of his death and the name of his personal representative are noted in the register mentioned in that paragraph and the charge mentioned in the said paragraph (c) is made by such personal representative in his capacity as such personal representative, then the said sub-section (1) of the said section 2 shall apply to the said charge and such charge shall have priority accordingly and shall, for the purposes of the said Act and particularly for the purposes of sub-sections (2) and (3) of the said section, be deemed to be a charge to which priority is given by the said section, and such charge shall also be deemed to have been made in due course and for the purposes of the administration of the estate of the said deceased person.

Priority charges by limited owner and remainderman under Amending Act of 1928.

20. —Where—

(a) a person is registered in a register of freeholders maintained under the Act of 1891 as limited owner of land, and

(b) such registration is subject to a note as to equities within the meaning of the Amending Act of 1928, and

(c) such person and the person or all the persons entitled to such land for an estate or estates in remainder or expectancy after or in defeasance of the estate of such first-mentioned person join in charging such land in favour of the Corporation with payment of a principal sum not exceeding four hundred pounds, and

(d) the provisions of paragraphs (d) and (e) of sub-section (1) of section 2 of the Amending Act of 1928 are complied with,

then the Amending Act of 1928 shall apply in respect of such charge as fully as if such charge had been made by a person registered in the said register of freeholders as full owner of such land.