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21 1966

HOUSING ACT, 1966

PART III

Provision and Management of Dwellings

Duty of housing authority to make inspection and to assess adequacy of supply and condition of housing.

53. —(1) It shall be the duty of a housing authority, within such period after the commencement of this section as may be specified by the Minister and thereafter either at least once in every five years or at such intervals, being less than five years, as the Minister may direct from time to time, to inspect the houses in their functional area and to ascertain—

(a) to what extent there exist in the area houses which are in any respect unfit or unsuitable for human habitation,

(b) any overcrowding existing in the area, and

(c) such other matters as the Minister may specify from time to time,

and having regard to the information obtained by the inspection, and such other information as may be relevant, to assess, as respects the area, the adequacy of the supply of housing and the prospective future demand for housing and to cause a report thereon to be prepared.

(2) For the purposes of the preparation of a report under this section, a housing authority shall make such enquiries and keep such records as may appear to them to be necessary or expedient, or which the Minister may direct.

Review by housing authority of cost of housing services.

54. —(1) It shall be the duty of a housing authority, within such period after the commencement of this section as may be specified by the Minister and thereafter at such intervals as the Minister may direct from time to time, to prepare a review of the cost of their housing services.

(2) In preparing a review under this section the housing authority shall have regard to the following:

(a) the income accruing from dwellings provided by the authority under this Act, whether from rents, purchase annuities or otherwise,

(b) the maintenance, management, administrative or other expenses (including annual loan charges) incurred in respect of such dwellings,

(c) the anticipated cost of the authority's current or proposed building programme, and

(d) such other matters as the Minister may specify from time to time.

(3) A review under this section shall be in such form and shall include such matters as may be specified by the Minister from time to time.

Building programmes.

55. —(1) It shall be the duty of a housing authority, within such period after the commencement of this section as may be specified by the Minister and thereafter either at least once in every five years or at such intervals, being less than five years, as the Minister may direct from time to time, to prepare and adopt a programme (in this Act referred to as a building programme) setting out the works which they propose to undertake having regard to the housing needs of their functional area.

(2) A building programme shall be in such form as the Minister may from time to time direct and shall include the proposals of the housing authority, as respects the period to which the programme relates, for the provision of houses, amenities, buildings and other land together with the ancillary works or services to be provided in connection therewith, together with the proposals of the authority for the assistance of persons providing houses for their own occupation, and for the execution of repair works, together with such other information as the Minister may require, and the housing authority may, if they think fit, include in the programme, an order of priorities relating to any one or more of the following:

(a) particular projects;

(b) projects in particular areas;

(c) projects to provide housing accommodation for particular categories of persons.

(3) In preparing a building programme, a housing authority shall have regard to the following objectives:

(a) the repair, closure or demolition of houses which are unfit or unsuitable for human habitation;

(b) the elimination of overcrowding;

(c) the provision of adequate and suitable housing accommodation for persons (including elderly or disabled persons) who, in the opinion of the authority, are in need of and are unable to provide such accommodation from their own resources;

(d) the provision of adequate housing accommodation to meet needs arising from the obsolescence of dwellings or the prospective increase in the population;

(e) the provision of adequate and suitable sites for building purposes;

(f) the securing of the objectives contained in a development plan under the Local Government (Planning and Development) Act, 1963 , for the area which comprises or includes, as the case may be, the functional area of the authority;

(g) the encouragement by the authority of the provision by persons of houses for owner-occupation by the owner or for letting.

(4) Where a housing authority have prepared and adopted a building programme they shall review the programme from time to time as the Minister or occasion may require and make in it and adopt any variations which they consider proper.

(5) The adoption under this section of either a building programme or a variation in a building programme shall each be a reserved function.

Provision of dwellings.

56. —(1) A housing authority may erect, acquire, purchase, convert or reconstruct, lease or otherwise provide dwellings (including houses, flats, maisonettes and hostels) and such dwellings may be temporary or permanent.

(2) A housing authority may, in connection with dwellings provided, to be provided or which in the opinion of the authority will in the future require to be provided under this Act, provide and, if they think fit, maintain in good order and repair roads, shops, playgrounds, places of recreation, parks, allotments, open spaces, sites for places of worship, factories, schools, offices and other buildings or land and such other works or services, as will, in the opinion of the authority, serve a beneficial purpose either in connection with the requirements of the persons for whom the dwellings are provided or in connection with the requirements of those persons and of other persons.

Power of housing authority to provide building sites.

57. —A housing authority may provide sites for building purposes on land acquired or appropriated by them for purposes of this Act and in connection with the provision of such sites may construct roads and lay out open spaces on the land and provide such other services and carry out such other works as may be necessary for or incidental to the development of the land for building purposes, including works or services necessary for or incidental to the development of the land for places of worship, factories, schools, shops, offices, playgrounds, places of recreation, parks and open spaces.

Management and control of certain dwellings and of any ancillary amenities, works or services provided in connection therewith.

58. —(1) Subject to the following provisions of this section and to such regulations as may be made by the Minister for the purposes of this section, the management and control of any dwelling, building or other land of which a housing authority are the owner and of any works or services, provided by the authority under this Act, shall be vested in and exercised by the authority.

(2) A housing authority may reconstruct, enlarge or improve any dwelling or other building of which they are the owner.

(3) Subject to the said regulations, a housing authority may as respects a dwelling provided under this Act of which they are the owner charge such rent or other payment for the tenancy or occupation thereof as they may determine from time to time and as respects any buildings or other land or works or services provided under this Act the authority may make such charge, whether by way of rent or otherwise, as they shall think fit.

(4) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1) of this section, regulations made by the Minister for the purposes of this section may provide for all or any of the following matters:

(a) the maximum number of persons who shall be permitted to occupy dwellings to which the regulations apply on any letting;

(b) the terms and conditions to be included in any agreement under which any person is permitted to occupy or use such dwellings;

(c) matters to which a housing authority shall have regard in determining rents;

(d) such other matters as the Minister may consider necessary or expedient for the purpose of securing the proper and efficient management of such dwellings.

(5) The Land Law (Ireland) Act, 1881, shall not apply as respects the letting by a housing authority of an allotment provided under section 56 of this Act, and such letting shall, unless a provision to the contrary is contained in a letting agreement, be deemed to be a letting for temporary convenience and determinable at the end of any month.

Amendment of section 1 of Local Government (Rates on Small Dwellings) Act, 1928.

59. —Subsection (3) of section 1 of the Local Government (Rates on Small Dwellings) Act, 1928 , shall be construed as if the references to houses or cottages included references to dwellings provided under this Act.

Duty of housing authority to make scheme of priorities for letting housing accommodation.

60. —(1) It shall be the duty of a housing authority to make in accordance with this section within one year from the commencement hereof and thereafter from time to time as they shall think fit, a scheme determining the priorities to be accorded to categories of persons specified in the scheme in the letting of dwellings provided by the authority under this Act and of which they are the owner.

(2) Where a housing authority have made a scheme under this section, they may from time to time review the scheme and make in it any amendments which they consider proper.

(3) In making or amending a scheme under this section the housing authority shall have regard to the following primary objectives:

(a) the repair, closure or demolition of houses which are unfit in any respect for human habitation;

(b) the elimination of overcrowding;

(c) the provision of adequate and suitable housing accommodation for persons (including elderly or disabled persons) who, in the opinion of the housing authority are in need of and are unable to provide such accommodation from their own resources;

(d) the provision of adequate and suitable housing accommodation for persons suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis.

(4) A scheme made under this section may specify that particular priorities shall be accorded to particular categories of persons in the letting of particular dwellings.

(5) A scheme under this section, or an amendment to any such scheme, shall be made only with the approval of the Minister.

(6) The Minister may from time to time require a housing authority as respects any matter in a scheme made under this section to vary the scheme in a manner directed by him and thereupon it shall be the duty of the authority to comply with the direction within such time as may be specified by the Minister in that behalf, and this subsection shall neither be construed nor operate to enable the Minister to direct the letting of a dwelling to any individual person.

(7) Whenever a scheme under this section comes into force the following shall apply:

(a) regulations which, immediately before the scheme came into force, applied in respect of dwellings to which the scheme relates, shall, in so far as they provide for the determination of preferences or priorities to be accorded to persons in the letting of the dwellings, cease to have effect;

(b) lettings by the housing authority of dwellings to which the scheme relates shall be in accordance with the provisions of the scheme.

(8) For the purpose of determining the order of priority to be followed in the making of lettings to persons in accordance with the relevant scheme under this section the housing authority shall obtain and have regard to a report from their chief medical officer.

(9) A housing authority shall, upon request, permit a scheme made by them under this section to be inspected during office hours by any person.

(10) The making of a scheme under this section or an amendment to any such scheme shall be a reserved function.

Requiring information from tenants and persons applying for tenancies.

61. —(1) A housing authority may, for the purposes of enabling them to determine the rent that shall be payable by a person to whom they have let or who has applied to have let to him a dwelling provided under this Act, require the person to furnish to the authority, within a specified period ending not less than fourteen days after being so required, particulars in writing of the following matters:

(a) the number of members of the person's family residing with him, together with their ages, sex, occupations and conditions of health;

(b) the weekly income of the person and of each of the members of his family residing with him;

(c) any assistance, benefit or allowance received by or on behalf of the person or a member of his family residing with him from state funds or under the Public Assistance Act, 1939, the Health Acts, 1947 to 1960, or from any other source whatsoever;

(d) the means of transport available to bring such person and the members of his family residing with him to their places of work, or in the case of children, to school and the cost of such transport;

(e) the terms upon which premises are occupied by him, the amount of rent payable in respect of such premises and the name and address of the person to whom such rent is payable.

(2) Any person who is required under this section to state any matter or thing and either fails to state the matter or thing within the period specified under this section, or when stating such matter or thing, makes a statement in writing which to his knowledge is false or misleading in a material respect shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding twenty-five pounds.

Recovery of possession of dwellings and other buildings.

62. —(1) In case,

(a) there is no tenancy in—

(i) a dwelling provided by a housing authority under this Act,

(ii) any building or part of a building of which the authority are the owner and which is required by them for the purposes of this Act, or

(iii) a dwelling of which the National Building Agency Limited is the owner,

whether by reason of the termination of a tenancy or otherwise, and

(b) there is an occupier of the dwelling or building or any part thereof who neglects or refuses to deliver up possession of the dwelling or building or part thereof on a demand being made therefor by the authority or Agency, as the case may be, and

(c) there is a statement in the demand of the intention of the authority or Agency to make application under this subsection in the event of the requirements of the demand not being complied with,

the authority or Agency may (without prejudice to any other method of recovering possession) apply to the justice of the District Court having jurisdiction in the district court district in which the dwelling or building is situate for the issue of a warrant under this section.

(2) Where—

(a) the rent of any dwelling let by a housing authority under this Act or by the National Building Agency Limited either on a monthly tenancy or on a tenancy for a less period than a month, is in arrears for a period of not less than one month, and

(b) the dwelling is, in the opinion of the authority or the Agency, as the case may be, abandoned by the person to whom it was so let, and

(c) the dwelling is not actually occupied by any person,

the authority or the Agency may give to the person to whom the dwelling was so let notice, being of not less duration than that which would be required to terminate the tenancy by notice to quit, of their intention to resume possession of the dwelling andin case notice is duly given under this subsection and if, but only if, at the expiration of the notice the said rent in arrears is unpaid, the authority or Agency may resume possession of the dwelling and thereupon the tenancy therein shall by virtue of this subsection terminate.

(3) Upon the hearing of an application duly made under subsection (1) of this section, the justice of the District Court hearing the application shall, in case he is satisfied that the demand mentioned in the said subsection (1) has been duly made, issue the warrant.

(4) The provisions of sections 86, 87, and 88 of the Act of 1860 shall apply in respect of the issue of a warrant under this section subject to the modification that where as respects an application under subsection (1) of this section, the name of the occupier of a dwelling or building or part thereof cannot by reasonable enquiry be ascertained, a summons under the said section 86 may be addressed to “the occupier” without naming him, and the warrant when so issued shall have the same effect as a warrant under the said section 86.

(5) In any proceedings for the recovery of possession of a dwelling or building or part thereof mentioned in subsection (1) of this section, a document purporting to be the relevant tenancy agreement produced by the body by whom the proceedings are brought shall be prima facie evidence of the agreement and it shall not be necessary to prove any signature on the document and in case there is no tenancy in the premises to which the proceedings relate by reason of the termination of a tenancy by notice to quit and the person to whom such notice was given is the person against whom the proceedings are brought, the following additional provisions shall apply:

(a) any demand or requirement contained in such notice that the person deliver up possession of the said premises to the authority or the Agency, shall be a sufficient demand for the purposes of paragraph (b) of the said subsection (1); and

(b) any statement in the said notice of the intention of the authority or the Agency to make application under subsection (1) of this section in respect of the premises shall be a sufficient statement for the purposes of paragraph (c) of the said subsection (1).

(6) Nothing in the Landlord and Tenant Acts, 1931 and 1958, or the Rent Restrictions Act, 1960 , shall be deemed to affect the provisions of this Act relating to the obtaining of possession of a dwelling or building or part thereof mentioned in subsection (1) of this section.