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GAZETTE
N
JAN/FEB 1993 '
Notices to Quit
There has never been a statutory
period of time for a notice to quit
tenancy of urban lands in Ireland.
The Landlord and Tenant Act, 1870
and The Notice to Quit Act, 1876
only applied to agricultural property.
This has now been amended by
Section 10 of the Housing
(Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1992
Section 16 which reads:-
"(l)Subject to sub-section (2) and
(3), a notice by a landlord or a
tenant to the other of
termination of the tenancy of a
house let for rent or other
valuable consideration shall not
be valid unless it is in writing
and is served not less than 4
weeks before the date on which
it is to take effect.
(2) This section shall not apply —
(a) to the tenancy of a house let
to a person in connection
with his continuance in any
office, appointment or
employment.
(b) to the tenancy of a house let
bona fide for the temporary
convenience of or to meet a
temporary necessity of the
landlord of the tenant,
(c) to a tenancy conferring on
the tenant the right to
occupy a house for a
holiday, or
(d) to such other class or classes
of tenancies as may be
prescribed for the purposes
of this section by the
Minister.
(3) Nothing in this section shall
prejudice any provision of a
contract or rule of law whereby
a notice by a landlord or a
tenant to the other of
termination of the tenancy of a
house is to be served more than
four weeks before the date on
which it is to take effect."
The effect of it is to make 4 weeks
notice mandatory unless a greater
period is provided for in the contract
or by "Rule of Law", the most
obvious example of this category
being the 6 month period required
for yearly tenancies.
"Ho u s e" is defined in the Act as
including "any building or part of a
building used or
suitable for use
as a
dwelling and out office, yard, garden
or other land appurtenant thereto or
usually enjoyed therewith".
It should be noted that the provision
applies to a tenant giving notice of
termination as well as to a landlord
giving such notice.
Conveyancing
Committee
Private Residential Property
and Clause 36 of The
Contract for Sale
When preparing the 1988 Edition of
the Contract for Sale, the
Conveyancing Committee decided to
change clause 36 by providing that
where planning permission had been
granted since 1 January, 1970 a
certificate of compliance with
planning permission was to be
handed over on closing. When
drafting this clause it had been
intended to apply only to private
residential property. In all other
transactions special conditions
should have been inserted in the
contract but in practice this was
rarely done.
When re-examining the contract the
Conveyancing Committee decided
that it would be preferable for the
general conditions to provide that 1
October, 1964 would be the operative
date in relation to all planning
matters.
When the 1991 Edition of the
standard Contract for Sale was
produced a practice note was issued
(June, 1991
Gazette)
which
recommended that special conditions
should be utilised to implement the
recommendations of the
Conveyancing Committee or of other
Law Society Committees.
The recommendation of the
Conveyancing Committee is that
where private residential property is
a subject matter of a contract for
sale it is reasonable for a vendor's
solicitor to insert a special condition
in the contract providing that no
certificate of compliance with
planning permission will be handed
over in respect of the erection of, or
alteration to, a private residential
property where the work was
completed prior to 31 December,
1975 (the appropriate planning
permission must still be furnished).
Conveyancing
Committee
Irish Document Exchange
37 Fenian Street, Dublin 2.
Phone: 01-764601.
Fax: 01-767093. DX 1 DUBLIN.
OVERNIGHT, EVERY
NIGHT, EVERYWHERE
Now a network of
36 interlinked
exchanges throughout
the country.
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