25/04/1924: The Housing (Reconstructed Houses) Order, 1924.

MADE BY THE MINISTER FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT

UNDER THE

HOUSING (BUILDING FACILITIES) ACT, 1924 . PRESCRIBING RULES AND CONDITIONS IN RELATION TO GRANTS TO PERSONS RECONSTRUCTING HOUSES UNDER THE ACT.

MINISTRY OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT.

THE HOUSING (BUILDING FACILITIES) ACT, 1924 .

WHEREAS by the Housing (Building Facilities) Act, 1924 (in this Order referred to as "the Act"), the Minister for Local Government is empowered to prescribe certain rules, conditions, plans and other matters, including the rules and conditions prescribed by this Order, and such other regulations as may be required for carrying the Act into effect:

AND WHEREAS the regulations prescribed by this Order are necessary for carrying the Act into effect:

NOW, THEREFORE, I, the Minister for Local Government, in exercise of the powers given me by the Act and of all other powers enabling me in that behalf do hereby order and prescribe as follows:—

1.—In this Order every expression shall, save where the context otherwise requires, have the same meaning as in the Act.

The expression "reconstructed house" means a house or houses or self-contained flat or flats formed by the reconstruction of an existing house or building.

The expression "self-contained flat" means a dwellinghouse consisting of a number of apartments (with sanitary conveniences) for occupation by one family and provided with an entrance door to be used by such family only: Provided that such entrance door may lead off a staircase, landing, passage, or hall used for access to other dwellings.

2.—The conditions in respect of sites, aspects, planning, construction,

sanitation and number per acre of houses set out in Schedule I. to this Order, shall be the prescribed conditions under paragraph (a) of sub-section (1) of section 3 of the Act in relation to reconstructed houses under the Act.

3.—Reconstructed houses shall be in general accordance with (a) the plans prescribed under the Housing (New Houses) Order, 1924, or (b) other plans approved by the Minister.

4.—The regulations set out in Schedule II. to this Order in regard to procedure shall be prescribed regulations and shall be complied with before and during the reconstruction of each house in respect of which a grant is to be made under the Act by the person proposing to reconstruct or reconstructing the same and by the appointed officer.

5.—The forms set out in Schedule III. to this Order or forms to the like effect varied as circumstances may require shall be prescribed forms and shall be used for the purposes for which they are respectively expressed to be applicable in relation to reconstructed houses under the Act.

6.—(1) No grant shall be made in respect of any reconstructed house, the reconstruction of which was begun before the passing of the Act unless an application is made to the Minister within two months after the passing of the Act to authorise the appointed officer to grant a certificate of capability of reconstruction of the existing house or building and of approval to such reconstruction.

(2) An application under sub-article (1) of this Article in respect of any house must be accompanied by:—

(a) evidence sufficient to satisfy the Minister that the reconstruction of such house was begun after the twentieth day of October, 1923;

(b) the plans relating to such reconstruction and any other documents in connection therewith which the Minister may require.

(3) If the Minister on an application under sub-article (1) of this Article is satisfied in regard to any house the reconstruction of which was begun before the passing of the Act that—

(a) such reconstruction was begun after the twentieth day of October, 1923;

(b) such house is in reasonable accordance with the provisions of the Act and this Order,

he may authorise the appointed officer to prepare and deliver to him the required certificate, and on receiving such certificate he shall determine the maximum amount of the grant that may be made in respect of such house, and such amount shall be inserted in such certificate.

7.—The date when the reconstruction of a house is begun shall be deemed to be the date when the actual building work is begun, notwithstanding any demolition, clearance, cartage of materials or other preliminary work carried out prior to that date.

8.—Where a certificate of an appointed officer required by the Act or this Order, that any of the provisions thereof have been complied with, has been issued, no grant shall be payable until the Minister is satisfied as to the accuracy of such certificate.

9.—In ascertaining for the purposes of the Act or of this Order the floor area of any room, the area of any floor of a house and the total area of all floors of a house (in these rules referred to as "the total area") the following rules shall be complied with, that is to say—

(1) The floor area of any room shall be measured within the containing walls of such room.

(2) The area of any floor shall be measured within the external or containing walls of the house or within the walls and party partitions of a self-contained flat, and shall include any portion of such floor which is occupied by staircases, landings, interior walls, chimney-breasts, bay-windows and similar spaces or structures.

(3) The total area shall be the sum of the areas of every floor together with any porch or open space within the lines of the containing walls of the house which increases the bulk thereof.

10.—Where a reconstructed house is to contain or be connected with a shop, office, business premises, garage or stable—

(1) The appointed officer shall not grant a certificate of approval in respect thereof unless such shop, office, business premises, garage or stable has a distinct and separate entrance.

(2) Such shop, office, business premises, garage or stable shall be deemed not to be part of such house for the purposes of the Act and of this Order.

11.—Any doubt, dispute, or question which may arise as to the interpretation of the rules, conditions and regulations by this Order prescribed and as to the making or the amount of a grant in respect of any house shall be determined by the Minister and such determination shall be final.

12.—This Order may be referred to as The Housing (Reconstructed Houses) Order, 1924.

Given under My Seal of Office, this 25th day of

April, in the Year of Our Lord, One

Thousand Nine Hundred and Twenty-four.

(Signed) SÉAMUS DE BÚRCA,

Minister for Local Government.

SCHEDULE 1.

Conditions prescribed by the Minister for Local Government as to the site, aspect, planning, construction, sanitation and number per acre of reconstructed houses in respect of which grants may be made under the Housing (Building Facilities) Act, 1924 .

1.—The site of every house shall be on good open land and except where works of development are intended in connection with the house the site shall immediately adjoin and be accessible from a road or lane over which a public or private right of way exists for carts or other vehicles. The site shall be situate at such elevation that it may be easily drained and sewered when such is necessary and that the ground floor of the house will be above the level of the street.

2.—Every house shall be planned so that the greatest possible number of rooms in it may receive all available direct sunlight.

3.—No existing house or building which is set back less than 35 feet from the centre of the street or less than 70 feet from the opposite frontage shall be certified by the appointed officer to be capable of reconstruction unless the Minister is satisfied on the representations of the person proposing to reconstruct the house or building, of the sanitary authority concerned and of the appointed officer that exceptional circumstances exist which render rigid adherence to this requirement undesirable.

4.—(1) The following areas shall be prescribed minimum floor areas for certain rooms in the respective classes of houses, that is to say:—

(2) In special circumstances the appointed officer may with the consent of the Minister issue a certificate of approval, or the Minister may make a grant in respect of a house in which the floor area of room or rooms is slightly less than the prescribed minimum floor area for such room or rooms.

5.—The appointed officer shall not grant a certificate of approval in respect of any house unless every living or sleeping room therein, in respect of its height, complies with the following rules:—

(a) if the room is immediately below the roof, the height of the room throughout two-thirds of the floor area shall be not less than 8 feet and throughout the remainder of the floor area not less than 6 feet;

(b) if the room is not immediately below the roof, the height of the room throughout the floor area shall be not less than 8 feet.

6.—All defective portions of the existing house or building shall be removed and the building work shall be carried out in brick, stone or concrete and the roof shall be slated or tiled, unless the Minister approves of the use of some other material in any particular house or particular houses. Every room in every house shall have or be provided with a window or windows of which the glass area shall not be less than 1/10th of the floor area of such room and one-half at least of every window shall be made to open.

7.—(1) Every reconstructed house for which a sufficient water supply and means of drainage are available must be provided with a sink and water closet and may be provided with a bath. Where sewers and water mains are not available a pail closet must be provided. Privies or earth closets with fixed receptacles shall not be approved.

(2) A sanitary authority, where it appears to them desirable, may permit the drainage of several reconstructed houses in any one existing house or building by one common drain and soil pipe and may allow more than one such reconstructed house to be supplied with water from one communication pipe.

(3) Where one soil pipe serves more than one reconstructed house the trap of every water closet communicating therewith shall be connected also with an anti-syphonage pipe not less than 3" bore.

(4) In every case where sewers and watermains are available house drains to line and description shown on the approved plans and described in the approved specification shall be provided and water laid on to the house.

(5) Where drainage into a cess pool is provided the cess pool shall be water-tight, provided with a sealed cover and ventilated, and communication with the house drain shall be by a ventilated intercepting trap with cleaning arm. The cess pool shall be not less than sixty feet distant from any dwellinghouse.

(6) An appointed officer shall not grant a certificate of approval of a proposal to convert an existing house or building in an area where sewers and watermains are not available into more than one reconstructed house unless the Minister approves on submission of plans and other documents which may be required of the sanitary arrangements proposed.

8.—(1) In this Order the gross acreage of any site means the area of such site together with the portion of any street abutting on the same between the middle of such street and the nearest boundary of such site, measured in acres.

(2) Except with the consent of the Minister the number of reconstructed houses per gross acre on any site shall not exceed thirty and except in special circumstances and on partly developed land should not exceed twenty.

SCHEDULE II.

1.—A person proposing to convert an existing house or building into one or more reconstructed houses shall submit to the Minister the following plans and other documents:—

(a) block plan (in duplicate) to the scale of 1/500 or other scale of not less than one inch to 44 feet shewing the lay-out, roads and sewers existing and proposed;

(b) complete plans and sections (in duplicate) to a scale of not less than one inch to eight feet and specifications (in duplicate), shewing how the proposed conversion is to be carried out;

(c) where any form of construction, other than brick, stone or concrete approved by the Minister is proposed a description of the method to be adopted and an undertaking that the construction will be carried out strictly in the form approved;

(d) a detailed statement of the estimated cost of such conversion;

(e) a certificate from the sanitary authority concerned that the bye-laws, if any, or any local Act in force in its district in regard to new streets or buildings have been complied with save in so far as the provisions of such bye-laws or local Act are at variance with the Act or the conditions prescribed thereunder;

(f) where the existing house or building is situate within the boundary of a county borough or urban district or a town having commissioners under the Towns Improvement (Ireland) Act, 1854, particulars of the locality and a description of the premises sufficiently detailed to enable identification;

(g) where the existing house or building is not situate within the boundary of a county borough or urban district or a town having town commissioners but—

(i) is situate within a distance of 880 yards from the nearest point of such boundary, a cutting from an Ordnance Survey Sheet, 6 inch scale, shewing clearly the county and number of the Ordnance Sheet, the boundary and the exact position of the existing house or building in relation thereto,

(ii) is situate within the boundary of a town having a population according to the latest Census of not less than 500, a cutting from an Ordnance Survey Sheet, 6 inch scale, having clearly marked thereon the county and number of the Sheet, the exact position of the existing house or building, the boundary of the town and the population thereof as shewn in the Census (Ireland} Return, 1911.

2.—On receipt of such plans and other documents the Minister shall cause them to be examined and the existing house or building to be inspected by an appointed officer who shall, if he is satisfied, and subject to the compliance of the plans and other documents with the provisions of the Act and this Order, prepare in triplicate and deliver to the Minister a certificate in Form I under his hand certifying that the existing house or building is capable of reconstruction and approving of the proposed reconstruction and such certificate shall set out the amount of Grant which the Minister may determine to be appropriate to the reconstructed house or houses covered thereby. One copy of the certificate, accompanied by one set of the documents signed by the appointed officer shall be issued to the person concerned, the second copy of the certificate, together with the other documents shall be retained by the Minister, and the third copy shall be issued to the local authority in whose area the existing house or building is situate.

3.—Application for an instalment of Grant may be made in Form 2 to the Minister by the person concerned when at least one-half (measured in value) of the work of reconstruction has been done and such application shall be accompanied by the appointed officer's certificate in Form I.

4.—As soon as may be after the receipt of such application the Minister shall cause the works to be inspected, and if satisfied—

(a) that the work has reached a stage at which payment of an instalment of the grant is fully warranted; and

(b) that the work done has been carried out in a good workmanlike manner with materials of sound quality and in full accordance with the plans and specification;

may pay such instalment as he thinks fit and shall notify the local authority concerned accordingly.

5.—When a reconstructed house has been completed or, in any case where an existing house or building is being converted into more than one reconstructed house, when all the reconstructed houses contained in that house or building have been completed the person concerned shall apply to the Minister in Form 3 for the grant payable, and unless it has previously been furnished the appointed officer's certificate of approval in Form I shall accompany such application.

6.—As soon as may be after the receipt of such application the Minister shall cause the works to be inspected by an appointed officer who shall, if satisfied, prepare in Form 4 and deliver to the Minister a certificate of completion.

7.—If and when the Minister is satisfied that the requirements of the Act and of this Order have been complied with in respect of any reconstructed house, he may make a grant under the Act in respect of such house, and shall in every case pay the amount thereof to the person entitled thereto and notify the local authority concerned that such grant has been made.

8.—If an appointed officer refuses or neglects to prepare any certificate required from him under the Act or this Order in respect of a reconstructed house the Minister, if satisfied that the certificate has been unreasonably withheld, may issue the certificate.

SCHEDULE III.

FORMS.

HOUSING (BUILDING FACILITIES) ACT, 1924 .

FORM I.

Certificate of Appointed Officer of capability of reconstruction of an existing house or building as a house or houses to which the Act applies and of approval to such reconstruction.

(To be prepared in triplicate and delivered to the Minister by the Appointed Officer.)

NOTE:—This certificate must be carefully preserved by the person to whom it is issued, and must accompany the first application to the Minister for payment of grant in respect of all or any of the reconstruction work referred to herein.

This is to certify that I, ............................................................ ................................ being an Appointed Officer for the purpose, have approved of the site, block plan, house plans, and method of construction proposed, as submitted to me on the ............. day of .................., 192 , by ................................. of ...................................... in respect of the reconstructed house(s) described below:

That the site, plans and method of construction comply with the conditions prescribed by The Housing (Reconstructed Houses) Order, 1924:

That the existing house or building is capable of reconstruction as (a) house(s) to which the Act applies:

That the existing house or building is not and has not been the subject of a claim under the Damage to Property (Compensation) Act, 1923 (No. 15 of 1923), or any other Act relating to compensation for criminal injuries:

That subject to the conditions set out below the person(s) named above appear(s) to be eligible for the Grant(s) which the Minister for Local Government may make under the Act.

The conditions referred to above are as follows:—

(a) the reconstruction must be begun within the period specified in the Act;

(b) the reconstructed houses when completed must be certified by an Appointed Officer or in default by the Minister for Local Government to have been completed in a proper and workmanlike manner and to be in all respects fit for human habitation;

(c) the reconstructed houses must be completed before the twenty-first day of October, 1925, or within such further period not exceeding four months as the Minister for Local Government may in any particular case allow, provided that where the houses are not completed within eighteen months from the passing of the Act, and the time for such completion is extended, the Grant shall, unless the Minister otherwise directs be reduced by one-tenth for every month between the expiration of the said eighteen months and the date of actual completion;

(d) the reconstructed houses when completed must comply with the standards of planning and construction required by the Act and The Housing (Reconstructed Houses) Order, 1924;

(e) the reconstructed houses must not at any time before the 26th day of June, 1926, be sold or leased at prices, fines or rents exceeding the appropriate prices, fines or rents specified in Part I of the Schedule to the Act;

(f) the houses to which this certificate refers shall be open to inspection by any duly authorised officer of the Minister for Local Government at any time before the Grant is paid;

(g) the Minister for Local Government may in any case where he is not satisfied that the necessary conditions have been complied with reduce or refuse to make the Grant.

Given under my hand this      day of            , 192 .

(Signed) ......................................

Appointed Officer.

HOUSING (BUILDING FACILITIES) ACT, 1924 .

FORM 2.

Application to Minister for Local Government for payment of instalment of Grant in respect of reconstructed house or houses under the Act.

Serial No. of Appointed Officer's Certificate in Form I ............

NOTE:—The Serial Number of the Appointed Officer's Certificate of Approval should be accurately set out above.

To the Minister for Local Government/

I/We being the person(s) to whom the above-mentioned Certificate was granted on the   day of    , 192 , hereby apply to the Minister for Local Government for an instalment of the Grant claimed by me/us under the Housing (Building Facilities) Act, 1924 , in respect of the reconstructed house(s) referred to in that certificate at least one-half (measured in value) of the work having been done.

In consideration of the payment of the instalment now claimed I/we undertake to complete the work in accordance with the provisions of the Act and The Housing (Reconstructed Houses) Order, 1924.

Address ....................................

....................................

Date ..............................

HOUSING (BUILDING FACILITIES) ACT, 1924 .

FORM 3.

Application to Minister for Local Government for final payment of Grant in respect of reconstructed house or houses under the Act.

Serial Number of Appointed Officer's Certificate in Form I ......

NOTE:—The Serial Number of the Appointed Officer's Certificate of Approval should be accurately set out above.

To the Minister for Local Government/

I/We being the person(s) to whom the above-mentioned Certificate was granted by     on the   day of   , 192 , hereby apply to the Minister for Local Government for the final payment of the Grant amounting to £   claimed by me/us under the Housing (Building Facilities) Act, 1924 , in respect of the reconstructed house(s) referred to in that certificate.

The work has now been completed in accordance with the provisions of the Act and The Housing (Reconstructed Houses) Order, 1924.

I/We have already received an instalment amounting to £      in respect of the house(s) referred to.

I/We have received the following assistance from the local authority, the ....................................

(specify nature and amount of assistance, if any)

............................................................ ............................................................ ..................

............................................................ ............................................................ ..................

............................................................ ............................................................ ..................

Address...................................................

..........................................................

Date ..............................

HOUSING (BUILDING FACILITIES) ACT, 1924 .

FORM 4.

Certificate of Appointed Officer of completion in a proper and workmanlike manner of reconstructed house or houses under the Act.

To the Minister for Local Government/

This is to certify that the following reconstructed house(s) comprised in Certificate of Approval (Form 1) which was granted to    of    on the    day of    , 192, by   , was/were inspected by me on the  day of    , 192.

That the house(s) has/have been completed in a proper and workmanlike manner, fit for occupation and compl(y)ies with the requirements of the Act and the Housing (Reconstructed Houses) Order, 1924.

That the house(s) has/have been measured by me in accordance with The Housing (Reconstructed Houses) Order, 1924, and that the total area of each house as so measured is that set opposite to its description below.

In this case the local authority, the            have decided to supplement the Government Grant by

In my opinion the monetary value of such assistance is £     .

SCHEDULE.

Given under my hand this   day of   192.

......................................................

AppointedOfficer.