Land Act, 1931

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Subtenancies on vested holdings.

15.—(1) Where the whole or part of a holding which is included in a list of vested holdings is at the date of the publication of such list sublet otherwise than for the purpose of temporary depasturage, agistment, or conacre, or for temporary convenience, or to meet a temporary necessity, the following provisions shall have effect, that is to say:—

(a) the Land Commission shall (save as is hereinafter otherwise authorised) declare that the subtenants on such holding are to be deemed to be the tenants of the respective portions of such holding in their several and separate occupations and that the said respective portions (hereinafter referred to as separate holdings) of such holding are to be deemed to be separate holdings;

(b) each of the said subtenants shall be deemed to have entered on the date of the said declaration into a subsequent purchase agreement for the purchase of the said separate holding in his separate occupation;

(c) the standard purchase annuities for the said separate holdings shall be ascertained in the like manner as standard purchase annuities for tenancies are ascertained under the Land Act, 1923 , as amended by the Land Act, 1929 ;

(d) save where the portion of such holding which is so sublet is held by the subtenant thereof under a judicial tenancy and is substantially agricultural or pastoral or partly agricultural and partly pastoral, the Land Commission may, if in their opinion such portion is of such character that it ought not to be declared under this section to be a separate holding, treat the said holding (notwithstanding anything contained in this section) as if the said portion thereof were in the occupation of the tenant of the said holding and were not sublet;

(e) the subsequent purchase agreement which the tenant of such holding was, on the publication of the said list of vested holdings, deemed to have entered into shall be withdrawn as from the date of the said declaration under this section;

(f) the Land Commission shall redeem the interests (hereinafter referred to as intervening interests) intervening between the owner of the estate and the said subtenants;

(g) if portion only of the said holding is sublet as aforesaid the Land Commission shall declare that the tenant of such holding is to be deemed to be the tenant of so much only of such holding as is not so sublet, and thereupon such tenant shall be deemed to have entered on the date of the said declaration into a subsequent purchase agreement for the purchase of so much as aforesaid of such holding, and the standard purchase annuity for so much as aforesaid of such holding shall be such proportion as the Land Commission shall determine of the standard purchase annuity which would have been payable in respect of the whole of such holding if no part of it had been sublet.

(2) When the Land Commission make a declaration under this section deeming subtenants on a holding to be tenants of separate portions of such holding, then—

(a) if the total of the standard purchase annuities for such separate portions of such holding and the standard purchase annuity for the remainder (if any) of such holding exceeds the standard purchase annuity which would have been payable in respect of such holding if no part of it had been sublet, land bonds proportionate to the amount of such excess shall be lodged to the credit of the estate as representing the value of the intervening interests; and

(b) if the said total of standard purchase annuities is equal to or less than the said standard purchase annuity which would have been payable as aforesaid, the intervening interests shall be deemed to be of no value; and

(c) if the said total of standard purchase annuities is less than the said standard purchase annuity which would have been payable as aforesaid, the Land Commission shall pay into the land bond fund such sum as will be sufficient to redeem the land bonds issued in excess of the total advances to be made for the purchase of the said separate portions and the said remainder (if any) of such holding, including so much of the contribution by the State to the standard price as is proportionate to the amount of such excess; and

(d) where land bonds are redeemed under the foregoing paragraph of this sub-section and some or all of such land bonds represent compounded arrears of rent, the landlord of such holding shall be entitled to be paid by and to recover from the tenant of such holding the amount of the compounded arrears of rent represented by such land bonds.

(3) The Land Commission shall give to all parties concerned an opportunity of objecting to any declaration proposed to be made under this section and every objection duly made to any such proposed declaration shall be considered and decided by the Land Commissioners other than the Judicial Commissioner and there shall be a right of appeal to the Judicial Commissioner from every decision of the other Land Commissioners on any such objection and the decision of the Judicial Commissioner on any such appeal shall be final, save that an appeal shall lie on questions of law only from such decision of the Judicial Commissioner to the Supreme Court.