Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1992

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Works by housing authorities to private houses.

5.—(1) Subject to this section and in accordance with such terms and conditions as may, from time to time, be determined for the purposes of this section by the Minister with the consent of the Minister for Finance, a housing authority may with the consent of the owner carry out, or arrange to have carried out, works of improvement or adaptation to a house not owned by them for one or more of the following purposes:

(a) rendering the house fit for human habitation;

(b) relieving overcrowding;

(c) rendering the house more suitable for the accommodation of occupants of the house.

(2) A housing authority may exercise their functions under subsection (1) in relation to any house intended to be occupied by a person—

(a) who—

(i) has been included in the most recent assessment made by the authority under section 9 of the Act of 1988, or

(ii) has been accepted by the authority, after the making of that assessment, for inclusion in the next such assessment,

but only if by exercising those functions the authority are satisfied that the person's need for accommodation will be obviated and that accordingly the person can be removed by the authority from the assessment so made or need not be included in the next such assessment, as the case may be, or

(b) who is in occupation of a house which was provided or which is or was owned by a housing authority and the authority exercising their functions under this section are satisfied that he will provide them or another housing authority with vacant possession of it by surrendering the tenancy or by conveying it with or without compensation.

(3) The Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, recoup to a housing authority, out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas, some or all of the expenses incurred by the authority in improving or adapting a house by virtue of this section.

(4) A housing authority may in respect of a house enter into and carry out an agreement or agreements with either or both the person to whom subsection (2) relates and the owner of the house for the carrying out of works under this section.

(5) Where an agreement under subsection (4) between a housing authority and the owner relating to expenses incurred by the authority in respect of the house under this section provides for the recovery by the authority of all or a portion of such expenses, the authority may make an order charging the house with the amount of the expenses to be so recovered.

(6) An order under subsection (5) shall be deemed to be a mortgage made by deed within the meaning of the Conveyancing Acts, 1881 to 1911, and the authority shall be the mortgagee for the purposes of those Acts and shall accordingly have, in relation to every such order, all the powers conferred by those Acts on mortagees under mortgages made by deed.

(7) Where a housing authority make an order under subsection (5), they shall, as soon as practicable thereafter, cause the order to be registered in the Registry of Deeds or the Land Registry, as the case may require.

(8) An order under subsection (5) affecting land which is registered land within the meaning of the Registration of Title Act, 1964 , shall be registrable as a burden affecting such land whether the person named in such order as the owner of the land is or is not registered under the said Act as the owner of such land.

(9) A housing authority may make a periodic or other charge in respect of works carried out under this section.

(10) Any sum due to a housing authority by any person pursuant to an agreement in relation to works carried out under this section may, without prejudice to any other power in that behalf, be recovered by the authority from that person as a simple contract debt in any court of competent jurisdiction.

(11) The terms and conditions determined by the Minister under subsection (1) may—

(a) provide for such matters as he considers necessary for the purpose of giving effect to this section, and

(b) make different provisions in relation to—

(i) houses occupied under different tenures, or

(ii) persons or houses of different classes.

(12) Where a house is being conveyed to a housing authority under this section—

(a) the expenses of such conveyance may be paid in whole or in part by the authority;

(b) in case the house is one in respect of which a subsidy has been paid under section 11 of the Act of 1979, the person conveying the house shall not be required to refund the subsidy, notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in a transfer order under section 90 of the Principal Act.