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COTTIER TENANT (IRELAND) ACT 1856
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C A P. LXV.
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An Act to encourage the providing of improved Dwellings for the Labouring Classes in Ireland. [21st July 1856.]
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‘Whereas it would encourage the providing of improved Dwellings for the Labouring Classes in Ireland if a summary Remedy for recovering the Possession when wrongfully withheld were made applicable to small Tenements of a Description suited to such Classes, but upon Condition that such Tenements shall have had at least certain primary Requisites for the Comfort and Health of the Tenants:’ lie it therefore enacted by the Queen’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, as follows:
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Description of Tenement within Act.
1. Dwelling House with or without small Allotments
2. Tenure.
3. Rent.
Provided let by Form of Agreement.
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I. The Description of Tenements which shall be deemed to be within this Act shall be;
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1. Any Dwelling House held with not more than Half an Acre (if any) of Land as a Garden or cultivated Allotment:
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2. Of which the Tenure shall have been by the Year, Half Year, Quarter, Month, or Week:
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3. And of which the Rent shall not have exceeded the Rate of Twelve Shillings by the Month:
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Provided that such Tenement shall have been let by a written or printed Agreement as nearly as possible of the Form in the Schedule to this Act, and that it shall have been expressly stated therein whether the said Tenement and Requisites should be maintained in good tenantable Condition by the Landlord or by the Tenant, or what Portion of the said Tenement and Requisites should be maintained in good tenantable Condition by the Landlord or by the Tenant respectively.
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Application of summary Remedy.
1. For the Possession.
Landlords Obligations as to Requisites.
First, Providing them:
(a) Walls and Chimneys:
(b) Rooms:
(c) Windows:
(d) Privies:
(e) Space in front:
(f) Space for Pigsty and Dunghill.
Second, Maintaining them.
Proof of Maintenance may be dispensed with when no Rent received, and when defective through Tenant’s Default.
Tenant’s Obligations as to Defaults.
First, Not to permit Nuisances.
Second, Not to do or suffer Damage.
If Default, made, no Notice to quit necessary.
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II. The Fifteenth Section of “The Summary Jurisdiction (Ireland) Act, 1851,” shall be applicable to the Delivery of the Possession of any Tenement within this Act, when wrongfully overheld, in the same Manner as it would now apply to the Delivery of the Possession of any Tenement within the said Act:
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But no Order shall be made under the said Section except upon Proof at the Hearing of the Case;
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First; That the Tenement had the following Requisites at the Commencement of the Tenancy; viz.
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(a) The Walls and a sufficient Chimney built of Stones and Mortar, or Bricks and Mortar:
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(b) At least Two separate Rooms:
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(c) A sufficient external Window, with a moveable glazed Sash or Casement for the Admission of Air, in each Room:
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(d) A sufficient Privy:
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(e) A Space at least Eighteen Feet wide extending immediately along the whole Front of the Dwelling (or, where any public Thoroughfare shall pass nearer, the Space (if any) between such Thoroughfare and Dwelling,) sufficiently levelled and drained:
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(f) A sufficient Space, either at the Ends or in the Rear of the Dwelling, suited for a Pigsty and also for a Dunghill;
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Second; And that the said Requisites had been in good tenantable Condition, and adapted to their proper Use, at the Commencement of the last Period of the Tenure for which the Landlord shall have received any of the Rent:
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But this Second Obligation may be dispensed with when the Landlord shall not have as yet received any of the Rent subsequent to the Commencement of the Tenancy, and also when and so far as the tenantable Condition of such Requisites shall have been defective through the Default of the Tenant, and not of the Landlord:
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And upon further Proof at the Hearing of the Case that, during any Period of the Tenure for which the Landlord shall not have as yet received any of the Rent, the Tenant had made any Default in observing the following Obligations;
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First; Not wilfully to permit any Pigsty or Dunghill to remain in front of the Dwelling, within the Space (if any) above required to be levelled and drained, for longer than Three clear Days after being served by the Landlord with a Notice in Writing to remove the same; and,
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Second; Not wilfully to do, or wilfully to suffer others to do, any Damage to the Tenement:
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Then the Service of the Summons in the Case shall be deemed to have been sufficient (without other Notice to quit) to have determined the Tenancy at the Time of such Service.
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Overholding Tenant liable to full Rent
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III. Whenever the Tenant shall have overheld the Tenement (without reasonable Cause) after the Tenancy shall have been determined, and the Possession shall have been duly demanded of him by the Landlord, he shall be liable to pay to the Landlord the full Rent reserved for the Period of the Tenure during any Part of which he shall have so overheld the Possession, and which would have otherwise accrued due in case the Tenancy had not been determined.
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Outgoing Tenant to have Compensation for Crops.
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IV. Whenever the Tenant shall have sown or planted upon the Tenement any growing Crop, which he shall be unable to save by reason of the Determination of the Tenancy, the Justices shall, by a distinct Order, fix such Sum (if any) as they shall think a fair Compensation to him for the Loss of such Crop, after all just and proper Deductions on account of any Arrear of Rent due by the said Tenant to the Landlord for the said Tenement; and no Warrant shall be issued to execute the Order for Possession until the Landlord shall have paid or tendered to the Tenant or allowed him Credit for the Sum so fixed by the Order for Compensation.
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Act not to deprive Landlord of other Remedies at Law or in Equity.
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V. This Act shall not be deemed to deprive the Landlord, either before or after the Justices may have declined to interfere, of any Remedy for the Enforcement of his Rights which he might otherwise have in the Superior or other Courts of Law or Equity in Ireland.
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Act not to affect Jurisdiction in Fair and Market Towns.
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VI. This Act shall not be deemed to interfere with the Jurisdiction established by the said recited Act as to small Tenements in certain Towns and Villages in Ireland.
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Landlord not to act as Justice in his own Case.
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VII. The Land Agent of the Landlord of any Tenement, if a Justice of the Peace, shall not as such Justice take any Part in the Hearing of any Complaint, or in the making of any Order under this Act, in relation to such Tenement.
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Appeals.
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VIII. In case any Person shall feel aggrieved by any Order made by any Justices under this Act, it shall be lawful for such Person to appeal against the same, under the Twenty-fourth Section of “The Petty Sessions (Ireland) Act, 1851,” save that, in lieu of the Seven Days Notice of Appeal required by said Act, a Five Days Notice of Appeal shall be sufficient; that the Amount of the Recognizance shall be such reasonable Sum as to the Justices shall seem fit; and that when the Appeal shall be made by the Tenant, the Recognizance required by the said Act shall contain the further Obligations that the Tenant shall not do, or suffer others to do, any Waste, Injury, or Dilapidation to the Tenement pending the Appeal, that he will satisfy all Rent which shall accrue due whilst he shall continue in possession, and that he will perform such Order as the Court of Appeal shall make.
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Act to be construed as Part of recited Act.
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IX. This Act shall be construed subject to the Interpretation and other Clauses (and as if it were a Part) of the said recited Act; and the Word “Landlord” shall include any Agent, Receiver, or other Person legally representing the Landlord; the Expression “Period of the Tenure” shall mean the Year, Half Year, Quarter, Month, or Week, as the Case may be, according to which the Rent shall have been reserved.
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Short Title.
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X. In citing this Act in any other Act, Instrument, or Proceeding, it shall be sufficient to use the Expression “The Cottier Tenant (Ireland) Act, 1856.”
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Act only to apply to Tenements provided by Landlord.
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XI. This Act shall apply only to Tenements which may be provided by the Landlord for the Use of the Tenant who shall occupy the same.
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To extend to Ireland only.
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XII. This Act shall only extend to Ireland.
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SCHEDULE.
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Form of Agreement.
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This Agreement witnesses
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That----------------------------, as Landlord, agrees to let,
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and
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That-----------------------------, as Tenant, agrees to hold,
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the following Tenement; viz., (1)(1) Description of the Tenement.
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Situated at--------------------------------in the County of-------------------------------------------------and Townland
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of-----------------------------.
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From the---------------------------- Day of-----------------------185 .
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By the (2)(2) “Week,” “Month,” &c.
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At the Rent of----------------- Shillings and----------------Pence, (3)(3) “Weekly,” “Monthly,” &c.
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And it has been also agreed, that such Tenement having at present the several Requisites specified in “The Cottier Tenant (Ireland) Act, 1856,” the said Tenement and the said Requisites shall be maintained in good tenantable Condition by the (4)(4) “Landlord” or “Tenant,” or partly by the Landlord and partly by the Tenant.
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And it has been also agreed, (5)(5) Further Stipulations (if any).
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Signed-----------------Landlord, this ------------------- Day of---------------------------------185 .
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Signed ----------------- Tenant, this-------------------Day of-----------------------------185 .
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