Housing Act, 1970
Acts of the Oireachtas
Source: Acts of the Oireachtas

num: 1
paragraphs: —In this Act “the Act of 1966” means the Housing Act, 1966 .
num: 2
paragraphs: —Section 15 of the Act of 1966 is hereby amended by the addition of the subsections set out in Part 1 of the Schedule to this Act.
num: 3
paragraphs: —Section 16 of the Act of 1966 is hereby amended by the addition of the subsections set out in Part II of the Schedule to this Act.
num: 4
paragraphs: —Section 18 of the Act of 1966 is hereby amended by the addition of the subsections set out in Part III of the Schedule to this Act.
num: 5
paragraphs: —Section 44 (2) (a) of the Act of 1966 is hereby amended by the addition of the following subparagraph:
“(vi) on or after the 13th day of June, 1969, for the accommodation of key workers of a class specified by the Minister and necessarily brought into an area for new or expanding industry.”
num: 6
paragraphs: —Article 2 of the Third Schedule to the Act of 1966 is hereby amended by the substitution of “two thousand pounds” for “fivehundred pounds” in paragraph (a), paragraph (b), paragraph (c) and paragraph (h) and the substitution of “five thousand pounds” for “twelve hundred pounds” in paragraph (g).
num: 7
paragraphs: —(1) In this section “relevant section” means any of the following sections: section 26 (exclusive of subsections (7) and (8)), section 27, section 28 and section 29 of the Act of 1966.
(2) References in a relevant section to the housing authority shall, in the application of the section to a borough (not being a borough designated by the Minister by regulations as excluded with respect to the section from the application of this paragraph), be taken as not referring to the corporation of the borough and as referring instead to the council of the county in which the borough is situate.
(3) (a) References in a relevant section to the housing authority shall, in the application of the section to an urban district (not being an urban district designated by the Minister by regulations as excluded with respect to the section from the application of this paragraph), be taken as not referring to the council of the urban district and as referring instead to the council of the county in which the urban district is situate.
(b) Where—
(i) under an agreement made between the council of a county and the council of an urban district on or after the 13th day of June, 1969, and before the passing of this Act a grant was made by the council of the county, and
(ii) apart from the agreement, the grant would have fallen to be made under a relevant section by the council of the urban district, the following provisions shall have effect:
(I) the grant shall be as valid as if, when it was made, paragraph (a) of this subsection was in operation, and the urban district stood not designated by the Minister by regulations as excluded with respect to the relevant section from the application of that paragraph,
(II) subsection (4) of this section shall apply and be deemed always to have applied for the purpose of enabling the expenses of the council of the county in relation to the grant to be charged.
(4) The following provisions shall apply with respect to the expenses under a relevant section of a housing authority who are the council of a county:
(a) in the case of a county with respect to which paragraph (a) of section 8 of the Act of 1966 applies, the exclusion of boroughs and urban districts contained in that paragraph shall be taken as not extending to any borough which stands not designated by regulations under subsection (2) of this section as excluded with respect to the relevant section or to any urban district which stands not designated by regulations under subsection (3) of this section as so excluded,
(b) in the case of a county with respect to which paragraph (b) of the said section 8 applies and which includes an area or areas in relation to which this paragraph applies—
(i) there shall firstly be taken each area in the county consisting of an area or areas in relation to which this paragraph applies and the rural sanitary area adjoining it or them and the expenses under the relevant section in respect of that combined area shall be charged on it,
(ii) other expenses under the relevant section shall be charged as provided for by paragraph (b) (i) of section 8 of the Act of 1966.
In this paragraph “area in relation to which this paragraph applies” means an area consisting of—
(i) a borough standing not designated by regulations under subsection (2) of this section as excluded with respect to the relevant section or,
(ii) an urban district standing not designated by regulations under subsection (3) of this section as so excluded.
num: 8
paragraphs: —(1) If, before the passing of this Act, any grant under section 16 of the Act of 1966, was, in a case in which there was compliance with the requirements of paragraph (a) of subsection (2) of that section, made in contravention of that section because the house was not provided in a rural area, the fact that the grant was so made shall not affect, and shall be deemed never to have affected, the validity of the making of the grant.
(2) If, before the passing of this Act, any grant under section 29 of the Act of 1966 was made in contravention of subsection (4) of that section, the fact that the grant was so made shall not affect, and shall be deemed never to have affected, the validity of the making of the grant.
num: 9
paragraphs: —Section 17 (1) of the Act of 1966 is hereby amended by the addition of the following proviso:
“Provided that in a case in which the erection of the house commenced or commences on or after the 31st day of December, 1970, a grant under this section shall not be made unless a notice of approval for the purposes of this section was issued by the Minister in respect of the house before that day.”
num: 10
paragraphs: —(1) Subsection (1) of section 26 of the Act of 1966 is hereby amended by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph (b):
“(b) the total, determined by the housing authority, of the income of the person and the income of his spouse (if any) does not exceed the appropriate limit, that is to say:
(i) in case the supplementary grant is made in respect of a house the erection of which commenced before the 1st day of August, 1970—one thousand and forty-five pounds per annum,
(ii) in case it is made in respect of a house the erection of which commenced on or after the 1st day of August, 1970, and before the coming into operation of the first regulations made pursuant to the next subparagraph—one thousand two hundred and fifty pounds per annum, and
(iii) in any other case—the limit for the time being specified by the Minister, by regulations made with the consent of the Minister for Finance, as the appropriate limit for the purposes of this paragraph.”
(2) The following subsection is hereby substituted for subsection (2) of section 26 of the Act of 1966:
“(2) A housing authority, in determining the income of a person applying for a grant under this section or of his spouse, may, if the person satisfies the authority that he or his spouse maintains at his or her own expense a dependent person, make such allowance as they think fit, subject to the appropriate limit, that is to say:
(a) in case the supplementary grant is made in respect of a house the erection of which commenced before the coming into operation of the first regulations made pursuant to the next paragraph—one hundred pounds in respect of each person so maintained, or four hundred pounds in the aggregate, whichever is the less, and
(b) in any other case—the limit for the time being specified by the Minister, by regulations made with the consent of the Minister for Finance, as the appropriate limit for the purposes of this subsection.”
num: 11
paragraphs: —Sections 29 (1), 30 and 31 (1) of the Act of 1966 are each hereby amended by the insertion of “, whether the grant has been paid in whole or in part,” after “housing authority may”.
num: 12
paragraphs: —(1) Section 33 (1) of the Act of 1966 is hereby amended by the insertion before “or in case a grant is made” of “or under section 5 (2) of the Shannon Free Airport Development Company Limited (Amendment) Act, 1963 (the case being one in which the house in respect of which the grant under the said section 5 (2) is made is completed after the 31st day of March, 1969), or in case a house is erected by the Land Commission, or with the aid of a grant from the Land Commission, in pursuance of section 12 of the Irish Land Act, 1903 , as extended by section 22 of the Land Act, 1927 (the case being one in which the house is completed after the 31st day of March, 1969, and the total area of all its floors satisfies the requirements, in the case of a house the erection of which commenced before the 1st day of October, 1969, of section 15 (1) (a), in the case of a house the erection of which commenced on or after the 1st day of October, 1969, and on or before the 31st day of December, 1970, of section 15 (4) (b) or, in the case of a house the erection of which commenced after the 31st day of December, 1970, of section 15 (6) (b) of this Act),” and by the insertion before “to which the grant relates” of “erected by the Land Commission or”.
(2) Section 33 (4) of the Act of 1966 is hereby amended by the insertion before “the valuation of the tenement” of “or in case a house is reconstructed by the Land Commission, or with the aid of a grant from the Land Commission, in pursuance of section 12 of the Irish Land Act, 1903 , as extended by section 22 of the Land Act, 1927 (the case being one in which the reconstruction is completed after the 31st day of March, 1969), or in case a grant, for the reconstruction (completed after the 31st day of March, 1969) of a house, is made by Bord FÃ¡ilte Ãireann pursuant to a scheme for development of supplementary holiday accommodation,” and by the insertion before “to which any such grant relates” of “reconstructed by the Land Commission or”.
(3) Section 33 (5) of the Act of 1966 is hereby amended by the addition of the following paragraph:
“(f) in relation to a house reconstructed by, or with the aid of a grant from, the Land Commission or to a grant, for the reconstruction of a house, by Bord FÃ¡ilte Ãireann—the reconstruction.”
(4) A housing authority shall make any refunds which become appropriate in consequence of the amendments effected by this section.
num: 13
paragraphs: —(1) Subsection (4) of section 62 of the Act of 1966 is hereby amended by the insertion after “sections 86, 87 and 88 of the Act of 1860” of “(subject, in the case of the said section 86, to the substitution of ‘of one month’ for ‘to be therein named, and not less than seven or more than fourteen clear days from the date of such warrant’ and the substitution of ‘eight in the morning and eight in the afternoon’ for ‘nine in the morning and four in the afternoon’)”.
(2) The following subsection is hereby added to section 62 of the Act of 1966:
“(7) If, in a case in which there is no tenancy in a dwelling provided by a housing authority under this Act, a person makes an entry into the dwelling, or uses it for human habitation, without the consent of the housing authority, such person shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds, or, at the discretion of the court, to a term of imprisonment not exceeding one month or to both such fine and imprisonment, provided that this subsection shall not apply in relation to a person who, at the time when the tenancy last created in the dwelling was terminated or otherwise ceased to exist, was ordinarily resident in the dwelling or to a person making an entry into the dwelling for the purposes of normal social relations with such persons or to a person making an entry into the dwelling (but not using it for human habitation) in the course of his ordinary business, profession, vocation or trade.”
num: 14
paragraphs: —Subsection (4) of section 29 of the Act of 1966 is hereby repealed.
num: 15
paragraphs: —(1) This Act may be cited as the Housing Act, 1970.
(2) This Act and the Housing Acts, 1966 and 1969, shall be construed together as one Act and may be cited together as the Housing Acts, 1966 to 1970.