Local Government (Multi-Storey Buildings) Act, 1988
Acts of the Oireachtas
Source: Acts of the Oireachtas

num: 1
paragraphs: —(1) In this Act—
“building” includes its curtilage;
“the Companies Acts” means the Companies Act, 1963, and any enactment which is to be construed together with it;
“competent person” means—
num: 2
paragraphs: —(1) As soon as may be after the commencement of this Act each local authority shall prepare and maintain a register of all multistorey buildings in its functional area.
(2) In the case of every multi-storey building the construction of which was completed before the commencement of this Act the local authority for the functional area in which the building is situate shall serve notice on a person appearing to the local authority to be an owner of the building requiring him to furnish the local authority with a certificate in respect of the building in accordance with section 3 of this Act.
(3) Subsection (2) of this section shall not apply in relation to a multi-storey building which is owned by a local authority and is situate in whole or in part in its functional area.
num: 3
paragraphs: —(1) A person on whom a notice is served under section 2 (2) of this Act by a local authority shall submit to the local authority—
(a) a certificate signed by a competent person certifying that the building is, or is not, a specified building, or
(b) a statutory declaration made by that person that he is not an owner of the building.
(2) Every certificate submitted to a local authority pursuant to subsection (1) of this section which relates to a specified building shall certify that in the opinion of the competent person—
num: 4
paragraphs: —(1) In the case of a multi-storey building the construction of which is not completed before the commencement of this Act, it shall, subject to subsection (3) of this section, be the duty of every person to whom this section applies to submit to the local authority in whose functional area the building is situate a certificate in respect of the building in accordance with section 3 of this Act before the building or any part of the building is occupied.
(2) This section applies to—
(a) the person by whom the building is constructed if he constructs it on his own behalf and his successors in title;
(b) the person on whose behalf the building is constructed and his successors in title.
(3) It shall be sufficient compliance with subsection (1) of this section for any of the persons to whom this section applies to submit a certificate in respect of the entire building.
num: 5
paragraphs: —Where a certificate submitted to a local authority under section 3 (2) (c) of this Act certifies that such action as may be set out in the certificate has been taken in relation to a specified building, no action shall be taken in relation to that building which would have the effect of undoing the action so set out unless an owner of the specified building submits to the local authority in whose functional area the building is situate a further certificate, signed by a competent person, certifying that all reasonable actions as set out in that certificate have been taken to minimise, as far as practicable, the risk of accidental damage by reason of the undoing of the first mentioned action.
num: 6
paragraphs: —(1) Every local authority which is the owner of a multi-storey building situate in its functional area shall cause to have prepared and signed by a competent person a certificate certifying whether the building is, or is not, a specified building.
(2) The provisions of sections 3 (2) and 5 of this Act shall apply to a certificate under subsection (1) of this section as if it were a certificate submitted under this Act to a local authority.
num: 7
paragraphs: —(1) For the purposes of providing a certificate under section 3 , 4 , 5 or 6 of this Act an owner of the building or any part thereof and his agent shall be entitled, after the giving of 14 days' notice to any other owner or occupier of the building or of any part of the building, to enter the building or that part of the building to which the notice applies, at all reasonable times, for the purposes of—
(a) inspecting the building or that part of the building to establish the details of the structure of the building and carrying out any work necessary for that purpose;
(b) carrying out works to enhance the robustness of the building; or
(c) carrying out all reasonable actions to minimise as far as is practicable the risk of accidental damage to the building.
(2) The owner or his agent shall make good any disturbance of the building caused by any works or actions pursuant to this section.
(3) The owner or his agent shall be entitled in the exercise of his powers under this section to take with him into the building, or that part of the building to which the notice applies, such persons or equipment as he considers necessary to assist him and to carry out any inspection, work or action that may be necessary for the purposes of providing the certificate.
(4) Where any inspection, work or action carried out pursuant to this section results in the breaking of any existing contractual obligations of an owner or occupier of the building, or any part thereof, it will be a sufficient defence in any action for trespass or for breach of contract arising from such inspection, work or action that the inspection, work or action was necessary for the purposes of submitting the certificate.
num: 8
paragraphs: —(1) Where a notice is required under this Act to be served on, or given to, a person, it shall be addressed to that person and may be served on, or given to, him in any one of the following ways—
(a) where the notice is addressed to that person by name, by giving it to him;
(b) by leaving the notice at the address at which that person ordinarily resides or, where an address for the service of documents has been given, at that address;
(c) by sending the notice by post in a prepaid registered letter addressed to that person at the address at which he ordinarily resides or, where an address for the service of documents has been given, at that address;
(d) where the address at which that person ordinarily resides cannot be ascertained by reasonable enquiry, by—
(i) delivering the notice to some person over the age of sixteen years residing, or employed, in the building to which the notice relates, or
(ii) affixing the notice in a conspicuous position on or near the building to which it relates.
(2) Where a notice is required by this Act to be served on, or given to, an owner of a building and the name of that person cannot be ascertained by reasonable enquiry, the notice may be addressed to “the owner” without naming him.
(3) For the purposes of this section, a company registered under the Companies Acts shall be deemed to be ordinarily resident at its registered office, and every other body corporate and every unincorporated body shall be deemed to be ordinarily resident at its principal office or place of business.
(4) Where a notice is served on, or given to, a person pursuant to subsection (1) (d) of this section, a copy of the notice shall, within two weeks thereafter, be published in at least one newspaper circulating in the area in which the person is last known to have resided.
num: 9
paragraphs: —(1) Where notice under section 2 of this Act is served by a local authority on more than one person in respect of a particular building it shall be sufficient compliance with that section for any of those persons, being an owner, to submit a certificate in respect of the entire building.
(2) It shall be a sufficient defence to a prosecution for failure to comply with a notice under any provision of this Act for the defendant to show that—
(a) he is unable to comply with the notice without the cooperation of other owners of the building or it would be unreasonable to require him to do so, and
(b) he has sought and failed to obtain such cooperation.
num: 10
paragraphs: —A local authority may, for the purpose of enabling them to ascertain the ownership of a building, give any person who is an occupier of the building concerned or part of that building or who, either directly or indirectly, receives rent in respect of the building or part of the building, a notice in writing requiring him to state within such period, being not less than 21 days, as may be specified in the notice in writing—
(a) the nature of his own estate or interest in that building, and
(b) the name and address of any other person known to him as having an estate or interest in the building or part of the building or as a person who, alone or with others, manages or exercises control over the building or any part thereof.
num: 11
paragraphs: —(1) The Minister may make regulations for the purposes of this Act.
(2) Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, regulations may provide for the form of a register under section 2 (1) of this Act, or of any notice or certificate to be given under any provision of this Act or for the time within which any such notice or certificate shall be given.
(3) Every regulation made by the Minister under this Act shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the regulation is passed by either such House within the next twenty-one days on which that House has sat after the regulation is laid before it, the regulation shall be annulled accordingly, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.
num: 12
paragraphs: —Any person—
(a) who, without lawful excuse, fails to submit to a local authority within the time prescribed a certificate required to be furnished pursuant to section 3 or 4 of this Act, or
(b) who knowingly gives a certificate which is false or misleading in any respect, or knowingly submits such a certificate, or
(c) who knowingly makes a statutory declaration for the purpose of section 3 (1) (b) of this Act which is false or misleading in any respect, or
(d) who contravenes section 5 of this Act, or
(e) who, at any time during the period of three months after a notice is affixed on or near a building pursuant to section 8 (1) (d) (ii) of this Act removes, damages or defaces the notice without lawful authority, or
(f) who, having been required by a local authority by a notice in writing given under section 10 of this Act to give them any information, fails to give that information within the specified period or knowingly makes any misstatement in respect thereof, or
(g) who refuses to allow an owner who has given him due notice under section 7 of this Act, or the agent of that owner, to enter the building or the part of the building to which the notice relates or to take any person or equipment with him in the exercise of his powers under that section, or who obstructs or impedes the owner or his agent in the exercise of such powers, or
(h) who refuses or fails, without lawful excuse, to comply with a request made to him by any person on whom a notice under section 2 (2) of this Act has been served, to cooperate with that person, in obtaining a certificate in accordance with section 3 of this Act,
shall be guilty of an offence.
num: 13
paragraphs: —An offence under this Act may be prosecuted summarily by a local authority.
num: 14
paragraphs: —(1) A person who is guilty of an offence under section 12 (b), (c) or (d) of this Act shall be liable—
(a) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding £1,000, or to imprisonment for any term not exceeding 12 months or, at the discretion of the court, to both such fine and such imprisonment, or
(b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding £10,000, or to imprisonment for any term not exceeding three years, or, at the discretion of the court, to both such fine and such imprisonment.
(2) A person who is guilty of an offence under any provision of this Act other than section 12 (b), (c) or (d) shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1,000.
num: 15
paragraphs: —(1) This Act may be cited as the Local Government (Multi-Storey Buildings) Act, 1988.
(2) This Act shall come into operation on such day as the Minister by order appoints.