asked the Minister for Justice how, in the absence of any regulations as to the procedure leading up to, and of any prescribed forms of initiating, applications for arbitrations by county registrars under the Landlord and Tenant (Ground Rents) Act, 1966, members of the public can make themselves aware of the steps to be taken and the method to be adopted by them to obtain arbitration of their disputes; and how, in the absence of any such forms or regulations, the other party to the dispute can be made aware of the arbitration thereof and of the specific matters to be arbitrated thereat.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Landlord and Tenant Act.
48.
Section 17 of the Landlord and Tenant (Ground Rents) Act, 1967, provides that any person concerned in a dispute, question or difficulty under the Act may apply to the county registrar to have the matter determined by arbitration. The clear intention of the Act is that arbitrations should be as informal and as inexpensive as possible. For that reason no provision is made for procedural formalities by way of prescribed application forms or otherwise. An ordinary letter suffices for the application, and the county registrar notifies the other party concerned in the usual way.
I have received no complaints that this simple procedure has given the parties to applications under the Act any difficulty whatsoever.
49.
asked the Minister for Justice if any rules or regulations as to the proceedings under the Landlord and Tenant (Ground Rents) Act, 1966 have yet been made either by the circuit court rule-making committee or the supreme and high court rule-making committee; and if any rules, regulations, procedures or forms of application or award have been respectively laid down, settled, recommended or established by county registrars regarding arbitrations under the Act.
No rules of court have been made dealing with arbitrations or appeals under the Landlord and Tenant (Ground Rents) Act, 1967. The circuit court rules committee are at present engaged in drawing up rules relating to appeals to the circuit court under section 22 of the Act. I understand that the committee expect to submit these for my approval in the near future.
There is no provision in the Act or elsewhere for the making of rules or regulations by county registrars in relation to procedure under the Act. I am not aware of any formalities which may have been laid down, settled, recommended or established by county registrars in the exercise of their functions under the Act. Indeed, there is no need for any such formalities. A ground rent arbitration is a statutory arbitration to which the Arbitration Act, 1954 applies. As in the case of other statutory arbitrations, the procedure is a matter for the arbitrator concerned.