asked the Minister for Justice whether his Department have made any approximate estimate of the total cost which would be involved to the State if all existing ground rents were to be bought out at public expense; and, if so, the estimate.
Written Answers. - Ground Rents.
321.
Information is not available on which to base a good estimate of the cost to the State if all ground rents were to be bought out at public expense. This was recognised as a fact by the Ground Rents Commission who in their "Report on Ground Rents" (Pr. 7783) indicated that they were unable to estimate either the number of ground rents in the State or the total amount of money involved. The best "estimate" that can be made on the basis of the available facts is that the cost of the purchase of the ground rents on dwellings would be likely to be in the range of £30 million to £60 million. I emphasise that this relates only to dwellings and it is not possible to estimate what the further cost would be of buying out the ground rents on properties other than dwellings.
322.
asked the Minister for Justice the number of ground rents which had been bought out under the procedure provided for by Part II of the Landlord and Tenant (Ground Rents) (No. 2) Act, 1978 at the latest date for which figures are available.
The special purchase scheme provided by the Landlord and Tenant (Ground Rents) (No. 2) Act, 1978, came into operation on 1 August 1978. Between that date and 30 November 1980, inclusive, 7,237 vesting certificates were issued through the Land Registry under that scheme. In an additional 1,447 cases the purchase money had been paid to the ground landlord but the relevant vesting certificate had yet to issue giving a total of 8,684 ground rents which had by the end of November been bought out under the Act.