Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 22 Apr 1999

Vol. 503 No. 5

Adjournment Debate. - Ground Rent Abolition.

Mr. Hayes

I am glad to have this opportunity to raise the U-turn by the Government on the abolition of ground rent. Despite the commitment given in the programme for Government and the repeated promises by Fianna Fáil to abolish ground rent I have discovered the Government has no intention of abolishing this unjust and archaic rent.

This scandalous about turn is particularly obvious in the case of Fianna Fáil and the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources, Deputy Woods. In March 1997 he initiated the Landlord and Tenant (Ground Rent Abolition) Bill. This Fianna Fáil Private Member's Bill received the support of the Dáil on Second Stage and was subsequently referred to the Select Committee on Equality and Law Reform. It is worth highlighting to the House what the Minister, Deputy Woods said on that occasion:

Fianna Fáil is convinced that the time has now come for the historic reform of home ownership, for the final abolition of ground rents and the introduction of a simple system of registration in the Land Registry.

He went on to say:

The onus is on us as legislators to repeal these outdated ground rents. I welcome the fact that the Government has accepted this important Bill proposed by me on behalf of my party. There is now an onus on the Government to join us in ensuring its passing all remaining Stages without delay.

If it was right and proper for Fianna Fáil to propose legislation to abolish ground rent in 1997, why can it not be enacted in 1999? We are told that other priorities are being attended to in the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. The Taoiseach informs the Dáil regularly on the Order of Business that there are constitutional difficulties with the abolition of ground rents. Once again, Fianna Fáil says one thing in Opposition and something completely different in Government. Why can the Minister, Deputy Woods's, Private Member's Bill not be reintroduced by his party, now in Government, following the two year time lapse?

The situation is more outrageous when one considers that only this week pensioners living in Rialto, Dublin, received demand notices from solicitors acting on behalf of landlords.

Will the Government now recommend that people should not pay demands for ground rent? I understand about 250,000 homes in this jurisdiction are still liable for ground rent. Between 300 to 400 householders annually are still dragged before the courts in relation to this matter. This shameful situation is further compounded by the hypocrisy of a Government which received support from this House to abolish ground rent two years ago but has to date decided not to fulfill its promise to the people.

I call on the Government to reintroduce the lapsed Landlord and Tenant (Ground Rent Abolition) Bill, 1997, immediately. To do other wise would make a mockery of Parliament and further increase cynicism in politics.

Mr. O'Donoghue

I have already indicated to the House, by way of reply to questions on 17 February 1999, that the Landlord and Tenant (Ground Rents) (No. 2) Act, 1978, already provides a statutory scheme for the acquisition of the fee simple by the owners of dwelling houses.

Part III of the Act provides a special procedure operated at low cost by the Land Registry, whereby owner-occupiers of dwelling houses may acquire readily and relatively inexpensively the fee simple in their property. The purchase price in most cases at present is about 13 times the ground rent. The Act contains provision for the determination of applications for the purchase of the fee simple in cases where the consent of all the necessary parties is not forthcoming. In such cases the Registrar of Titles will determine the application by arbitration. The Act also makes provision for the circumstance that the ground rent landlord cannot be found. There is no obstacle to a tenant negotiating directly with the owner of the ground rent for its purchase without reference to the No. 2 Act. Almost 68,000 ground rent tenants have availed of the low cost purchase scheme.

The details of the Bill entitled the Landlord and Tenant (Ground Rent Abolition) Bill are being examined in my Department at present—

Mr. Hayes

Two years later.

Mr. O'Donoghue

– in consultation with the Attorney General and the Registrar of Titles, particularly from the point of view of the constitutionality and practicality of its proposals in relation to land law generally and, in particular, the land registration system. A difficulty which successive Governments have accepted over the years is that abolition of ground rents without appropriate compensation would not be in keeping with constitutional requirements.

Given the complexities involved, I am not yet in a position to indicate when the examination will be completed, but any proposals which may emerge will be announced in the usual way. I might add that successive Governments have accepted that the abolition of ground rents without appropriate compensation arrangements would not be in accordance with constitutional requirements.

Mr. Hayes

Change the Constitution.

Mr. O'Donoghue

In conclusion, I refer to a matter in connection with ground rents that was reported very recently in the media. It was suggested that a ground rent tenant could be evicted for failure to pay ground rent. However, the position under the Landlord and Tenant (Ground Rents)(No. 2) Act, 1978, to which I have already referred, is that it deprives a ground rent landlord of the right to repossess a dwelling house for non-payment of ground rent, on foot of a covenant in the lease. The landlord is left simply with the right to sue for any arrears as a civil debt.