I move that the Bill be now read a Second Time. The maximum advance which a local authority may make under the Small Dwellings Acquisition Acts is 95 per cent. of the market value of the house excluding from that market value a grant under any enactment. The advance may not exceed £1,800 in Dublin City and County, the borough of Dún Laoghaire, Cork City and certain parts of Cork County adjoining the city. Elsewhere, the advance may not exceed £1,600.
It has been urged by house builders for some time past that the statutory definition of market value for the purposes of the Acts does not permit of an adequate market value being assessed for new houses having regard to current costs. The definition is contained in paragraph (a) Section 32 of the Housing (Amendment) Act, 1950, and reads as follows:—
"In the case of a house occupied or to be occupied for the first time, the amount which, in the opinion of the local authority, represents the reasonable cost of building the house, including so much, if any, of the legal and other expenses incidental thereto or to the acquisition of the tenement upon which the house is built or to be built, as the local authority may consider proper, but not including any fine, premium or other consideration for the acquisition of the leasehold interest in such tenement."
Builders have contended that market value should include all such factors as profit, cost of developing the site, of constructing roads, footpaths and sewers, of providing watermains and public lighting, and of carrying out all additional works required from time to time by local authorities; all fees, expenses and overheads and the acquisition of the site on which the house is built or to be built. It has further been contended that there should be some form of appeal against the decision of a local authority in the assessment of market value.
These representations were considered by the previous Government and on 24th December, 1956, local authorities were informed that legislalation would be introduced to amend the present definition of market value on the lines of the proposals now before the House. Local authorities were requested to operate the Acts in accordance with the revised definition proposed and it was indicated that legislation would validate any action on these lines taken in anticipation of the enactment of this Bill. The Bill does not propose any amendment of the law governing the proportion of market value which may be advanced.
Section 1 of the Bill tries to ensure that all the normal costs and charges falling on an individual building or buying a new house, including the value of his interest in the site, may, if reasonable, be included by the local authority in its assessment of market value for the purpose of an advance under the Acts. The section retains the principle that it is the opinion of the local authority on these factors which will determine market value. The revised definition seems to have the acceptance of local authorities and builders.
Sub-section (2) of the same section is intended to validate any determinations of market value made since 24th December, 1956, on the revised basis, in accordance with the request to local authorities to which I have referred.
The second section of the Bill provides a means of independent check on any dispute as to market value of a new house which may arise between a local authority and a builder or a person seeking an advance under the Acts. Under the section, an application may be made to the Commissioner of Valuation, by a person who contends that the local authority might properly have indicated a greater amount by way of market value. It is not proposed that the opinion given by the commissioner on the market value of a house would commit the local authority to making any advance or to making a particular amount of advance in any individual case. The local authority would retain complete discretion in these matters.
The person applying to the Commissioner of Valuation must pay the fee which will be prescribed by regulations made by the Minister for Finance. These regulations will be laid before each House of the Oireachtas in accordance with sub-section (7) of Section 2.
The primary purpose of the Bill is, as I have shown, to remove a difficulty of interpretation of the law which has existed for some time between certain builders and local authorities in the Dublin area. There are other and perhaps more important aspects of housing which must await review on an appropriate occasion.