Vol. 500 No. 5
156 Mr. G. Mitchell asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he will abolish ground rent for private houses particularly in relation to a person (details supplied) in Dublin 12; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4626/99]
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 dwellinghouses. Part III of the (No. 2) 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 1 3 times the ground rent. The Act contains provision for the determination of applications for the pur chase 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.
A Bill entitled the Landlord and Tenant (Ground Rent Abolition) Bill passed Second Stage in the House on 19 March 1997. The detail of this Bill is being examined in my Department at present, 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.
The Deputy will appreciate that pending the completion of that examination, I could not comment in detail on the particular constitutional issues in question other than to make the general point that successive Governments have accepted that the abolition of ground rents without appropriate compensation arrangements would not be in accordance with constitutional requirements.
