Ceist:
53 Mr. Hayes asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the progress, if any, regarding the Government's commitment to abolish ground rents; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12356/99]
Written Answers. - Ground Rents.
Michael Ferris
Ceist:62 Mr. Ferris asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform when he will introduce legislation to honour the Government's commitment to abolish ground rents; the nature of the constitutional difficulties reported to be holding up legislation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15374/99]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 53 and 62 together.
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 No. 2 Act, provides a special procedure, operated at low cost by the Land Registry, whereby owner-occupiers of dwellinghouses 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.
A Bill entitled the Landlord and Tenant (Ground Rent Abolition) Bill passed Second Stage in the House in 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. The 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. The details of any decisions which can overcome such difficulties will be announced in the normal way.