§ In the case of any ejectment which shall be or has been brought for the nonpayment of the rent of a holding to which the Land Law Acts as amended by this Act apply, where the rent in arrear exceeds two years' rent, the tenant may pay, tender, deposit, or lodge, under sections sixty to seventy-one of the Landlord and Tenant Law Amendment Act (Ireland), 1860, the sum of two years' rent instead of the sums therein respectively required to be paid, tendered, deposited, or lodged, and upon such tender, payment, deposit, or lodgment, the tenant shall be in the same position under those sections as if two years' rent were the sum due for rent up to the gale day preceding such tender, payment, deposit, or lodgment; and the balance of the rent due to such gale day shall he recoverable by the landlord as if the same were a debt due to him by the occupying tenant, but shall not be recovered by ejectment for nonpayment of rent or distress. Provided, however, that this section shall not apply to any proceeding in ejectment in which an Order has been or shall be made under the Thirtieth section of the Land Law (Ireland) Act, 1887, nor to any arrears of rent the subject of any such Order.
VISCOUNT DE VESCImoved, after the words "sum of two years' rent," to insert the words—
together with the costs on the undertaking in respect thereof by the said Act required.
§ The Amendment was practically the same he moved in Committee when the Government promised to consider the matter by Report. In all legislation subsequent to 1860, costs were expressly mentioned, and he thought it would be satisfactory if the noble Marquess could consent to the insertion of the words.
§ *THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNEsaid he was told the clause as it stood met his noble Friend's object, but they were willing to insert words which would render the point no longer doubtful. In line 26 he proposed to insert after the 329 word "lodged" the words "in respect of the rent und arrears exclusive of the costs"; and after the word "however" in line 27 the words, as a new section, "but nothing herein contained shall relieve the tenant from paying or undertaking to pay costs as provided in the sub-section."
§ Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
§ *THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNEmoved after the word "lodged" to insert the words "in respect of rent and arrears exclusive of the costs."
§ Amendment agreed to.
§ *THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNEmoved to insert after the words "Provided, however" as a new sub-section, the words—
(2.) "But nothing heroin contained shall relieve the tenant from paying or undertaking to pay costs as provided in the sub-section.
§ Amendment agreed to.
§ THE EARL OF PORTSMOUTHregretted that his noble Friend had not been able to insert in the clause some words which would have the effect of saving the hanging gale in the case of a great number of estates. As the clause now stood a landlord would be compelled where a tenant owed one year's rent immediately to take ejectment proceedings. This morning he received a letter from Lord Carlingford, in which that nobleman said the effect would be very mischievous, not so much in the interest of the landlord, but in the interest of the tenants. ["Hear, hear!"] On Lord Carlingford's estate there had been the custom of a hanging gale for one year, and the noble Lord looked with considerable apprehension on the very invidious position in which he would now be placed, for he would be practically compelled, at the very moment a tenant owed him one year's rent, to issue ejectment proceedings. The clause would result in hardship to a large class of tenants throughout Ireland.
§ THE LORD CHANCELLORreminded the noble Earl that there was no Amendment before the House.
§ THE EARL OF PORTSMOUTH, to put himself in order, formally moved the following subsection:—
Provided, however, that, in the case of any holding comprised in an estate upon which the usage known as hanging gale or gales prevails, such gale or gales of rent shall not for the purpose of this section be deemed to be rent in arrear and shall not be affected by anything contained in this section.The present effect of the clause would in the case of many estates—large estates—which had been most kindly managed, be that in order to protect themselves the landlords would have to take short proceedings against their tenants. The object of all Irish land legislation was to, wherever possible, recognise customs and not to put landlords and tenants in any prejudiced position because of prevailing customs.
§ *THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNEsaid the clause was not drafted with any idea of interfering with the customary arrangements between landlord and tenant peculiar to different estates, but he thought it quite possible that the noble Lord was right in believing that the clause would have a certain effect upon those estates where it had been usual to collect rent six months or 12 months in arrear. He had considered carefully whether it was possible to devise any means of meeting these cases, but he found it entirely impossible to do so without running counter to what he conceived to be the avowed intention of the clause. The intention of the clause was that, where a tenant owed a considerable number of years' rent, he should be allowed to tender two years' arrears in in so far as proceedings by ejectment payment, and that thereupon he should, for non-payment of rent were concerned, be discharged of all liability, except in respect of earlier arrears, which his landlord could recover from him, not by ejectment for non-payment of rent, but by the remedies of an ordinary creditor. If they had attempted in this clause so to arrange matters that the tenant on coming out of court, and after paying two years' arrears to his landlord, still had attached to him the liability for an arrear of twelve months under the head of what was commonly known as the hanging gale, they would, he conceived, have departed from the principle of the 331 clause. The noble Lord might be correct in saying that the effect of the change in the law might in some cases be to drive landlords to insist upon more punctual payment of the tenants' obligations. If that led to any hardship or ill-feeling no one would, he was sure, regret it more than the noble Lord or himself, but he had found it quite impossible to alter the clause in the direction the noble Earl suggested.
§ LORD HARLECHthought the case might be met by inserting "three years" for "two years." That would include any hanging gale there might be. [A laugh.]
§ Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
§ Clause 18,—