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Consultation Paper on the General Law of the Landlord and Tenant

Consultation Paper on the General Law of the Landlord and Tenant

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namely permissive, voluntary, ameliorating <strong>and</strong> equitable apply. 7Deasy’s Act creates fur<strong>the</strong>r uncertainty because secti<strong>on</strong>s 25-39purport to prohibit or restrict <strong>the</strong> tenant in a wide range <strong>of</strong> activitieslikely to fall within <strong>the</strong> c<strong>on</strong>cept <strong>of</strong> waste, such as opening new mines<strong>and</strong> quarries, removing soil, cutting turf for pr<strong>of</strong>it, burning <strong>the</strong> soil orsurface, cutting <strong>and</strong> lopping <strong>of</strong> trees. It is questi<strong>on</strong>able how far <strong>the</strong>seprovisi<strong>on</strong>s remain <strong>of</strong> relevance in modern times; many <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>m relateto activities more likely to be carried <strong>on</strong> in agricultural areas wheretenancies are extremely rare. The subject <strong>of</strong> agricultural tenancieswill be reviewed at a later stage in <strong>the</strong> current project <strong>and</strong> it may bethat what is needed is a new, more up-to-date statutory scheme forsuch tenancies. Apart from that, many <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> activities dealt with in<strong>the</strong>se secti<strong>on</strong>s <strong>of</strong> Deasy’s Act are now <strong>the</strong> subject <strong>of</strong> c<strong>on</strong>trol throughmore modern legislati<strong>on</strong> such as that governing valuable minerals 8<strong>and</strong> trees. 910.04 The traditi<strong>on</strong>al remedy for waste is to seek damages in tort 10or an injuncti<strong>on</strong> against <strong>the</strong> tenant. However Deasy’s Act provided aspecial summary remedy for restraining waste, namely a “precept”obtainable from <strong>the</strong> District Court. 11 It would appear that this remedyis rarely, if ever, invoked nowadays.10.05 For all <strong>the</strong> above reas<strong>on</strong>s it must be questi<strong>on</strong>ed whe<strong>the</strong>r <strong>the</strong>law <strong>of</strong> waste should c<strong>on</strong>tinue to have any place in our l<strong>and</strong>lord <strong>and</strong>tenant law. Arguably activities which would come within it are best67891011[1951] 1 KB 517, 522 (per Somervell LJ) <strong>and</strong> Warren v Keen [1951] 1 QB15, 20 (per Denning LJ).See Wylie Irish L<strong>and</strong> <strong>Law</strong> (3 rd ed Butterworths 1997) paragraph 4.149.Thus secti<strong>on</strong> 25 refers to “fraudulent or malicious” waste; cf secti<strong>on</strong> 65(3)<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>L<strong>and</strong>lord</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Tenant</strong> (Amendment) Act 1980, which refers to“wilful” waste, a c<strong>on</strong>cept which caused <strong>the</strong> courts some difficulty: seeWylie Irish <strong>L<strong>and</strong>lord</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Tenant</strong> <strong>Law</strong> (2 nd ed Butterworths 1998)paragraph 15.33.Minerals Development Act 1940; Petroleum <strong>and</strong> O<strong>the</strong>r MineralsDevelopment Act 1960.Forestry Acts 1946 <strong>and</strong> 1988. Note also <strong>the</strong> provisi<strong>on</strong> for tree preservati<strong>on</strong>orders under <strong>the</strong> planning legislati<strong>on</strong>: see Planning <strong>and</strong> Development Act2000, secti<strong>on</strong> 205.Minister for Local Government <strong>and</strong> Public Health v Kenny [1940] 75ILTR 26; Ellis v Dublin Corporati<strong>on</strong> [1940] IR 283.Secti<strong>on</strong>s 35-37 <strong>and</strong> Schedule (A).130

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