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LANDLORD AND TENANT (IRELAND) ACT 1870 - SECT 4

4. Any tenant of a holding who is not entitled to compensation under sections
one and two of this Act, or either of such sections, or if entitled does not
make any claim under the said sections, or either of them, may on quitting his
holding, and subject to the provisions of section three of this Act, claim
compensation to be paid by the landlord under this section in respect of all
improvements on his holding made by him or his predecessors in title.

Provided that

Exception of certain improvements.

(1)A tenant shall not be entitled to any compensation in respect of any of the
improvements following; that is to say

(a)In respect of any improvement made before the passing of this Act, and
twenty years before the claim of such compensation shall have been made,
except permanent buildings and reclamation of waste land; or,

(b)In respect of any improvement prohibited in writing by the landlord as
being and appearing to the Court to be calculated to diminish the general
value of the landlord's estate, and made within two years after the passing of
this Act, or made during the unexpired residue of a lease granted before the
passing of Act; or,

(c)In respect of any improvement made either before or after the passing of
this Act in pursuance of a contract entered into for valuable consideration
therefor; or,

(d)(Subject to the rule in this section mentioned as to contracts) in respect
of any improvement made, either before or after the passing of this Act, in
contravention of a contract in writing not to make such improvement; or,

(e)In respect of any improvement made either before or after the passing of
this Act which the landlord has undertaken to make, except in cases where the
landlord has failed to perform his undertaking within a reasonable time:(2)A
tenant of a holding under a lease or written contract made before the passing
of this Act shall not be entitled on being disturbed by the act of the
landlord in or on quitting his holding to any compensation in respect of any
improvement, his right to which compensation is expressly excluded by such
lease or contract:

(3)A tenant of a holding under a lease made either before or after the passing
of this Act for a term certain of not less than thirty-one years, or in case
of leases made before the passing of this Act for a term of a life or lives
with or without a concurrent term of years, and which leases shall have
existed for thirty-one years before the making of the claim, shall not be
entitled to any compensation in respect of any improvement unless it is
specially provided in the lease that he is entitled to such compensation,
except permanent buildings and reclamation of waste land, and tillages or
manures, the benefit of which tillages or manures is unexhausted at the time
of the tenant quitting his holding:

(4)A tenant of a holding, who is quitting the same voluntarily shall not be
entitled to any compensation in respect of any improvement when it appears to
the Court that such tenant has been given permission by his landlord to
dispose of his interest in his improvements to an incoming tenant upon such
terms as the Court may deem reasonable, and the tenant has refused or
neglected to avail himself of such permission:

(5)Out of any moneys payable to the tenant under this section all sums due to
the landlord from the tenant or his predecessors in title in respect of rent,
or in respect of any deterioration of the holding arising from non-observance
on the part of the tenant of any express or implied covenant or agreement, may
be deducted by the landlord, and also any taxes payable by the tenant due in
respect of the holding and not recoverable by him from the landlord.

Any contract between a landlord and a tenant whereby the tenant is prohibited
from making such improvements as may be required for the suitable occupation
of his holding and its due cultivation shall be void both at law and in
equity, but no improvement shall be deemed to be required for the suitable
occupation of a tenant's holding and its due cultivation which appears to
the Court to diminish the general value of the estate of the landlord, nor
shall anything in this Act contained authorize or empower any tenant or
occupier, without the previous consent in writing of the landlord, to break up
or till any land or lands usually let, occupied, or used as grazing or grass
lands, or let expressly as grazing or meadow land, or to cut timber without
the consent of the landlord; provided that the tenant may cut timber planted
and registered by him or his predecessors in title.

Any contract made by a tenant by virtue of which he is deprived of his right
to make any claim which he would otherwise be entitled to make under this
section shall, so far as relates to such claim, be void both at law and in
equity, subject, however, to the enactment contained in the section of
this Act relating to the partial exemption of certain tenancies, and to the
provision in this section as to any improvement made in pursuance of a
contract entered into for valuable consideration therefor.

Where a tenant has made any improvements before the passing of this Act on a
holding held by him under a tenancy existing at the time of the passing
thereof, the Court in awarding compensation to such tenant in respect of such
improvements shall, in reduction of the claim of the tenant, take into
consideration the time during which such tenant may have enjoyed the advantage
of such improvements, also the rent at which such holding has been held, and
any benefits which such tenant may have received from his landlord in
consideration, expressly or impliedly, of the improvements so made.

© 1870 Crown Copyright

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