Housing and Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act (Northern Ireland) 1946

3 Enforcement of statutory conditions. N.I.

(1) Every person guilty of any breach or contravention or attempted breach or contravention of any statutory condition imposed by virtue of paragraphs ( a), ( b), ( d), ( e) or ( f) of the last preceding section shall, on summary conviction, be liable to a fine not exceedingF1 ...[F1 level 5 on the standard scale]F1 : Provided that where such breach or contravention has been committed by a body corporate, then, without prejudice to the liability of that body, every person who at the time of such commission was a director or other officer of the body corporate or was purporting to act in any such capacity, shall be liable to be prosecuted as if he had personally been guilty of that breach or contravention and shall if, on such prosecution it is shown that he consented to, or connived at, or did not exercise all such diligence as he ought in the circumstances to have exercised to prevent, the breach or contravention, be liable to the like conviction and punishment as if he had personally been guilty of that breach or contravention.

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F2 (1A) In the event of any breach or contravention or attempted breach or contravention of any of the statutory conditions there shall forthwith become due and repayable to the [F3 district council] and recoverable upon demand made in writing by the [F3 district council] as a civil debt due to them such sum as bears to the amount of the contribution paid by the [F3 district council] in respect of the house to which the breach or contravention or attempted breach or contravention relates the same proportion as that portion of the period for which the statutory conditions were imposed, which, at the time of the breach or contravention or attempted breach or contravention, remains unexpired bears to the whole of the period.

(1B) Where a person has been convicted of an offence under sub-section (1) of this section the court before whom he is convicted may, on such conviction, order that in addition to the amount repayable by him under sub-section (1A) of this section, he shall repay to the [F3 district council] the balance of the contribution paid in respect of the house to which the breach or contravention or attempted breach or contravention relates or such lesser sum as the court may think necessary to remedy the breach or contravention and any such order may, without prejudice to any other remedy, be enforced in like manner as an order for the payment of a penal sum.

(1C) Where in respect of any house the full amount of a contribution or an amount not less than that repayable under sub-section (1A) of this section or which would have been so repayable if at the time of the repayment there had been a breach or contravention of the statutory conditions has been repaid to the [F3 district council], the statutory conditions shall cease to apply to that house notwithstanding that the period for which those conditions were imposed has not expired.]

(2) In the case of any breach or contravention or attempted breach or contravention of any of the statutory conditions imposed by virtue of paragraphs ( a), ( b) or ( g) of the last preceding section, the [F3 district council] may, without prejudice to any other remedy open to them, take possession of the house:

Provided that before taking such possession, the [F3 district council] shall, by notice in writing delivered to the proprietor or his agent at his usual or last known place of abode or business call on the proprietor to comply with the condition, and if the proprietor—

(a) within fourteen days after the delivery of the notice gives an undertaking in writing to the [F3 district council] to comply with the notice; and

(b) within two months after the delivery of the notice complies therewith;

the [F3 district council] shall not take possession.

(3) Where a [F3 district council] take possession of a house by virtue of the last preceding sub-section, the [F3 district council] shall proceed to let and manage the house as if it had been a house provided by [F3 the Northern Ireland Housing Executive] under the Act of 1945 and the provisions of that Act in that behalf shall apply [F3 as if the district council were the Northern Ireland Housing Executive] and any letting so made by the [F3 district council] shall be deemed to have been made by the proprietor:

Provided that—

(a) the rent reserved on any such letting shall be payable to the [F3 district council] and the [F3 district council] shall, after the deduction therefrom [F4 of the amount of any contribution paid by them under section one of this Act, as amended or extended by any subsequent enactment and] of all costs of or incidental to the taking of possession, the taking of any further or other action necessary to secure compliance with the statutory conditions, and the costs and expenses reasonably incurred by the [F3 district council] in or in connection with the letting and management of the house, cause the balance to be paid to or held in trust for the proprietor;

(b) the right of the [F3 district council] to let and manage the house under this sub-section shall cease to be excercisable on the expiration of the period of ten years from the date on which the house became reasonably fit for occupation;

Para.(c) rep. by 1951 c.13 (NI)

(4) Where a [F3 district council] are entitled under this section to take possession of a house, such possession may, notwithstanding anything in the Rent and Mortgage Interest (Restrictions) Act (Northern Ireland), 1940 [1940 c.7] , or any other enactment whatsoever and irrespective of the value of the house, be recovered by or on behalf of the [F3 district council] under Part IVF5 of the Summary Jurisdiction and Criminal Justice Act (Northern Ireland), 1935 [1935 c.13] , and the provisions of the said Part IVF5 shall apply as if the [F3 district council] were the owner of the house and as if the proprietor or any person in possession of the house were a person who had been put into possession of the house by permission of the owner as caretaker.

Subs.(5) rep. by 1951 c.3 (NI)

F1 1984 NI 3

F2 1964 c.26 (NI)

F3 SRO (NI) 1973/285

F4 1946 c.20 (NI)

F5 1964 c.21 (NI)