Social Security Hypothecs
(Jersey) Law 2014
1 Interpretation
(1) In this Law, unless the
context otherwise requires –
“1880 Loi”
means the Loi
(1880) sur la propriété foncière;
“2007 Law” means the Income Support (Jersey)
Law 2007;
“2012 Law” means the Long-Term Care (Jersey)
Law 2012;
“Article 4(1)(b) benefit” means a benefit under
Article 4(1)(b) of the 2012 Law to meet all or part of the cost
of a payment by an individual towards the costs of long-term care, such payment
being required by virtue of an Order under Article 3(2)(c) of
the 2012 Law;
“debt” means the amount that a debtor is liable to repay
the Minister by way of final settlement by reason of an income support debt or
pursuant to a long-term care loan;
“debtor” means a person who is liable to pay one or more
amounts to the Minister as accrue from time to time pursuant to an income
support debt or a long-term care loan;
“income support debt” means an amount that a claimant is
liable to pay by reason of any of the circumstances referred to in Article 14(1)(a),
(b) or (c) of the 2007 Law;
“long-term care loan” means an arrangement entered into
by an individual pursuant to which an Article 4(1)(b) benefit provided to
the individual takes the form of a loan to the individual (however such loan is
expressed and in whatever form);
“Minister” means the Minister for Social Security;
“partner” means the debtor’s spouse or civil
partner or any individual living in a similar relationship with the debtor
(whether or not of different sexes);
“social security hypothec” means a legal hypothec
arising under Article 2(1);
“third party” means a person other than the debtor and
his or her partner.
(2) Words and expressions
used in this Law shall, except where indicated otherwise, have the same meaning
as such words and expressions have in French in the 1880 Loi.
2 Creation
of social security hypothec
(1) A debt may be secured
by a hypothec in accordance with the provisions of this Law.
(2) Subject to paragraph (6),
the Minister shall have a legal hypothec on all the immovable property of a
debtor and the debtor’s partner (whether owned separately, jointly or in
common) if, following an application by the Minister, the hypothec is
registered in the Public Registry.
(3) In the case of a
long-term care loan or income support debt, a hypothec is created under
paragraph (1) whether or not the immovable property is owned jointly with
a third party.
(4) Where a hypothec has
been created in circumstances where the property is owned jointly (whether or
not with a third party) and a dégrèvement
is ordered under Article 2(b) of the Loi (1904) (Amendement No. 2)
sur la Propriété Foncière, the title to the property
shall, as from the date of the order, be taken to have been converted into
ownership in common in equal shares (“en
indivis en parts égales”) and the hypothec shall, with the
debt secured by it, be apportioned accordingly.
(5) Where paragraph (4)
applies and the dégrèvement is
discontinued, or for any other reason, the court may make such order as it
thinks fit for restoring the position to what it would have been had the order
for the dégrèvement not been
made or as nearly thereto as the court thinks practicable.
(6) Immovable property
which is subject to any other form of hypothec in favour of the Minister for a
debt cannot be subject to a social security hypothec in respect of the same
debt.
(7) A social security
hypothec may be registered at any time.
(8) A social security
hypothec shall date from the date it is registered in the Public Registry and
shall rank in priority to other hypothecs from that date.
(9) The Minister shall give
notice of the registration of a social security hypothec to the debtor as soon
as reasonably practicable following its registration.
3 Amount
secured by a social security hypothec
(1) A social security
hypothec shall secure such amount as accrues from time to time that a debtor is
liable to pay pursuant to an income support debt or a long-term care loan, as
the case may be.
(2) In the case of an order
of dégrèvement under Article 2(b)
of the Loi (1904) (Amendement No. 2) sur la Propriété
Foncière or a declaration under Article 6 of the Bankruptcy (Désastre)
(Jersey) Law 1990, a social security hypothec shall secure such
amount that the debtor is liable to pay pursuant to the income support debt or
long-term care loan at the time of the order or declaration, as the case may
be.
4 Application
of the 1880 Loi
(1) Instead of Article 16
of the 1880 Loi paragraphs (2) and (3) shall apply.
(2) When a debt secured by
a social security hypothec is extinguished by any reason whatsoever, the
Minister shall cause the hypothec to be cancelled within one month of the day
on which the debt was extinguished.
(3) For the purposes of
paragraph (2), the Minister shall provide the Judicial Greffier with
evidence of extinguishment of the debt and, upon receiving such evidence, the
Judicial Greffier shall cancel the social security hypothec.
(4) Article 29 of
the 1880 Loi shall apply to a social security hypothec except that
the right of recourse to a third holder of the property (le droit de suite) shall not be barred by
prescription.
(5) The relevant provisions
of the 1880 Loi are set out in translation in the Schedule, however
these translations are by way of information only and in the event of any
conflict between a translation and the 1880 Loi, the latter shall
prevail.
5 Rules
of Court
Rules of Court may be made under the Royal Court (Jersey)
Law 1948 to give effect to this Law.
6 Citation
This Law may be cited as the Social Security Hypothecs (Jersey)
Law 2014.
SCHEDULE[1]
(Article 4)
english translation of
Relevant provisions of the 1880 loi
1 Article 2
A hypothec, for the
purposes of this Law, is a real right attached to a rente or
other claim by virtue of which one or more biens-fonds belonging to the debtor
are rendered specially subject to the payment of such rente or
claim and which confers on the holder of the hypothec the advantages as
follows.
In the case of a décret or dégrèvement
of the hypothecated property (except in the case where the property of the
debtor has been declared en désastre):
the right, according to the rank of the hypothec, of becoming tenant to the property thus undergoing the décret or dégrèvement
or of being paid off by any tenant who shall
have become such by virtue of a contract or hypothec subsequent in date;
In the case of an
insufficiency in the debtor’s assets: the right to follow any part of the
hypothecated property into the hands of a third holder of the property and
although the third holder shall not have been directly charged with the payment
of the rente or claim so hypothecated, to
compel the third holder to pay off whatever balance remains due thereon, or to
give up the property held.
The renunciation by
default or otherwise in a décret or dégrèvement of a rente or of an hypothecated claim shall have the effect of freeing the
properties undergoing these different procedures from the rente or
claim itself as well as from the hypothec attached thereto but shall not
deprive the creditor of any right of recourse with respect to any other
hypothecated property, if there be any.
2 Article 6
A legal hypothec is that
which results from operation of law.
3 Article 26
The holder of a legal, judicial
or contractual hypothec, charged on a bien-fonds in the hands of a third holder
shall not have the right, unless the third holder is bound expressly by his or
her title to the property to discharge the liability of the principal debtor, to
take any proceedings against the third holder for payment of the sum of money or
the rente so hypothecated except after the assets of the principal debtor shall
have been exhausted.
4 Article 29
Legal, judicial or contractual
hypothecs constituted under the present Law shall remain in force until the debts
or obligations which are the subject of them become extinct, not only as regards
every part of the hypothecated property for the proportion of the rente or hypothecated
claim with which such part is specially charged, but also as against every debtor
of the property charged, for such portion of the rente or
claim in respect of which the debtor is personally liable; but such hypothecs, except
a contractual hypothec, whether landed or simple, may be barred by prescription
in so far as the right of following the hypothecated property into the hands of
a third holder of the property is concerned, notwithstanding that the debt or hypothecated
claim may not be extinct.
As regards the right of
action against successors in title (droit de suite) –
(a) a
judicial hypothec resulting from a simple acknowledgment of a debt shall be
prescribed at the expiration of 30 years or more after the date it was
created provided that it was created –
(i) on
or after the date of commencement of the Loi (2018) (Amendement No. 6) sur
la propriété foncière, or
(ii) in
the 10 year period immediately before the commencement of that Law;
(b) all
other judicial and legal hypothecs shall be prescribed at the expiration of
10 years or more after the date the hypothec was created, with the exception
of –
(i) a
hypothec for dower, and
(ii) a
hypothec by virtue of the Social Security Hypothecs (Jersey) Law 2014.
With regard to the
hypothec for dower, such right of recourse is extinguished only by the death of
the widow.