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) [1]
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.