Housing (Jersey)
Law 1949[1]
A LAW to provide for the administration of matters relating to the
housing of the population, to empower the States to acquire land by compulsory
purchase for the purposes of housing, and to control acquisitions and sales and
leases of land in order to prevent further aggravation of the housing shortage[2]
Commencement [see endnotes]
PART 1
GENERAL
1 General
definitions
In this Law –
“land” means any corporeal hereditament,
including a building, and land covered with water, and, in relation to the
acquisition of land under Article 4, includes any interest in land or
water and servitudes or rights in, on or over land or water;[3]
“Minister” means the
Minister for Housing.
2 Powers and duties of
Minister
The Minister shall exercise the
powers and duties imposed on the Minister by this Law, and generally for the
purposes of discharging such other functions relating to the housing of the
population as may from time to time be deemed expedient.
PART 2
POWER
TO ACQUIRE LAND BY COMPULSORY PURCHASE FOR HOUSING PURPOSES
3 Responsible Minister
The Minister shall be charged with
the administration of this Part.
4 Power
to acquire land by compulsory purchase
(1) Where
it appears to the States that any land should be acquired to provide for the
housing of the inhabitants of Jersey, it shall be lawful for the States to
acquire such land by compulsory purchase on behalf of the public in accordance
with the provisions of the Compulsory
Purchase of Land (Procedure) (Jersey) Law 1961.[4]
(2) The
power to acquire land by compulsory purchase conferred by paragraph (1)
shall include the power to –
(a) acquire a servitude or other right over land
by the creation of a new servitude or right; and
(b) extinguish or modify a servitude or other
right over land.[5]
(3) In
the exercise of their powers under this Article, the States shall have regard
to the suitability of the land for agricultural purposes.
PART 3[6]
LAND
held before commencement or ACQUIRED AFTER DEGREVEMENT ETC.
5 Condition
on occupation of dwellings on land acquired after a dégrèvement or by a company by inheritance[7]
Where, after 9 June 1993[8] any land is acquired –
(a) as
a result of a dégrèvement;
(b) by
subrogation from a tenant après
dégrèvement; or
(c) by
a body corporate, by inheritance,
the land shall be deemed to have
been acquired subject to the condition that any unit of dwelling accommodation
on the land at the time of its acquisition, or which is created on the land
thereafter, shall not without the consent of the Minister be occupied other
than by a person who falls within any class specified by the States in Regulations
made under Article 21, being a class to which this condition is
specifically stated to refer by those Regulations.
6 Acquisition
of certain leasehold interests[9]
The reference in Article 5 to
land shall be deemed to include an incorporeal hereditament within the meaning
of the Loi (1996) sur l’hypothèque des biens-fonds incorporels[10] acquired as a result of a dégrèvement or otherwise in
accordance with the provisions of that Law.
7 Corporate
land held prior to commencement[11]
(1) Subject
to paragraph (2), a unit of dwelling accommodation on, or constructed on,
land which was acquired by a body corporate before the commencement of this Law
shall not, without the consent of the Minister, be occupied other than by a person
who falls within a class specified in Regulations made under Articles 14 and
21, being a class to which the restriction imposed by this Article is
specifically stated to refer by those Regulations.
(2) Paragraph (1)
shall not apply to a unit of dwelling accommodation which –
(a) was
in existence on 28th July 1998;
(b) was
lawfully being constructed on 28th July 1998; or
(c) has
been, or shall be, lawfully constructed after 28th July 1998 in accordance in
every respect with permission granted before 28th July 1998 by the Planning and
Environment Committee.
8 Duration[12]
This Part of this Law shall remain
in force for so long as Part 4 remains in force.
PART 4
CONTROL
OF SALES AND LEASES OF LAND
9 Definitions
In this Part, unless the context
otherwise requires –
“Court” means the
Inferior Number of the Royal Court;
“lease” means a
lease, underlease or other tenancy, assignment operating as a lease or
underlease, or an agreement for such lease, underlease, tenancy or assignment,
and the expressions “lessor” and “lessee” shall be
construed accordingly;
“registered contract”
means a contract passed before the Royal Court and registered in the Public
Registry of Contracts;
“transaction to which this Part
applies” has the meaning assigned thereto by Article 10.
10 Transactions
to which this Part applies
(1) Subject
to the provisions of this Article, this Part shall apply to every transaction
being –
(a) a registered contract for the sale or
transfer of any land in perpetuity, or for a term expiring on the happening of
a specified event, or for the unexpired portion of any such term as aforesaid;
or
(b) a lease of any land, whether parol or in
writing, including a registered contract of lease.
(2) Nothing
in this Part shall apply to –
(a) any transaction entered into before 2nd
April 1949;
(b) any contract of partition of inherited or
devised real estate;
(c) any contract for the sale or transfer or any
lease, of any land to or by Her Majesty;[13]
(d) any lease, not being a registered contract
of lease, where the land demised by the lease does not comprise a
dwelling-house or any part of a dwelling-house.[14]
(3) Regulations
made under this Part may exempt, either unconditionally or subject to such
conditions as may be prescribed in such Regulations, any class of transaction
from the provisions of this Part.[15]
11 Prohibition
on transactions without consent of Minister
(1) No
person shall, whether as vendor, purchaser, lessor, lessee or other party, and
whether as principal or agent, enter into any transaction to which this Part
applies, without the consent of the Minister previously obtained.
(2) No
person shall procure or induce any other person to enter into any transaction
in contravention of this Part.
12 Invalidation
of transactions
(1) Where
it is proved to the satisfaction of the Court that a transaction to which this Part
applies has been entered into without the consent of the Minister, the Court
may declare the transaction to be void.[16]
(2) Where
it is proved to the satisfaction of the Court in relation to any transaction to
which this Part applies (other than a registered contract for the sale or
transfer of any land in perpetuity) –
(a) that any condition imposed by the Minister
on the grant of his or her consent to the transaction has not been complied
with;
(b) that any false or misleading statement has
been made in connection with the application for consent to the transaction; or
(c) that all the material facts in connection
with the transaction were not submitted to the Minister on the making of the
application for consent thereto,
the Court may declare the
transaction to be void, and, if satisfied that the act or omission was that of
one of the parties to the transaction and that the other party was innocent of
such act or omission, may award damages to the innocent party against the other
party in respect of any loss suffered by the innocent party as a direct result
of the transaction being declared void.[17]
(3) Where
the Court, in pursuance of this Article, declares a registered contract to be
void, the Court shall order a record to be made in the Public Registry of
Contracts to the effect that the contract is void as aforesaid.
13 Applications for
consents and variations of consents[18]
(1) Every
application for –
(a) the
consent of the Minister under this Part; or
(b) a
variation under Article 16 of a consent granted by the Minister under this
Part,
shall contain or be accompanied
by the particulars, information and documents that the Minister requires.
(2) An
application shall be accompanied by the fee, if any, specified in an Order made
by the Minister.
(3) The
Minister may require that a person who has made an application to the Minister
provide to the Minister evidence, of a kind specified by the Minister, that
purports to verify the application.
14 Grant
or refusal of consent[19]
(1) The
Minister shall grant consent, either unconditionally or subject to such
conditions as the Minister thinks fit, to the sale, transfer or lease of any
land of a class for the time being specified by the States by Regulations made
under this Part and shall refuse consent to any sale or transfer or lease not
so specified.[20]
(2) Without
prejudice to the generality of the foregoing provisions of this Article, every
consent granted by the Minister to the sale, transfer or lease, whether by a
registered contract or not, of any land to a body corporate shall be subject to
the following condition –
“Any unit of dwelling
accommodation on the land at the time of the grant of this consent, or created
on the land thereafter, shall not without the consent of the Minister be
occupied other than by a person who falls within any class specified by the
States by Regulations made under Part 4 of the Housing (Jersey) Law 1949,[21] being a class to which this condition is specifically stated to
refer by those Regulations.”,
and any consent granted by the
Housing Committee to the sale, transfer or lease of any land to a body
corporate before the 6th day of February 1973 shall be deemed,
notwithstanding any other provision of the consent, to have attached to it a
condition in the terms aforesaid:
Provided that the condition so
attached shall not apply to a person occupying before the said date a unit of
dwelling accommodation on the land in respect of which the consent was granted.[22]
(3) Without
prejudice to the generality of the foregoing provisions of this Article, the
Minister may attach to the grant of consent to the sale, transfer or lease of
any land, conditions relating to –
(a) the persons by whom the land may be
occupied;
(b) the use of the land;
(c) the maximum price at which the land is to be
sold or leased:
Provided that the Minister shall not
impose such a condition unless the States have, by Regulations made under this Part,
specified the method by which the Minister is to assess the said maximum price
and for this purpose the Regulations may specify different methods for
different classes of land.[23]
15 Grant
or variation of consent in certain cases of tourist and dwelling accommodation owned
or leased by same person[24]
(1) Notwithstanding
any other provision of this Law or any Regulations made thereunder,
where –
(a) an applicant for consent under Article 14
to purchase or lease a unit of dwelling accommodation; or
(b) the owner or lessee of a unit of dwelling
accommodation,
has applied to the Minister for
consent to that accommodation becoming tourist premises, the Minister shall
grant such consent if the Minister is satisfied of the matters set out in paragraph (2).
(2) The
matters referred to in paragraph (1) are that –
(a) the applicant is the owner or lessee of
tourist premises which –
(i) form
part of,
(ii) have
a common boundary with, or
(iii) are
adjacent to,
the property which is the
subject of the application;
(b) over the 3 years prior to the application or
such other period as the Minister considers appropriate –
(i) there
has been a net reduction in the number of tourist premises, and
(ii) the
number of tourist premises which have become units of dwelling accommodation,
the occupation of which is restricted by virtue of Regulations made under this Law,
is greater than the number of units of such accommodation which have or, if the
application were granted, would, become tourist premises under this Article;
and
(c) consent can, in the best interests of the
community, be justified.
(3) In
this Article “tourist premises” means premises registered under the
Tourism (Jersey) Law 1948.[25]
16 Variation of consents[26]
(1) A
person who is a party to a transaction to which a consent granted by the Minister
under this Part relates may apply to the Minister for a variation of the
consent.
(2) The
Minister shall, on receipt of an application, vary, or refuse to vary, the
consent to which the application relates.
(3) The
Minister may, of his or her own motion, with the agreement of a person who is a
party to a transaction to which a consent granted by the Minister under this
Part relates, vary the consent.
(4) The
variation of a consent under this Article may include, but is not limited to
including, a variation of the following –
(a) the
names of persons specified in the consent;
(b) a
reference to land specified in the consent;
(c) a
monetary value specified in the consent;
(d) the
period specified in the consent as either the duration of the lease (not being
a registered contract of lease), or the occupation, to which the consent
relates;
(e) a
condition attached to the consent.
(5) Nothing
in this Article permits the Minister –
(a) to
vary a condition attached under Article 14(2) to a consent; or
(b) to vary
a consent so as to have the effect of granting consent to enter into a transaction
to which consent shall, in accordance with Article 14, be refused.
(6) The
Minister shall give notice of a decision under this Article in relation to a
consent to the person who applied under paragraph (1) for, or who
agreed under paragraph (3) to, the variation of the consent.
17 Power
to revoke consents
(1) The
Minister may call upon any person to whom consent has been granted under this Part,
at any time before the completion of the transaction to which the consent
relates, to show cause why that consent should not be revoked on the
ground –
(a) that a false or misleading statement has
been made in connection with the application for consent; or
(b) that all the material facts in connection
with the transaction were not submitted to the Minister.
(2) Where
the Minister calls upon any person to show cause under this Article, that person
shall forthwith surrender to the Minister the evidence of the consent delivered
to that person by the Minister and shall not proceed with the transaction to
which the consent relates until the Minister has determined whether or not the
consent shall be revoked.
(3) Unless
cause is shown to the Minister why the consent should not be revoked, the
Minister may revoke the consent, which shall thereupon be deemed not to have
been obtained.
18 Appeals
(1) Any
person aggrieved by a decision of the Minister under this Part to –
(a) refuse
to grant a consent;
(b) attach
a condition to a consent;
(c) vary
or refuse to vary a consent; or
(d) revoke
a consent,
may appeal to the Court against the decision.[27]
(2) An
appeal shall be lodged by a person with the Court not later than one month
after the date on which notice of the decision to which the appeal relates was
given to the person by the Minister.[28]
(3) The
Court may, on the application of a person, extend the period in which an appeal
may be lodged by the person. [29]
(4) On
any such appeal, the Court may either dismiss the appeal or may give to the
Minister such directions in the matter as it considers proper, and the Minister
shall comply with any such direction.
(5) Any
appeal under this Article may be heard and determined either in term or in
vacation.
(6) The
costs of any appeal under this Article shall be paid in such manner and by such
parties as the Court may direct.
19 Power
to obtain information in relation to offences
(1) If
the Bailiff is satisfied by information on oath that there is reasonable ground
to believe that an offence against this Part has been committed by any person, the
Bailiff may, in the Bailiff’s discretion, grant a warrant authorizing any
person named in the warrant, for the purpose of obtaining any information or
evidence in relation to the commission of any such offence, to do from time to
time all or any of the following things –
(a) inspect and examine any books, accounts,
vouchers, records or documents;
(b) require any person to produce any books,
accounts, vouchers, records or documents in the person’s possession, or
under the person’s control, and to allow copies of or extracts from any
such books, accounts, vouchers, records or documents to be made;
(c) require any person to furnish any
information or particulars that may be required of the person, not being
information or particulars tending to incriminate the person;
(d) enter upon and inspect any land.
(2) Any
person who –
(a) wilfully resists, obstructs, hinders,
deceives or attempts to deceive, any person who is exercising any power or
function under this Article;
(b) wilfully makes any false or misleading
statement or any material omission in any information or particulars furnished
under this Article;
(c) fails to comply in any respect with any
requirement under this Article; or
(d) aids, abets, counsels or procures, or is in
any way knowingly concerned with, the commission of any such offence as
aforesaid,
shall be liable to a fine not
exceeding level 3 on the standard scale.[30]
20 Offences
(1) Any
person who –
(a) without lawful excuse acts in contravention
of or fails to comply with any provisions of Part 3 or this Part or with any
condition made or imposed under Part 3 or this Part;
(b) with intent to deceive makes any false or
misleading statement or any material omission in any application to the
Minister, or in any communication (whether in writing or otherwise) to the
Minister or any person, for the purposes of Part 3 or this Part;
(c) whether as principal or agent and whether by
the person or the person’s agent, enters into, or offers to enter into,
or procures or induces or attempts to procure or induce any other person to
enter into, any transaction or arrangement that is or is intended to be
inconsistent with an application made or to be made, or consent given or to be
given, under Part 3 or this Part;
(d) whether as principal or agent and whether by
the person or the person’s agent, and whether as vendor, purchaser, lessor,
lessee or other party, or otherwise howsoever, is party to any device, plan or
scheme for any transaction or arrangement that is or is intended to be in
contravention of Part 3 or this Part or is inconsistent with any application
made or to be made, or consent given or to be given, under Part 3 or this Part,
shall be liable to a fine, and in
the case of a continuing offence to a further fine not exceeding level 2 on the
standard scale for each day on which the offence so continues.[31]
(2) Where
an offence against this Part has been committed by a body corporate and it is
proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be
attributable to any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or
similar officer of that body corporate or any person purporting to act in any
such capacity, he or she, as well as the body corporate shall be guilty of the
offence and liable to be proceeded against accordingly.[32]
(3) Where
the affairs of a body corporate are managed by its members paragraph (2)
of this Article shall apply in relation to the acts and defaults of a member in
connection with the member’s functions of management as if the member
were a director of the body corporate.[33]
(4) In
any proceedings for an offence against this Part, the burden of proving that
the consent of the Minister has been granted to any transaction, or that this Part
did not apply to any transaction, shall be on the person charged with the
offence.
21 Regulations
The States may make Regulations for
giving full effect to the provisions of Part 3 and this Part and for the
due administration thereof, and any such Regulations may be amended by
subsequent Regulations and shall remain in force until repealed.[34]
22 Duration
This Part shall remain in force
until the States determine that its continuance in force is no longer necessary
or expedient and by Act resolve that it shall cease to have effect.[35]
PART 5
Citation
23 Citation
This Law may be cited as the
Housing (Jersey) Law 1949.