Landlord and Tenant (Amendment) Act, 1943

What is this act about?

This law amends and expands Section 46 of the Landlord and Tenant Act, 1931, primarily concerning the definition of "building leases" and "partly-built leases" and the rights of lessees to obtain reversionary leases.

Who it applies to: Landlords and tenants involved in leases, particularly those with building leases or partly-built leases; Lessees whose leases expired between the passing of the Principal Act and this Act, and who are still in possession of the land.

At a glance

Country: Ireland
Area of law: Other legislation
Articles: 4
Source: irishstatutebook.ie
Text retrieved: 2026-06-17
Explanation updated: 2026-07-07

What does this act regulate?

The definition of a "building lease" under the Principal Act.
The treatment of leases where only part of the land has permanent buildings.
The presumption of agreements for building erection when express evidence is unavailable.
The rights of lessees under certain leases that expired before this Act came into force.

Who does this act apply to?

Landlords and tenants involved in leases, particularly those with building leases or partly-built leases.
Lessees whose leases expired between the passing of the Principal Act and this Act, and who are still in possession of the land.

What are the key points?

A lease can be considered a "building lease" if the land was demised for a term of not less than twenty years, even if not in a county borough or urban district.
If a lease expires after this Act passes and has permanent buildings, but the unbuilt portion is not wholly subsidiary, it can be treated as two separate leases: a "built-on lease" and a "vacant lease."
For "partly-built leases," the rent and covenants are apportioned rateably between the built-on and vacant parts.
Lessees under certain expired leases (between the Principal Act and this Act) may have a six-month window after this Act's passing to claim rights to a reversionary lease, provided certain conditions are met, including no prejudice to rights acquired before March 1, 1943.

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Oireachtas (Miscellaneous Provisions) and Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices (Amendment) Act, 1996

British-Irish Agreement Act, 1999

Local Government (Planning and Development) Act, 1993

Radiological Protection (Amendment) Act 2018

Censorship of Films (Amendment) Act, 1925

Curragh of Kildare Act, 1961

Performers' Protection Act, 1968

Other legislation

Legal text

Contents (4)

Section 1
Section 2
Section 3
Section 4

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LANDLORD AND TENANT (AMENDMENT) ACT, 1943.

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS Section

Section 1

The Principal Act.

Section 2

Amendment of section 46 of the Principal Act.

Section 3

Protection of lessees under expired leases.

Section 4

Short title and collective citation.

Act Referred to Landlord and Tenant Act, 1931 No. 55 of 1931 Number 10 of 1943.

LANDLORD AND TENANT (AMENDMENT) ACT, 1943.

AN ACT TO AMEND AND EXTEND

SECTION 46

OF THE LANDLORD AND TENANT ACT, 1931 . [21st April, 1943.] BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:— The Principal Act.

1.—In this Act the expression “the Principal Act” means the Landlord and Tenant Act, 1931 (No. 55 of 1931).

Amendment of section 46 of the Principal Act.

2.—(1) Sub-section (1) of section 46 of the Principal Act is hereby amended as follows, that is to say:— (a) by the insertion of the following words at the end, and as part, of paragraph (a) of the said sub-section, that is to say:— “or, if such land is not so situate, such land was demised by such lease for a term of not less than twenty years”, and (b) by the insertion of the following words at the end, and as part, of paragraph (d) of the said sub-section, that is to say:— “or were erected in pursuance of an agreement for the grant of such lease upon the erection of such permanent buildings”.

(2)Where a lease (in this Act referred to as a partly-built lease) which expires after the passing of this Act would, at its expiration, be a building lease as defined in sub-section (1) (as amended by the foregoing sub-section of this section) of section 46 of the Principal Act but for either or both of the following facts, that is to say, that, though there are (in either case), at such expiration, permanent buildings on the land demised by such lease, the portion of that land which is not covered by such buildings is not wholly subsidiary and ancillary to such buildings or some (but not all) of such buildings were neither erected by the lessee under the partly-built lease nor erected in pursuance of an agreement for the grant of that lease on their erection, the following provisions shall apply and have effect by way of amendment of the said section 46 , that is to say:— (a) the partly-built lease shall, for the purposes of Part V of the Principal Act, be deemed to be at its expiration and to have been since the passing of this Act or for the seven years next preceding such expiration (whichever period is the shorter) two separate leases whereof one lease (in this Act referred to as the built-on lease) comprises that portion of the land demised by the partly-built lease which is covered with permanent buildings, either erected by the person entitled at their erection to the lessee's interest under the partly-built lease or erected in pursuance of an agreement for the grant of that lease on their erection, together with so much of the said land as is subsidiary and ancillary to those buildings and the other lease (in this Act referred to as the vacant lease) comprises the residue of the said land, whether there are or are not permanent buildings on that residue; (b) for the purposes of such division of the partly-built lease, the rent thereby reserved shall be deemed to be apportioned between the built-on lease and the vacant lease rateably in proportion to the area of the land comprised in those leases respectively, and the covenants on the lessee's part and the conditions contained in the partly-built lease shall be deemed to be apportioned likewise so as to relate separately to the land comprised in the built-on lease and to the land comprised in the vacant lease; (c) the built-on lease shall be deemed to be, at the expiration of the partly-built lease and to have been since the said division of that lease, a building lease as defined in sub-section (1) of section 46

of the Principal Act as amended by this Act, and Part V of that Act shall apply and have effect in relation thereto accordingly; (d) a sublease of part of the land comprised in the partly-built lease, which would, at the expiration thereof, be a proprietary lease as defined in sub-section (2) of section 46 of the Principal Act if the partly-built lease were a building lease as defined in sub-section (1) of that section as amended by this Act, shall be deemed to be at the said expiration and to have been from the passing of this Act or the commencement of the term demised by such sublease (whichever is the later) a proprietary lease as so defined as aforesaid, and Part V of the Principal Act shall apply and have effect in relation thereto accordingly, and for that purpose the partly-built lease shall be deemed to be the building lease of which the said sublease is a sublease.

(3)Where a lease is alleged in any Court to be a building lease as defined in sub-section (1) (as amended by this section) of section 46 of the Principal Act by reason of the permanent buildings mentioned in the said sub-section having been erected in pursuance of an agreement for the grant of such lease upon the erection of those buildings but express evidence of such agreement is not available, the following provisions shall apply and have effect, that is to say:— (a) if it is shown to the satisfaction of the Court that the said buildings were erected by the person to whom the said lease was subsequently made, it shall be presumed that such agreement was in fact made and that the said buildings were erected in pursuance thereof; (b) in any case to which the foregoing paragraph of this sub-section does not apply, it shall be lawful for the Court, if it so thinks proper on hearing such evidence as is available and is adduced, to presume that such agreement was in fact made and that the said buildings were erected in pursuance thereof.

Protection of lessees under expired leases.

3.—(1) Where a lease (in this sub-section referred to as the expired lease) which expired after the passing of the Principal Act and before the passing of this Act was not at its expiration a building lease as defined in sub-section (1) of section 46 of the Principal Act but would, if it had expired after the passing of this Act, have been either a building lease as defined in the said sub-section (1) as amended by this Act, or a partly-built lease within the meaning of the next preceding section, such of the following provisions as is or are applicable shall apply and have effect, that is to say:— (a) where— (i) the expired lease would have been a building lease as defined in sub-section (1) of the said section 46 as amended by this Act if it had expired after the passing of this Act, and (ii) the lessee under the expired lease is, at the passing of this Act, in possession of the land or any part of the land comprised in the expired lease, and (iii) the granting (under Part V of the Principal Act) to such lessee of a reversionary lease of such land or the part thereof of which he is so in possession (as the case may be) would not prejudice or affect any right acquired before the 1st day of March, 1943, by any person other than such lessee and the person liable to grant such reversionary lease, then and in such case such lessee shall, during six months after the passing of this Act, have the same rights in relation to obtaining (under the said Part V) a reversionary lease of the said land or the said part thereof (as the case may be) as he would have had during the seven years next before the expiration of the expired lease if this Act had then been in force; (b) where— (i) the expired lease would have been a partly-built lease within the meaning of the next preceding section if it had expired after the passing of this Act, and (ii) the lessee under the expired lease is, at such passing, in possession of the whole or some part of so much (in this section referred to as the built-on land) of the land demised by the expired lease as would have been comprised in the built-on lease arising on the division (under the said next preceding section) of the expired lease if that lease had expired after the passing of this Act, and (iii) the granting (under Part V of the Principal Act) to such lessee of a reversionary lease of the built-on land or the part thereof of which he is in possession (as the case may be) would not prejudice or affect any right acquired before the 1st day of March, 1943, by any person other than such lessee and the person liable to grant such reversionary lease,

then and in such case such lessee shall, during six months after the passing of this Act, have the same rights in relation to obtaining (under the said Part V) a reversionary lease of the built-on land or the said part thereof (as the case may be) as he would have had during the seven years next before the expiration of the expired lease if this Act had then been in force; (c) where— (i) a lessee (in this sub-section referred to as a sublessee) under a lease which is a sublease (whether mediate or immediate) under the expired lease is, at such passing, in possession (where the expired lease would have been a building lease if this Act had been in force at its expiration) of the land or part of the land demised by the expired lease or (where the expired lease would have been a partly-built lease if this Act had been in force at its expiration) of the built-on land or part of that land, and (ii) such sublease would at its expiration (if this Act had then been in force) have been a proprietary lease as defined in sub-section (2) of section 46 of the Principal Act, and (iii) the granting (under Part V of the Principal Act) to such sublessee of a reversionary lease of the land of which he is so in possession would not prejudice or affect any right acquired before the 1st day of March, 1943, by any person other than such sublessee and the person liable to grant such reversionary lease, then and in such case such sublessee shall, during six months after the passing of this Act, have the same rights in relation to obtaining (under the said Part V) a reversionary lease of the said land of which he is so in possession as he would have had during the seven years next before the expiration of such sublease if this Act had then been in force; (d) in a case to which any of the foregoing paragraphs of this sub-section applies, the fact that the lessee or sublessee to whom that paragraph applies has taken or agreed to take from his landlord or a superior landlord a lease or other letting (other than a reversionary lease the terms of which are not less favourable to such lessee or sublessee (as the case may be) than the terms which might have been fixed by the Court under sub-section (1) of section 48 of the Principal Act) of the land of which he is in such possession as is mentioned in that paragraph shall not prevent or prejudice the obtaining by such lessee or sublessee (as the case may be) by virtue of the said paragraph of a reversionary lease of the said land under Part V of the Principal Act, and, on such lessee or sublessee so obtaining such reversionary lease, the said lease or letting or the agreement therefor (as the case may be) so taken or made by him from or with his landlord or superior landlord shall become null and void, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done in pursuance of a covenant or condition contained in such lease, letting or agreement.

(2)Where a lease (in this sub-section referred to as the terminated lease) was, after the passing of the Principal Act and before the passing of this Act, terminated (before the expiration thereof by effluxion of time) by ejectment for non-payment of rent, breach of covenant, or otherwise, or by the exercise by the lessor of a power of re-entry for breach of a covenant or a condition contained in the terminated lease, and the terminated lease was not, at the date of its termination, a building lease as defined in sub-section (1) of section 46 of the Principal Act but would, if this Act had been in force on that date, have been either a building lease as defined in the said sub-section (1) as amended by this Act or a partly-built lease within the meaning of the next preceding section, the following provisions shall apply and have effect, that is to say:— (a) a person who was, at the termination of the terminated lease, in possession of the land or any part of the land comprised in the terminated lease and was so in possession thereof under a sub-lease (whether mediate or immediate) under the terminated lease which would have been a proprietary lease (as defined in sub-section (2) of section 46 of the Principal Act) if this Act had then been in force, shall, if he is in possession of the said land or the said part thereof (as the case may be) at the passing of this Act, be deemed to be and always to have been in such possession under a proprietary lease and shall have and be deemed always to have had, in relation to the said land or the said part thereof (as the case may be), all the rights, privileges, and protections conferred on lessees under proprietary leases by Part V of the Principal Act; (b) where a person to whom the foregoing paragraph of this section applies has, subsequent to the termination of the terminated lease, taken or agreed to take a lease or other letting of the land of which he is so in possession as is mentioned in that paragraph from the landlord who terminated the terminated lease, such lease or letting or the agreement therefor (as the case may be) shall, on the passing of this Act, become null and void, but without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done in pursuance of a covenant contained in such lease, letting, or agreement.

Short title and collective citation.

4.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Landlord and Tenant (Amendment) Act, 1943.

(2)The Principal Act and this Act may be cited together as the Landlord and Tenant Acts, 1931 and 1943.

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