Recovery of possession of buildings subject to clearance or demolition order

article 36(3) of Housing (Northern Ireland) Order 1981

Revoked
Requires proof of a state of mind
Summary only
Housing, planning, heritage and land

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

3 Any person who, knowing that
a clearance or demolition order is in operation in relation to any building, enters into occupation of that building or of any part thereof after the date by which the order requires that building to be vacated or after the date on which the building is in fact vacated, whichever is the earlier, or permits any other person to enter into such occupation after that date, shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to
a fine not exceeding level
5 on the standard scale and to
a further fine not exceeding £10 for every day or part of
a day on which the occupation continues after conviction.

Text as made, from legislation.gov.uk. © Crown copyright, reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.

Who it binds, and what has to be proved

Binds: a person
Conduct: breaching the provision
Fault element: Requires proof of a state of mind
Burden of proof: No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove both that the conduct happened and that it was done with the state of mind the provision names (knowing that).

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: mens rea word in the offence-creating words: knowing that.

What would breach article 36(3)?

These are illustrations, not law. They are generated from the provision’s own words to show the shape of the offence. Whether any particular conduct is caught depends on the full text, on any amendment since, and on the facts.

Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Housing (Northern Ireland) Order 1981.

Penalty

Mode of trial: Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine: £5,000
Standard scale: Level 5
Maximum prison (summary): Not determined

in Northern Ireland a reference to a level is construed as referring to the standard scale as it currently stands (Fines and Penalties (NI) Order 1984 art.5(3)), not as it stood when the instrument was made.

Sentencing

Offences of this kind are usually sentenced under the guidelines below. This is a mapping by subject, not a finding about this provision, and the links go to a search of the Sentencing Council’s own site.

Environmental offences: definitive guideline Magistrates' courts and the Crown Court in England and Wales · in force from 1 July 2014
Covers unauthorised or harmful deposit, treatment or disposal of waste, illegal discharges to air, land and water, and the equivalent offences committed by organisations. It is the guideline that introduced turnover bands for corporate fines, so the size of the defendant company is a starting point rather than a mitigating detail.
Reduction in sentence for a guilty plea: definitive guideline All courts in England and Wales · in force from 1 June 2017
The sliding scale of credit for pleading guilty, from one third at the first stage of proceedings downwards.
General guideline: overarching principles All courts in England and Wales · in force from 1 October 2019
The guideline a court uses when there is no offence-specific guideline, which is the position for the overwhelming majority of offences created by statutory instrument. It sets out how culpability and harm are assessed from first principles.
Totality: definitive guideline All courts in England and Wales
How to sentence more than one offence at once so that the total is just and proportionate - frequently in point here, because regulatory prosecutions commonly charge several breaches of the same instrument.

Prosecution figures

No published per-offence figure was found for this provision, and it could not be matched to a Ministry of Justice offence code. Offences created by statutory instrument very largely do not have one. Absence of a figure is not evidence that the offence is unused.

Status and lifecycle

Current status: Revoked
Revoked by: The Competition Act 1998 (Transitional, Consequential and Supplemental Provisions) Order 2000
Revoked on: 1 March 2000
Made: 10 February 1981
In force from: Not determined
Extent: N.I.

How this was established: the instrument was revoked by a later instrument found in this corpus.

What Parliament said

Mentions of this instrument in Hansard. Parliamentary material is reused under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.

Housing (Northern Ireland) Order 1988 Lords · 31 October 1988
Noble Lords may know that at present responsibility for the accommodation needs of the homeless is shared between the four area health and social services boards, which have discretionary powers under the Health and Personal Social Services Order 1972 to provide temporary accommodation for homeless people, and the Housing Executive, which has general powers to meet housing need under the Housing (Northern Ireland)…
Value Added Tax: Buildings And Land Commons · 12 July 1989
No. 17, in page 168, line 10, leave out `notification of the election shall be' and insert `shall not have effect unless written notification of it is'. No. 18, in page 168, line 17, after 'above', insert 'and this paragraph'. No. 19, in page 168, line 18, leave out 'that paragraph' and insert 'paragraph 2 above'. No. 20, in page 168, line 30, at end insert— '(6) In paragraph 2 above "registered housing…
Registered Social Landlords: Treatment Of Certain Leases Granted Between 1St January 1990 And 27Th March 2000 Commons · 1 July 2003
(8) The reference in subsection (1) above to the landlord's interest being held by a "registered social landlord" is to its being held by a body that— (a) is registered in a register maintained under— (i) Article 124 of the Housing (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 (S.I.1981/156(N.I.3)), (ii) section 3(1) of the Housing Associations Act 1985 (c. 69), (iii) Article 14 of the Housing (Northern Ireland) Order 1992…
Immigration Bill Commons · 30 January 2014
(i) Chapter 4 of Part 2 of the Housing (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 (S.I. 1981/156 (N.I. 3)), or

Other offences in the same instrument

Information as to ownership of landarticle 14(2)
Penalty for obstructionarticle 160(1)
Use of premises in contravention of closing orderarticle 40
Where the person upon whom a repair notice in respect of a house has been served intentionally fails to…article 41B(1)

How this was identified as an offence

Everything above rests on the judgement that this provision creates a criminal offence, rather than mentioning one. That judgement is made by rule, from the words of the provision, and this is the rule that made it — with a confidence of 0.92.

Basis: the provision says a person is “guilty of an offence”
Confidence: 0.92 of 1.00

A provision that states a penalty for an offence created elsewhere can read very like one that creates an offence, and the rules can mistake the one for the other. If the text quoted above sets a penalty for something made an offence by another provision, treat the classification on this page with that in mind, and read the instrument.

Check the source

This provision on legislation.gov.uk The authoritative text. Check it before relying on anything here.
Housing (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 Every offence this instrument creates, and its explanatory note
Housing, planning, heritage and landOther offences on the same subject
Offences created in 1981