Universities and College Estates Act 1925

Power of raising Money

30 Power to raise money with consent of the Minister for improvements

(1) A university or college may, with the consent of the Minister, raise by mortgage of any lands belonging to the university or college, such sums of money (together with all reasonable costs and expenses incidental to such raising and the application thereof) as may be certified by the surveyor of the university or college to be properly required, and may be authorised by the Minister, carrying interest at a rate not exceeding the rate to be specified in the order evidencing the consent of the Minister.

(2) The sums so raised shall be applied for or towards the restoration and improvement and (if need be) enlargement of any house or building forming part of or connected with or otherwise belonging to the university or college, or for or towards the erection of new or additional houses or buildings, or for the extension and improvement of any existing houses or buildings upon any lands belonging to the university or college, or for the execution of any improvement specified in the First Schedule to this Act or for any other permanent and lasting improvement of any lands belonging to the university or college.

31 Power to raise money by way of compensation for loss of fines on non-renewal of leases

(1) Whenever any lease of land belonging to a university or college, the leases of which have been customarily renewed on payment of a fine, from any cause whatever (other than such as is hereinafter mentioned) remains unrenewed at any customary period of renewal, or whenever any loss of fines has been occasioned by the surrender of any lease upon any transaction by way of sale or exchange between the university or college and its lessees, it shall be lawful for the university or college, with the consent of the Minister, to raise by mortgage of any land belonging to the university or college such sums of money (together with all reasonable costs and expenses incidental to such raising) as may be required, and be stated in the order evidencing the consent of the Minister, carrying interest at a rate not exceeding the rate to be specified in the order, for the purpose of paving, by way of indemnity, to the then existing members of the university or college the same amount of money as would have accrued to the said members if any such lease had been renewed in manner theretofore accustomed : Provided that—

(a) the power of raising money under this section shall not be exercised for the purpose of providing for the loss of more than two fines in respect of the same land; and

(b) upon the creation of any such mortgage provision shall be made by the university or college, with the approval of the Minister, for the discharge of the borrowed money within or at the expiration of thirty years from the borrowing thereof; and

(c) after any sum has been raised under the power hereinbefore contained in lieu of the fines payable in respect of any lease of any land no fine shall henceforth be taken for the renewal of any lease of that land.

(2) This section does not apply where the non-renewal is due to the refusal of the university or college entitled to the reversion of the land to accept such sum of money by way of fine as may be deemed reasonable by the Minister, and may be tendered by the lessee at the first and each successive time of renewal after the sixth day of August, eighteen hundred and sixty, or within three months of such time, for the renewal of any lease theretofore regularly renewed.

32 Provision for the discharge of money borrowed on mortgage

(1) When money has been raised by a mortgage made by a university or college under this Act, or under any enactment repealed by this Act, the university or college shall, in such manner as may be approved by the Minister, make provision, either by the grant of an annuity to the lender or by the creation of a sinking or redemption fund or otherwise, for the discharge, within such time not exceeding fifty years as may be santioned by the Minister, of the money borrowed, and for the payment of interest due thereon.

(2) The maximum time allowed for the repayment of the loan—

(a) in the case of a mortgage to secure money borrowed before the twelfth day of October, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, shall not exceed thirty years from the date of the original borrowing; and

(b) in the case of a loan raised for the purposes of an improvement mentioned in Part II. of the First Schedule to this Act, shall not exceed twenty-five years from the date when the work or operation in payment for which the money was borrowed was completed.