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HOTEL PROPRIETORS ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1958

HOTEL PROPRIETORS ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1958 - LONG TITLE

An Act to amend the law relating to inns and inn-keepers and for
purposes connected with that matter.
[30th December 1958]
Inns and inn-keepers.

HOTEL PROPRIETORS ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1958 - SECT 1

1.(1) An hotel within the meaning of this Act shall, and any other
establishment shall not, be deemed to be an inn; and the duties,
liabilities and rights which immediately before the commencement of
this Act by law attached to an innkeeper as such shall, subject to
the provisions of this Act, attach to the proprietor of such an
hotel and shall not attach to any other person.

(2) The proprietor of an hotel shall, as an innkeeper, be under
the like liability, if any, to make good to any guest of his any
damage to property brought to the hotel as he would be under to
make good the loss thereof.

(3) In this Act, "hotel" means an establishment held out by the
proprietor as offering food, drink and, if so required, sleeping
accommodation, without special contract, to any traveller presenting
himself who appears able and willing to pay a reasonable sum for
the services and facilities provided and who is in a fit state to
be received.

HOTEL PROPRIETORS ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1958 - SECT 2
Modifications of liabilities and rights of inn-keepers as such.

2.(1) Without prejudice to any other liability incurred by him with
respect to any property brought to the hotel, the proprietor of an
hotel shall not be liable as an innkeeper to make good to any
traveller any loss of or damage to such property unless and save
only where

(a)at the time of the loss or damage sleeping accommodation at the
hotel had been engaged for the traveller; and

(b)the loss or damage occurred during the period commencing with the
midnight immediately preceding, and ending with the midnight
immediately following, a period for which the traveller was a guest
at the hotel and entitled to use the accommodation so engaged.

(2) Without prejudice to any other liability or right of his with
respect thereto, the proprietor of an hotel shall not as an
innkeeper be liable to make good to any guest of his any loss of
or damage to, or have any lien on, any vehicle or any property
left therein, or any horse or other live animal or its harness or
other equipment.

(3) Subject to sub-section (4), where the proprietor of an hotel is
liable as an innkeeper to make good the loss of or any damage to
property brought to the hotel, his liability to any one guest shall
not exceed fifty pounds in respect of any one article, or one
hundred pounds in the aggregate, unless and save only where

(a)the property was stolen, lost or damaged through the default,
neglect or wilful act of the proprietor or some servant of his; or

(b)the property was deposited by or on behalf of the guest
expressly for safe custody with the proprietor or some servant of
his authorised, or appearing to be authorised, for the purpose, and,
if so required by the proprietor or that servant, in a container
fastened or sealed by the depositor; or

(c)at a time after the guest had arrived at the hotel, either the
property in question was offered for deposit as aforesaid and the
proprietor or his servant refused to receive it, or the guest or
some other person acting on his behalf wished so to offer the
property in question but, through the default of the proprietor or
a servant of his, was unable to do so.

(4) The proprietor shall not be entitled to the protection of
sub-section (3) unless, at the time when the property in question
was brought to the hotel, a copy of the notice set out in the
Schedule printed in plain type was conspicuously displayed in a
place where it could conveniently be read by his guests at or near
the reception office or desk or, where there is no reception office
or desk, at or near the main entrance to the hotel.

HOTEL PROPRIETORS ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1958 - SECT 3
Short title.

3.(1) This Act may be cited as the Hotel Proprietors Act (Northern
Ireland), 1958.

Subs.(2)(3) rep. by SLR 1973Under the Hotel Proprietors Act (Northern
Ireland), 1958, an hotel proprietor may in certain circumstances be
liable to make good any loss of or damage to a guest's property
even though it was not due to any fault of the proprietor or
staff of the hotel.

This liability however

(a)extends only to the property of guests who have engaged sleeping
accommodation at the hotel;

(b)is limited to #50 for any one article and a total of #100 in
the case of any one guest, except in the case of property which
has been deposited, or offered for deposit, for safe custody;

(c)does not cover motor-cars or other vehicles of any kind or any
property left in them, or horses or other live animals.

This notice does not constitute an admission either that the Act
applies to this hotel or that liability thereunder attaches to the
proprietor of this hotel in any particular case.