144Limitation on right to buy: police housing
(1)After section 69 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987 (c.26) insert—
“69APower to refuse to sell houses required for police purposes
(1)Subsection (2) applies where—
(a)an application to purchase is served on a local authority landlord in relation to a house which it holds for the purposes of a police force (within the meaning of the Police (Scotland) Act 1967 (c.77)); and
(b)the tenant would, apart from this section, have a right under section 61 to purchase the house.
(2)The landlord may, within one month of service of the application to purchase, serve a notice of refusal on the tenant.
(3)In determining whether to serve a notice of refusal under subsection (2), the landlord must have regard to—
(a)the likely impact which the proposed purchase would have on police operations and resources; and
(b)any representations by the tenant which indicate special reasons for wishing to purchase the house.
(4)The landlord must, in particular, consider—
(a)whether the policing needs of the area in which the house is situated are such that it would be desirable for the house to be occupied by a constable;
(b)whether it is likely to be able reasonably to provide other suitable accommodation for a constable in that area;
(c)whether it is likely that a constable may need to be accommodated in that area at short notice;
(d)any representations by the tenant about—
(i)the tenant’s state of health; or
(ii)family associations or other special circumstances by reason of which the tenant has a local connection to that area.
(5)A refusal by the landlord under subsection (2) shall contain sufficient information to demonstrate that it has had regard to the matters mentioned in subsection (3).”.
(2)In section 338(1) of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987 (c.26), after the definition of “local authority” insert—
““local authority landlord” has the same meaning as in the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 (asp 10);”.