Housing Repairs and Rents Act 1954

Exchequer contributions, etc.

7Exchequer contributions towards expenses of local authorities in buying houses for temporary occupation

(1)The Minister may out of moneys provided by Parliament make such contributions as are authorised by this section towards expenditure incurred by local authorities in respect of houses approved by the Minister for the purposes of this section, being—

(a)houses of which the demolition is postponed under section two of this Act or in relation to which a clearance order has been made with such a provision as is mentioned in section four of this Act; or

(b)houses purchased under section three of this Act or under that section as applied by section six of this Act.

(2)Subject to the following provisions of this section, the contributions payable by the Minister in respect of any house shall be as follows, that is to say:—

(a)in the case of a house purchased by the local authority, an annual payment equal to one-half of the annual loan charges referable to the cost of the purchase, payable for each financial year during the whole or part of which the house or any part of the house is used for housing purposes with the approval of the Minister; and

(b)in any case an annual payment of three pounds or, in the case of a house containing at the date on which the house is approved for the purposes of this section more than one separate dwelling, of the said sum for each such dwelling, payable for fifteen years from the said date:

Provided that the Minister may from time to time by order direct that paragraph (b) of this subsection shall have effect, in relation to houses approved after the date on which the order comes into force, as if for the sum therein specified there were substituted such higher or lower sum as may be specified in the order.

(3)If it appears to the Minister that the expenditure incurred as a whole by a local authority in the repair, improvement and maintenance of houses approved by the Minister for the purposes of this section is unduly low having regard to the amount of the contributions for the time being payable in respect of those houses under paragraph (b) of subsection (2) of this section, he may withhold the whole or any part of the contributions payable under that paragraph to that authority.

(4)An order of the Minister under subsection (2) of this section shall be of no effect until it is approved by a resolution of the Commons House of Parliament.

(5)For the purposes of the principal Act the expression " Exchequer contribution " shall include any contribution payable by the Minister to a local authority under this section.

(6)For the purposes of this section the annual loan charges referable to the cost of a purchase shall (whatever may be the manner in which the local authority have provided or intend to provide the money required for the purchase) be the annual sum which, in the opinion of the Minister, would fall to be provided by the local authority for the payment of interest on, and the repayment of, an amount of borrowed money equal to the said cost, being money the period for the repayment of which is sixty years.

8Local authorities' contributions

(1)A local authority to whom contributions are payable by the Minister in respect of a house under section seven of this Act shall make out of the general rate fund for each financial year a contribution of an amount equal to the contributions so payable by the Minister for that year in respect of the house.

(2)The Minister may from time to time by order direct that the foregoing subsection shall have effect, in relation to houses approved by him for the purposes of the said section seven after the date on which the order comes into force, as if for the reference to an amount equal to the contributions so payable by the Minister as aforesaid there were substituted a reference to an amount bearing such proportion to the said contributions as may be specified in the order.

An order of the Minister under this subsection shall be of no effect until it is approved by a resolution of the Commons House of Parliament.

(3)Subsection (1) of section one hundred and twenty-nine of the principal Act (which relates to credits and debits in the housing revenue account) and subsection (2) of section one hundred and thirty of that Act (which relates to the disposal of balances in that account) shall have effect as if any reference to the contributions referred to in the Eighth Schedule to that Act included a reference to contributions payable under this section.