Housing (Scotland) Act 1987

64

(1)Subject to section 75, an offer to sell under section 63(2) shall contain such conditions as are reasonable, provided that—

(a)the conditions shall have the effect of ensuring that the tenant has as full enjoyment and use of the house as owner as he has had as tenant;

(b)the conditions shall secure to the tenant such additional rights as are necessary for his reasonable enjoyment and use of the house as owner (including, without prejudice to the foregoing generality, common rights in any part of the building of which the house forms part) and shall impose on the tenant any necessary duties relative to rights so secured; and

(c)the conditions shall include such terms as are necessary to entitle the tenant to receive a good and marketable title to the house.

(2)A condition which imposes a new charge or an increase of an existing charge for the provision of a service in relation to the house shall provide for the charge to be in reasonable proportion to the cost to the landlord of providing the service.

(3)No condition shall be imposed under this section which has the effect of requiring the tenant to pay any expenses of the landlord.

(4)Subject to subsection (6), no condition shall be imposed under this section which has the effect of requiring the tenant or any of his successors in title to offer to the landlord, or to any other person, an option to purchase the house in advance of its sale to a third party, except in the case of a house which has facilities which are substantially different from those of an ordinary house and which has been designed or adapted for occupation by a person of pensionable age or disabled person whose special needs require accommodation of the kind provided by the house.

(5)Where an option to purchase permitted under subsection (4) is exercised, the price to be paid for the house shall be determined by the district valuer who shall have regard to the market value of the house at the time of the purchase and to any amount due to the landlord under section 72 (recovery of discount on early re-sale).

(6)Subsection (4) shall not apply to houses in an area which is designated a rural area by the [F1local authority] within whose area it is situated where the Secretary of State, on the application of the [F1local authority] concerned, makes an order, which shall be made by statutory instrument subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament, to that effect.

(7)An order under subsection (6) may be made where—

(a)within the said rural area more than one-third of all relevant houses have been sold [F2whether under this Part or otherwise]; and

[F3(b)the Secretary of State is satisfied that an unreasonable proportion of the houses sold consists of houses which have been resold and are not—

(i)being used as the only or principal homes of the owners; or

(ii)subject to regulated tenancies within the meaning of section 8 of the Rent (Scotland) Act M11984 or assured tenancies for the purposes of Part II of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1988.]

(8)For the purposes of subsection (7)(a), a “relevant house” is one of which—

(a)at 3rd October 1980, the council concerned, or

(b)at 7th January 1987, a registered housing association, is landlord.

(9)A condition imposed by virtue of subsection (6) shall not have effect in relation to any house for more than 10 years from the date of its conveyance to a tenant in pursuance of his right to purchase under this Part and subsection (5) shall apply to any option to purchase exercised under such a condition.