Housing Repairs and Rents Act 1954

Miscellaneous amendments of Housing Acts

14Amendments as to clearance orders and compulsory purchase orders under principal Act

(1)The provisions of the First Schedule to this Act shall have effect with respect to the procedure for making clearance orders and certain compulsory purchase orders under the principal Act.

(2)The powers of acquiring land comprised in or surrounded by or adjoining a clearance area conferred by Part III of the principal Act shall not be restricted by the fact that buildings within that area have been demolished since the area was declared to be a clearance area.

(3)Where a local authority are authorised to purchase compulsorily any house to be used for housing purposes under this Part of this Act or under Part V of the principal Act, and have acquired the right to enter on and take possession of the house by virtue of having served notice under paragraph 3 of the Second Schedule to the Acquisition of Land (Authorisation Procedure) Act, 1946, or section one hundred and forty-five of the principal Act, as the case may be, the authority may, instead of exercising that right by taking actual possession of the house, proceed by serving notice on any person then in occupation of the house or any part thereof authorising him to continue in occupation upon terms specified in the notice, or on such other terms as may be agreed ; and accordingly, where the authority proceed in the manner authorised by this subsection,—

(a)the like consequences shall then ensue, with respect to the determination of the rights and liabilities of any person arising out of any interest of his in the house or any part thereof, as would have ensued if the authority had taken actual possession on the date of the notice, and the authority may deal with the premises in all respects as if they had done so; and

(b)for the purposes of section one hundred and twenty-one of the Lands Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845 (which provides for payment of compensation to persons entitled to possession under short tenancies who are required to give up possession), any person who by virtue of this subsection ceases to be entitled to receive rent in respect of any premises shall be deemed to have been required to give up possession thereof.

15Provisions relating to Housing Revenue Accounts

(1)Section one hundred and twenty-eight of the principal Act (which requires local authorities to keep a housing revenue account in respect of certain houses, buildings, land and dwellings therein mentioned) shall have effect as if the houses therein mentioned included any house purchased by a local authority under section sixteen of that Act and any house approved by the Minister for the purposes of section seven of this Act; and any reference in section one hundred and twenty-nine of that Act (which relates to credits and debits in housing revenue accounts) to such houses, buildings, land and dwellings as are mentioned in the said section one hundred and twenty-eight shall be construed accordingly.

(2)A local authority shall in any financial year debit to their housing revenue account amounts equal to the loan charges which they are liable to pay for that year in respect of moneys borrowed for the purpose of purchasing any houses to which the foregoing subsection applies, or in respect of moneys borrowed for the purpose of carrying out works on such houses.

16Amendments of Housing Act, 1949

(1)Notwithstanding anything in paragraph (a) of subsection (2) of section fifteen of the Housing Act, 1949, or in paragraph (a) of subsection (3) of section twenty of that Act (which preclude the approval by the Minister of improvement proposals, or the approval by a local authority of an application for an improvement grant, unless the period for which the dwellings concerned are likely to provide satisfactory housing accommodation is not less than thirty years), the Minister or a local authority, as the case may be, may approve any such proposals or application if satisfied that the said period is likely to be more than fifteen years and that it is expedient in all the circumstances that the proposals or application should be approved.

(2)Paragraph (c) of subsection (3) of the said section twenty (which precludes the approval by a local authority of an application for an improvement grant unless the applicant has an absolute interest in the land or a leasehold interest with not less than thirty years to run) shall have effect as if for the reference to a period of not less than thirty years there were substituted a reference to whichever is the shorter of the following two periods, that is to say—

(a)thirty years; or

(b)a period equal to that for which the dwellings concerned will provide satisfactory housing accommodation.

(3)Where an application for an improvement grant is approved under the said section twenty in respect of a dwelling which in the opinion of the local authority is not likely to provide satisfactory housing accommodation for a period exceeding twenty years from the completion of the works, the authority may by order direct that in relation to that dwelling subsection (1) of section twenty-three of the said Act (which applies to dwellings in respect of which such grants are made certain conditions specified therein for a period of twenty years) shall have effect as if for the period of twenty years therein mentioned there were substituted such shorter period as may be specified in the order.

(4)So much of subsection (4) of the said section twenty as prohibits the entertaining of an application for an improvement grant under that section where the estimated expenses of the works, or the relevant proportion of those expenses, exceeds the maximum amount therein specified shall cease to have effect; but without prejudice to subsection (1) of section twenty-one of the said Act (which limits the amount of an improvement grant to a sum not exceeding one-half of the approved expenses of executing the works) the amount which may be paid by way of an improvement grant under the said section twenty in respect of expenses incurred for the purposes of the execution of any improvement works shall not exceed four hundred pounds, or such other amount as may for the time being be prescribed by regulations under Part II of the Housing Act, 1949, for each dwelling provided or improved by the works:

Provided that if the local authority, with the concurrence of the Minister, are satisfied in the case of any particular application that in all the circumstances of the case there is good reason for the payment of a higher amount than the amount authorised under this subsection, the amount of the grant to be made in pursuance of the application may be increased (notwithstanding anything in subsection (1) of the said section twenty-one) by such amount as may be determined by the authority with the consent of the Minister when they approve the application.

(5)It is hereby declared that estimates under subsection (2) of the said section twenty of expenses to be incurred for the purposes of the execution of improvement works may include the cost of the employment in connection with the works of an architect, engineer, surveyor, land agent or other person in an advisory or supervisory capacity.

(6)A local authority in fixing under section twenty-two of the said Act the rent for a dwelling in respect of which an improvement grant is to be made under that Act shall have regard to the age of the building, to the character and condition of the dwelling after the carrying out of the proposed improvement works, and to the cost of those works.

(7)In paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of section twenty-three of the said Act (under which a dwelling, in respect of whose provision or improvement a grant has been made under section twenty of that Act, must for twenty years remain let or available for letting at a maximum rent specified in that subsection except when occupied by the applicant for the grant or his devisee) for the reference to the person to whom the interest of the applicant in the dwelling has been devised by him there shall be substituted a reference to a person who on the death of the applicant with or without having disposed of that interest by will has become beneficially entitled to, or to an interest in, that interest or the proceeds of sale thereof.

This subsection shall have effect in relation to any dwelling, whether the improvement grant in respect of it was made before or after the commencement of this Act.

(8)Sub-paragraph (ii) of paragraph (c) of subsection (1) of section twenty-three of the said Act (under which the maximum rent payable for a dwelling in respect of which an improvement grant has been made under that Act is in certain cases determined by reference to a percentage of so much of the cost of improvement as is not set off by the grant) shall have effect, in relation to improvement works completed after the eleventh day of November, nineteen hundred and fifty-three, as if for the words " six per cent." there were substituted the words " eight per cent. ".

17Powers of local authorities in connection with lending money for housing purposes

A local authority by whom money has been advanced (whether before or after the commencement of this Act) on the mortgage of a house in pursuance of any enactment shall have power, and shall be deemed always to have had power, to accept the deposit by the mortgagor of sums estimated to be required for the maintenance or repair of the mortgaged premises, and to pay interest on sums so deposited.

18Default powers of county councils

(1)An order made under subsection (1) of section one hundred and sixty-nine of the principal Act (which enables the council of a county in certain circumstances to make an order declaring the council of a rural district within the county to be in default and transferring to themselves powers of such a council) shall not come into force—

(a)in any case, until the expiration of a period of twenty eight days beginning with the date on which the order is made;

(b)in a case where an appeal is brought under this section, unless and until the order is confirmed on the appeal.

(2)The council of a rural district may, at any time within the period mentioned in paragraph (a) of the foregoing subsection, by notice in writing appeal to the Minister against any order made with respect to that council under the said section one hundred and sixty-nine ; and in any such case the Minister shall give to the councils of the rural district and of the county, and to any other authority or person appearing to him to be interested, an opportunity to appear before and be heard by a person appointed by the Minister for the purpose, and may either confirm the order with or without modification or quash the order.

19Extension of period for use of open spaces for temporary housing accommodation

(1)Subject to the provisions of this section, an authorisation in force at the commencement of this Act under section one of the Housing (Temporary Accommodation) Act, 1945 ;(which enables the Minister to authorise the use of open spaces during a limited period for temporary housing accommodation), may, notwithstanding anything in subsection (3) of that section, be extended by order of the Minister so as to determine (unless previously revoked) on any date not later than the end of the year nineteen hundred and sixty-five.

(2)Not more than one order shall be made under this section in respect of any one authorisation; and before making an order under this section for extending any authorisation for a period exceeding five years, the Minister shall cause a local enquiry to be held.

(3)Every local authority who at the commencement of this Act are using land for providing housing accommodation in pursuance of such an authorisation as aforesaid shall within six months after the commencement of this Act submit to the Minister in such form as the Minister may require proposals for the exercise of the functions of the authority under Part V of the principal Act with a view to the re-housing elsewhere of persons occupying housing accommodation on that land.

(4)The Minister may approve the proposals submitted by a local authority under subsection (3) of this section with or without modifications, and thereafter it shall be the duty of the authority to exercise their said functions in accordance with the proposals as so approved.