Housing Repairs and Rents Act 1954

33Exclusion from Rent Acts of lettings by local authorities, development corporations, and housing associations and trusts

(1)A tenancy where—

(a)the interest of the landlord belongs to the council of a county, county borough, county district or metropolitan borough or the Common Council of the City of London ; or

(b)the said interest belongs to a development corporation established under the New Towns Act, 1946; or

(c)the said interest belongs to any housing association (as defined by the Housing Act, 1936) and the condition specified in the next following subsection is fulfilled; or

(d)the said interest belongs to any housing trust which is subject to the jurisdiction of the Charity Commissioners,

shall not be a controlled tenancy, and shall not for the purposes of subsection (3) of section fifteen of the Act of 1920 (which protects a sub-tenant where an interest of a mesne tenant comes to an end) be deemed to be the interest of a tenant of a dwelling-house to which the Act of 1920 applies:

Provided that where a tenancy was a controlled tenancy immediately before the commencement of this Act, and the interest of the landlord then belonged to such a council, corporation, association or trust as aforesaid, the foregoing provisions of this subsection shall not have effect as respects that tenancy before the expiration of six months from the commencement of this Act.

(2)The condition mentioned in paragraph (c) of the last foregoing subsection is that either—

(a)the premises comprised in the tenancy were provided by the housing association in pursuance of an arrangement under section ninety-four of the Housing Act, 1936, section twenty-seven of the Housing Act, 1935, or section twenty-nine of the Housing Act, 1930, or with the assistance of a local authority under section two of the Housing, &c. Act, 1923 ; or

(b)the housing association is registered under the Industrial and Provident Societies Act, 1893, and the provision of the premises comprised in the tenancy forms part of the purposes for which its business is mainly conducted.

(3)Without prejudice to the provisions of subsection (1) of this section, after the expiration of six months from the commencement of this Act a person shall not by virtue of the Rent Acts be entitled, against any such council, corporation or trust as aforesaid or, if the condition specified in the last foregoing subsection is fulfilled, any such association as aforesaid, to retain possession as a statutory tenant.

(4)Section sixteen of the Reserve and Auxiliary Forces (Protection of Civil Interests) Act, 1951 (which confers on a service man during his period of service with the armed forces security of tenure in respect of a rented family residence in respect of which he would otherwise have no statutory protection) shall have effect with the substitution, for paragraph (b) of subsection (2) thereof, of the following paragraph:—

“(b)that the reversion immediately expectant on the tenancy qualifying for protection belongs to such a council, corporation, association or trust as is mentioned in subsection (1) of section thirty-three of the Housing Repairs and Rents Act, 1954, and, where it belongs to such an association, that the condition specified in subsection (2) of that section is fulfilled”.

(5)Where, at a time when the application of the Act of 1920 to a tenancy (hereinafter referred to as " the superior tenancy ") of any premises is excluded by reason only of subsection (1) of this section, a sub-tenancy is created of those premises or any part thereof, then in ascertaining, in relation to the sub-tenancy, what rent is recoverable from the sub-tenant, the Rent Acts and the Act of 1949 shall apply as if the superior tenancy were a controlled tenancy and neither the premises nor any part thereof had ever been let before the beginning of the superior tenancy.

(6)Paragraph (c) of subsection (2) of section three of the Act of 1939 (which excludes from the Rent Acts certain dwelling-houses belonging to local authorities) shall cease to have effect; and—

(a)where any order or judgment has been made or given by a court before the commencement of this Act, but has not been executed, and in the opinion of the court the order or judgment would not have been made or given if this section had been in operation at the time when the order or judgment was made or given, the court may upon application by the tenant rescind or vary the order or judgment in such manner as the court thinks fit for the purposes of giving effect to this section;

(b)in relation to a tenancy not falling within subsection (1) of this section, being a tenancy to which the Act of 1920 applies as from the commencement of this Act by virtue of the repeal of the said paragraph (c), the Rent Acts shall apply subject to the modifications set out in the Fourth Schedule to this Act.

(7)Subsection (3) of section three of the Housing Act, 1952 (which provides for the imposition by local authorities of conditions as to rent and other matters on the sale by them of houses) shall not apply to the sale of a house to any such council, corporation, association or trust as is mentioned in subsection (1) of this section.

(8)Where it appears to the Minister that the terms of any arrangements entered into before the commencement of this Act under section ninety-four of the Housing Act, 1936, or entered into under section twenty-seven of the Housing Act, 1935, or section twenty-nine of the Housing Act, 1930, should be varied in consequence of the foregoing provisions of this section, the Minister may approve any variation of those terms agreed between the local authority and housing association who are parties to the arrangements or, if no agreement has been reached between the parties at the expiration of three months after the commencement of this Act, may on the application of either party determine that the arrangements shall have effect subject to such variation as he may specify.

(9)In this section the expression " housing trust" means a housing trust as defined by the Housing Act, 1936, or a corporation or body of persons which, being required by the terms of its constituent instrument to devote the whole or substantially the whole of its funds to charitable purposes, would be a housing trust as so defined if the purposes to which it is so required to devote its funds were restricted to those to which it in fact devotes the whole or substantially the whole thereof.