The Housing (Right to Buy) (Limits on Discount) (Amendment) Order 2003

Statutory Instruments

2003 No. 498

HOUSING, ENGLAND

The Housing (Right to Buy) (Limits on Discount) (Amendment) Order 2003

Made

5th March 2003

Laid before Parliament

6th March 2003

Coming into force

27th March 2003

The First Secretary of State, in exercise of the powers conferred upon him by sections 131(2) and (3) of the Housing Act 1985(1) hereby makes the following Order:

Citation and commencement

1.  This Order may be cited as the Housing (Right to Buy) (Limits on Discount) (Amendment) Order 2003 and shall come into force on 27th March 2003.

Amendment of Order

2.  The Housing (Right to Buy) (Limits on Discount) Order 1998(2) shall be amended in accordance with the following articles.

Maximum discounts

3.—(1) In article 3—

(a)at the beginning of paragraph (1) insert “Subject to article 3A,”; and

(b)in that paragraph and paragraph (2), for “the Schedule” substitute “Schedule 1”.

(2) After article 3 insert—

3A.(1) In relation to a dwelling house situated in one of the areas specified in Column 2 of Schedule 2, the prescribed sum for the purposes of section 131(2) is £16,000.

(2) Area means a county or district in England, a London borough, or the City of London.

(3) The Schedule shall become Schedule 1 to the Order and after that Schedule insert—

SCHEDULE 2

Column 1Column 2
Name of region as set out in Schedule 1Specified area
EasternWatford
LondonBarnet, Bexley, Brent, Bromley, Camden, City of London, Croydon, Ealing, Enfield, Greenwich, Hackney, Hammersmith& Fulham, Haringey, Harrow, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Islington, Kensington & Chelsea, Kingston-Upon-Thames, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Newham, Redbridge, Richmond upon Thames, Southwark, Sutton, Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest, Wandsworth, Westminster
South EastChiltern, Epsom & Ewell, Hart, Oxford, Reading, Reigate & Banstead, Tonbridge & Malling, Vale of White Horse, West Berkshire

Application

4.  The amendments made by article 3 above shall not have effect in a case where a notice under section 122(1) of the Housing Act 1985 was served before the date on which this Order came into force.

Signed by authority of the First Secretary of State

Jeff Rooker

Minister of State,

Office of the Deputy Prime Minister

5th March 2003

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Order)

A person exercising the right to buy a dwelling-house in England under Part 5 of the Housing Act 1985 may be entitled, under sections 129 to 131 of and Schedule 4 to the Act, to a discount equal to a percentage of the price before discount.

The discount may not, however, reduce the price by more than such sum as the Secretary of State may by order prescribe. The Housing (Right to Buy) (Limits on Discount) Order 1998 currently prescribes the maximum discount for specified regions in England. This order amends that order to change the maximum discount for the areas specified within the Eastern, London and South East regions to £16,000.

(1)

1985 c. 68; section 131 is amended by section 122 of the Housing Act 1988 (c. 50).

(2)

S.I. 1998/2997.