Housing (Financial Provisions) (Scotland) Act 1968
| Year | 1968 |
Housing (FinancialProvisions) (Scotland)Act 1968
1968 CHAPTER 31
An Act to consolidate certain enactments relating to the giving of financial assistance towards the provision or improvement of housing accommodation in Scotland, and to other financial matters connected therewith.
[30th May 1968]
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Part I
and other bodiesprovided or improved by Local AuthoritiesFinancial Assistance in respect of Housing Accommodation
Exchequer contributions for new houses
1 Exchequer contributions towards provision of new houses.
(1) The provisions of sections 1 to 12 of this Act shall have effect with respect to assistance to local authorities and other bodies mentioned in subsection (2) of this section (hereinafter referred to as ‘recipient authorities’) towards the expenditure incurred by them in the provision of new houses approved for the purposes of this section by the Secretary of State (hereinafter referred to as ‘approved houses’).
(2) The houses that may be approved for the purposes of this section are new houses which are—
(a ) provided by a local authority in the exercise of their powers to provide housing accommodation, or
(b ) provided by a development corporation otherwise than in pursuance of authorised arrangements made with a local authority, or
(c ) provided by a development corporation in pursuance of authorised arrangements made with a local authority, or
(d ) provided by a housing association in pursuance of authorised arrangements made with a local authority or special arrangements made with the Secretary of State, or
(e ) provided by the Scottish Special Housing Association in any of the circumstances specified in paragraph (a ) or paragraph (b ) or paragraph (c ) of subsection (3) of this section;
and in respect of which proposals for their provision were or are submitted to the Secretary of State for his approval—
(i) in the case of proposals submitted by a local authority in respect of houses which would have been eligible for Exchequer contributions calculated in accordance with section 2, or paragraph (a ) or paragraph (b ) of section 3(4), of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1962 had the Housing (Financial Provisions, &c.) (Scotland) Act 1967 (other than section 16(1) thereof and Part I of Schedule 5 thereto) and this Act not been passed, on or after 1st January 1965; and
(ii) in any other case, on or after 25th November 1965.
(3) The circumstances referred to in subsection (2)(e ) of this section are that the houses are provided—
(a ) in the district of any local authority as respects which the Secretary of State is satisfied—
(i) that there is an urgent need for more housing accommodation which will be met only if such accommodation is provided by the local authority or the Scottish Special Housing Association, and
(ii) that all accommodation so required cannot be provided by the local authority without imposing an unreasonably heavy rate burden or necessitating the charging of unreasonably high rents for that accommodation and other accommodation provided by the authority; or
(b ) in pursuance of arrangements such as are mentioned in section 8(1) of the Housing and Town Development (Scotland) Act 1957 (provision of housing accommodation in relief of over-populated districts); or
(c ) in the district of any local authority in accordance with arrangements made with the approval of the Secretary of State as being desirable by reason of special circumstances for the provision of housing accommodation in any area for persons coming to that area in order to meet the urgent needs of industry, and so coming wholly, or, in the case of the council of a county (other than a county of a city), wholly or partly, from outside the district of the authority.
(4) Any Exchequer contribution under this Part of this Act payable in respect of any approved house or in respect of the cost of any approved house or in respect of the cost of the site of any approved house shall be paid to the recipient authority by whom the house was provided, except that where it was provided by a development corporation or a housing association in pursuance of authorised arrangements made with a local authority the Exchequer contribution shall be paid to the local authority, who shall pay to the development corporation or housing association, as the case may be, by way of annual grant an amount not less than the said Exchequer contribution.
Exchequer contributions for aggregate cost of approved houses
2 Aggregate cost contributions.
(1) In respect of the aggregate cost, ascertained in accordance with the provisions of this Act, of the approved houses provided by each recipient authority and completed in any financial year, so far as that cost is approved by the Secretary of State for the purposes of this section, the Secretary of State shall pay for each of the sixty years beginning with that financial year an Exchequer contribution of an amount calculated in accordance with the following provisions of this section.
(2) An amount equal to the aggregate cost so far as approved as aforesaid shall be assumed to have been raised by a loan repayable over a period of sixty years in equal half-yearly instalments of principal and interest combined, the first instalment falling due six months after the loan was raised, and there shall be calculated the amount of such an instalment at a rate of interest specified in an order made by the Secretary of State in respect of the financial year in which the houses were completed; and the amount of the Exchequer contribution shall be twice the amount by which the amount of such an instalment calculated at that rate would exceed the amount of such an instalment calculated at the rate of four per cent. per annum.
(3) The rate so specified in respect of any financial year shall be such as appears to the Secretary of State, after consultation with recipient authorities or such associations thereof as appear to him to be concerned, to be representative of the rates of interest paid on loans raised by recipient authorities in the preceding financial year; and different rates may be so specified in relation to the different kinds of recipient authority mentioned in section 1(2) of this Act and also in relation to different classes of local authority.
(4) Where the approved houses provided by a recipient authority (other than a local authority) and completed in a financial year include both—
(a ) houses provided in pursuance of authorised arrangements made with a local authority; and either
(b ) houses provided in pursuance of authorised arrangements made with another local authority, or
(c ) houses provided otherwise than in pursuance of such arrangements;
a separate Exchequer contribution shall be paid in respect of the aggregate cost of the houses provided as mentioned in each of the paragraphs of this subsection.
(5) The power to make orders under this section shall be exercisable by statutory instrument, and such an order shall not be made unless a draft thereof has been laid before the Commons House of Parliament and has been approved by a resolution of that House.
3 Ascertainment of aggregate cost.
(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, the aggregate cost of any houses shall be taken for the purposes of this Act to be the cost incurred by the recipient authority in providing the houses.
(2) So much of that cost as is attributable to the acquisition of any site shall be ascertained in accordance with Schedule 1 to this Act.
(3) The remainder of the said cost, so far as it was not known at the time the proposals referred to in section 1(2) of this Act were approved, shall be taken to be what it was then estimated to be.
(4) Any apportionment necessary to arrive at the said aggregate cost shall be made in such manner as the Secretary of State may determine.
Additional Exchequer contributions for individual houses
4 Exchequer contributions for flats in blocks of six or more storeys.
4. In respect of each approved house provided in a block of flats the major part of which, as determined by the Secretary of State, is of six or more storeys (inclusive of any storey constructed for use for purposes other than those of a dwelling), the Secretary of State shall pay for each of the sixty years beginning with the financial year in which the house was completed an Exchequer contribution of thirty pounds.
5 Exchequer contributions for houses provided by local authorities with special financial difficulties.
5. In respect of each approved house provided by a local authority (being an authority with special financial difficulties)...
To continue reading
Request your trial