Housing Act 1964
| Year | 1964 |
Housing Act 1964
1964 CHAPTER 56
An Act to set up a new body to assist housing societies to provide housing accommodation, to confer powers and duties on local authorities to compel the carrying out of works for the improvement of dwellings which are without all or any of the standard amenities, to amend the law relating to the giving of financial assistance for the improvement of housing accommodation, to make further provision as to the powers and duties of local authorities as respects houses let in lodgings or occupied by more than one family, to amend the provisions of the Clean Air Act 1956 relating to the making of contributions to expenditure incurred in the adaptation of fireplaces in private dwellings, and to amend in other respects the law relating to housing.
[16th July 1964]
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
AccommodationAssistance for Housing Societies providing Housing
1 The Housing Corporation.
(1) There shall be an authority, to be called the Housing Corporation (hereafter in this Part of this Act referred to as ‘the Corporation’) whose general duty it shall be to promote and assist the development of housing societies, to facilitate the proper exercise and performance of the functions of such societies, and to publicise, in the case of societies providing houses for their own members no less than in the case of those providing houses for letting, the aims and principles of such societies; and, for the purpose of performing that general duty, the Corporation shall exercise and perform the functions assigned to them by this Part of this Act.
(2) Directions of a general character as to the exercise and performance of the functions of the Corporation may be given by the Minister and the Secretary of State acting jointly; and whether or not any such directions have been given as aforesaid, directions of either a general or a particular character may be given—
(a ) where the directions concern the exercise or performance of those functions in England and Wales only, by the Minister;
(b ) where the directions concern the exercise or performance of those functions in Scotland only, by the Secretary of State;
and the Corporation shall comply with any directions given under this subsection.
Any directions given under this subsection may be varied or revoked by subsequent directions thereunder given by the same persons or person.
(3) It is hereby declared that the Corporation are not to be regarded as the servant or agent of the Crown or as enjoying any status, immunity or privilege of the Crown, or as exempt from any tax, duty, rate, levy or other charge whatsoever, whether general or local, and that their property is not to be regarded as property of, or property held on behalf of, the Crown.
(4) A transaction between a person and the Corporation shall not be invalid by reason of any non-compliance by the Corporation with any direction given to the Corporation under subsection (2) of this section unless that person had actual notice of the direction; and section 29 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1959 (protection of persons deriving title to land under transactions requiring consent) shall apply in relation to the Corporation as it applies in relation to an authority to whom Part II of that Act applies.
(5) References to undertakers in section 15 of the Local Government Superannuation Act 1953 (which enables local authorities to admit to their superannuation schemes employees of statutory undertakers) shall extend to the Corporation.
(6) The provisions of Schedule 1 to this Act shall have effect with respect to the constitution and proceedings of the Corporation and other matters related to the Corporation and its members.
(7) In this Part of this Act the expression ‘housing society’ means a society—
(a ) which is registered under the Industrial and Provident Societies Act 1893; and
(b ) which does not trade for profit; and
(c ) which is established for the purpose of, or amongst whose objects or powers are included those of, constructing, improving or managing houses, being—
(i) houses to be kept available for letting, or
(ii) where the rules of the society restrict membership of the society to persons entitled or prospectively entitled (whether as tenants or otherwise) to occupy a house provided or managed by the society, houses for occupation by members of the society,
whether or not the purposes or objects of the society include any of the supplementary purposes or objects mentioned in subsection (8) of this section, so however that the expression shall not include a society which, in addition to the purposes or objects mentioned in paragraph (c ) above, has any purposes or objects not mentioned in the said subsection (8).
(8) The supplementary purposes or objects referred to in the last foregoing subsection are those—
(a ) of providing land or buildings for purposes connected with the requirements of the persons occupying the houses provided or managed by the society,
(b ) of encouraging the formation of other housing societies, and
(c ) of giving advice on the formation and running of such societies.
(9) In the application of this section to Scotland, in subsection (4) for the reference to the Town and Country Planning Act 1959 there shall be substituted a reference to the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1959.
2 Power of Corporation to make loans to housing societies.
(1) The Corporation shall have power to make loans to a housing society for the purpose of enabling the housing society to meet the whole or any part of any expenditure incurred or to to be incurred by the housing society in carrying out its objects.
(2) Any directions given to the Corporation under section 1(2) of this Act with respect to the terms of any such loan shall require the consent of the Treasury and, subject to any such directions, the terms on which any such loan is made shall be such as the Corporation may determine either generally or in any particular case, and may, in particular, include terms for preventing repayment of the loan or any part of it before a specified date without the consent of the Corporation.
(3) The Corporation may, with the consent in writing of the Minister, give to any housing society (whether in connection with a scheme under section 5 of this Act or otherwise) directions with respect to the disposal of any land belonging to the society in which the Corporation have an interest as mortgagee under a mortgage entered into by the society; and where directions under this subsection are given with respect to any land belonging to a housing society, it shall be the duty of the society to comply with the directions so long as the Corporation continue to have such an interest in that land.
Any directions given under this subsection with the consent aforesaid may be varied or revoked by subsequent directions thereunder given with the like consent.
(4) Where, in the case of a housing society the rules of which restrict membership of the society to persons entitled or prospectively entitled (whether as tenants or otherwise) to occupy a house provided or managed by the society, the Corporation propose to give directions to the society under subsection (3) of this section requiring it to transfer its interest in any land to the Corporation or any other person, the Minister shall not consent to the giving of the directions unless he is satisfied that arrangements have been made which, if the directions are given, will secure that the members of the society receive fair treatment in connection with the transfer.
(5) The reference in subsection (1) of this section to expenditure incurred or to be incurred by a housing society in carrying out its objects includes a reference to expenditure incurred or to be incurred by it in acquiring land on which to construct houses or in acquiring houses to be managed by the society, whether after improvement by the society or in the condition in which they are acquired.
(6) In the application of this section to Scotland, for the references to the Minister there shall be substituted references to the Secretary of State.
3 Provision of land for housing societies.
(1) The Corporation shall have power to sell, or, with the consent in writing of the Minister, to lease, to a housing society any land which the housing society requires for carrying out its objects and, if the Corporation sell the land, the purchase-money may, under the last foregoing section, be left outstanding as a loan to the housing society.
(2) The Corporation may acquire land, whether by way of purchase, lease, exchange or gift, for the purpose of selling it or leasing it to housing societies under the foregoing subsection.
(3) The Corporation may with the consent in writing of the Minister clear any land acquired by them under the last foregoing subsection and carry out any other work on the land to prepare it as a...
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