Housing (Financial Provisions) Act 1958
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
Housing (Financial Provisions) Act, 1958
(6 & 7 Eliz. 2) CHAPTER 42
An Act to consolidate certain enactments relating to the giving of financial assistance for the provision of housing accommodation and to other financial matters.
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
provided by Local Authorities and other Public BodiesFinancial assistance for Housing Accommodation
Exchequer subsidies for new housing accommodation
1 Dwellings qualifying for subsidies.
(1) Exchequer subsidies shall be payable in accordance with the provisions of this Act in respect of, and in certain circumstances in respect of the site of, any new dwelling which is—
(a ) provided by a local authority in exercise of their powers to provide housing accommodation, or
(b ) provided by a development corporation otherwise than in pursuance of authorised arrangements, or
(c ) provided by a development corporation or housing association in pursuance of authorised arrangements with a local authority;
and which is approved for the purposes of those provisions by the Minister, and such a dwelling which is so approved is hereafter in this Act referred to as an ‘approved dwelling’.
(2) An exchequer subsidy payable under this Part of this Act—
(a ) in respect of, or of the site of, a dwelling such as is mentioned in paragraph (a ) or (b ) of the foregoing subsection shall be paid to the local authority or, as the case may be, to the development corporation,
(b ) in respect of, or of the site of, a dwelling such as is mentioned in paragraph (c ) of the foregoing subsection shall be paid to the local authority, who shall pay to the development corporation or housing association by way of annual grant an amount not less than the exchequer subsidy.
(3) An exchequer subsidy shall not be payable in respect of a dwelling, or the site of a dwelling, except where—
(a ) in a case where the dwelling was provided by a local authority in the exercise of their powers to provide housing accommodation or by a development corporation otherwise than in pursuance of authorised arrangements, the tender or estimate for its erection was accepted by a formal resolution of the authority or corporation passed on or after the third day of November, nineteen hundred and fifty-five;
(b ) in a case where the dwelling was provided by a development corporation or housing association in pursuance of authorised arrangements with a local authority the authorised arrangements were made on or after the said third day of November:
Provided that—
(i) a formal resolution passed as aforesaid accepting a tender or estimate which was submitted to the Minister for approval before the said third day of November shall be deemed for the purposes of this subsection to have been passed before that day, and
(ii) where, on approving any authorised arrangements made on or after the said third day of November, the Minister is satisfied that the substantial effect of those arrangements had been agreed between the parties before that day, those arrangements shall be deemed for the purposes of this subsection to have been made before that day.
2 Power to abolish or reduce subsidies.
(1) The Minister may from time to time by order direct that, in respect of, or of the site of, dwellings of any description specified in the order, or such dwellings in any area so specified, exchequer subsidies under sections one to eight of this Act—
(a ) shall cease to be payable; or
(b ) shall be reduced to such amount as may be specified in the order; or
(c ) shall be payable for such reduced number of years as may be so specified.
(2) Any such order shall be expressed to apply to, or to the site of, any dwelling of the description specified in the order—
(a ) the tender or estimate for the erection of which is accepted—
(i) by a formal resolution of a local authority; or
(ii) in the case of a dwelling provided by a development corporation otherwise than in pursuance of authorised arrangements, by a formal resolution of the corporation,
passed on or after a date specified in the order; or
(b ) which is provided by a development corporation or housing association in pursuance of authorised arrangements made on or after that date.
(3) An order under this section shall be made by statutory instrument and—
(a ) shall not be made unless a draft thereof has been approved by a resolution of the Commons House of Parliament; and
(b ) shall not specify a date under the last foregoing subsection earlier than the date of the laying of the draft;
and before laying such a draft the Minister shall consult with such associations of local authorities as appear to him to be concerned and with any local authority with whom consultation appears to him to be desirable.
3 Rate of subsidies for dwellings provided for the purposes of slum clearance etc.
(1) In respect of each approved dwelling which satisfies one of the conditions specified in subsection (2) of this section the Minister shall pay for each of the sixty years following the completion of the dwelling an annual exchequer subsidy of—
(a ) in the case of a dwelling other than a flat in a block of flats of four or more storeys—
(b ) in the case of a flat in a block of flats of four storeys, thirty-two pounds;
(c ) in the case of a flat in a block of flats of five storeys, thirty-eight pounds;
(d ) in the case of a flat in a block of flats of six or more storeys, fifty pounds, increased by one pound fifteen shillings for each storey by which the block exceeds six storeys.
(2) The conditions referred to in the foregoing subsection are that the dwelling was—
(a ) provided by a local authority for the purposes of slum clearance or re-development; or
(b ) provided by a local authority for the purposes of rehousing persons coming from such camps or other unsatisfactory temporary housing accommodation as the Minister may designate for the purposes of this paragraph; or
(c ) provided by a local authority in the course of a scheme of town development as defined by the Town Development Act, 1952, carried out with the approval of the Minister wholly or partly in the area of that authority; or
(d ) provided by a local authority for the accommodation of persons coming from outside the area of that authority in order to meet the urgent needs of industry, where the dwelling has been so provided in accordance with arrangements approved by the Minister as being desirable by reason of special circumstances and so long as any conditions laid down by the Minister on the giving of his approval are complied with; or
(e ) provided by the local authority of a congested or overpopulated area in some other area as part of a scheme of comprehensive development the general character of which is, in the opinion of the Minister, similar to development for the purposes of a new town under the New Towns Act, 1946; or
(f ) provided by a development corporation otherwise than in pursuance of authorised arrangements.
(3) In the case of a dwelling provided in pursuance of authorised arrangements with a local authority, the Minister may direct that this section shall apply to that dwelling as if it were a dwelling mentioned in such, if any, of paragraphs (a ), (b ), (d ) or (e ) of the last foregoing subsection as the Minister, having regard to the intentions of the local authority with respect to the use of that dwelling when entering into the arrangements, may determine to be appropriate.
(4) For the purposes of paragraph (a ) of subsection (2) of this section, a dwelling shall be deemed to be provided by a local authority for the purposes of slum clearance or re-development if, and only if, provision of the dwelling by the authority is rendered necessary—
(a ) by displacements of persons occurring—
(i) in connection with any action taken by the authority under the principal Act for the demolition of insanitary houses or for dealing with clearance areas, or for closing the whole or part of any building; or
(ii) in connection with the implementation of an undertaking for the demolition of an insanitary house given by the owner thereof in lieu of the taking by the authority of such action as aforesaid; or
(iii) in connection with the demolition of an insanitary house belonging to the authority; or
(b ) by displacements occurring in the carrying out of redevelopment in accordance with a re-development plan within the meaning of Part III of the principal Act from houses which are unfit for human habitation and not capable at a reasonable expense of being rendered so fit, or which are so arranged as to be congested, or, where the re-development plan was submitted to the Minister before the third day of November, nineteen hundred and fifty-five, from any house in the redevelopment area.
4 Rate of subsidies for other dwellings.
(1) This section shall have effect as respects dwellings which do not satisfy any of the conditions specified in subsection (2) of the last foregoing section.
(2) In respect of each approved dwelling which contains not more than one...
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