Housing (Financial Provisions) Act 1938
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1938 c. 16 |
| Year | 1938 |
Housing (Financial Provisions) Act, 1938
(1 & 2 Geo. 6.) CHAPTER 16.
An Act to amend the law with respect to the making of contributions out of the Exchequer and by local authorities in respect of housing accommodation provided for the working classes, and with respect to arrangements between local authorities and other persons for the provision of housing accommodation; and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid.
[30th March 1938]
B E it enacted by the King'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:—
Government Contributions.
1 General provision for contributions in respect of housing accommodation provided by local authorities.
(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the Minister shall undertake to make, and shall make, in respect of each new house completed after the beginning of the year nineteen hundred and thirty-nine by way of housing accommodation provided by a local authority and approved for the purposes of this section by the Minister, being housing accommodation to which this section applies, payment to that local authority of an annual contribution of the amount of five pounds ten shillings for a period of forty years:
Provided that no contribution shall be payable under this section in respect of any house in respect of which a contribution is payable under the next following section.
(2) The annual amount of any contribution which, under this section, the Minister must make, and undertake to make, in respect of a flat provided in a block of flats on a site the cost of which as developed (ascertained in accordance with the Schedule to this Act) exceeds one thousand five hundred pounds per acre, shall, instead of five pounds ten shillings, be the appropriate amount prescribed by that Schedule.
(3) If, with respect to any proposals of the council of any non-county borough or urban district to provide any housing accommodation to which this section applies, the Minister, upon an application made by the borough or district council, is satisfied after consultation with the county council and having regard to any conditions which may be laid down by the Treasury,—
(a ) that the houses in the borough or district which are occupied by members of the working classes are let at rents substantially less on the average than the average of the rents of houses so occupied in non-county boroughs and urban districts in England generally, and
(b ) that when the amount of the expenditure incurred or to be incurred by the borough or district council under the enactments relating to housing is considered in relation to the financial resources of the borough or district, the provision of the said accommodation would impose an undue burden on the borough or district, unless the annual amount of any contribution payable under this section in relation to that accommodation exceeds five pounds ten shillings,
then, if the Minister thinks fit so to determine, the annual amount of any contribution which under this section he must make, and undertake to make, in respect of any house provided by the borough or district council in carrying out the said proposals (being a contribution which apart from this subsection would be of the annual amount of five pounds ten shillings) shall, instead of that amount, be six pounds ten shillings.
(4) The last preceding subsection shall have effect in relation to any proposals of the council of a rural district to provide any housing accommodation to which this section applies, as that subsection has effect in relation to proposals of the council of any non-county borough or urban district subject however to the modification that for any reference in that subsection to the borough or district council, to the borough or district, or to non-county boroughs and urban districts there shall be substituted a reference to the rural district council, to the rural district or to rural districts, as the case may be.
(5) This section applies to housing accommodation which—
(a ) is rendered necessary—
(i) by displacements of persons occurring in connection with any action taken by the local authority under the principal Act for the demolition of insanitary houses, for dealing with clearance or improvement areas or for closing parts of buildings, or
(ii) by displacements, occurring in the carrying out of re-development in accordance with a re-development plan, from houses which are unfit for human habitation and are not capable of being rendered fit for human habitation at reasonable expense, or
(b ) is required for the purpose of the abatement of overcrowding in the area of the local authority, or rendered necessary by displacements, occurring in the carrying out of re development as aforesaid, from houses other than such as are mentioned in sub-paragraph (ii) of the preceding paragraph.
(6) As respects the administrative county of London exclusive of the City of London, both the London County Council and the council of a metropolitan borough shall be local authorities for the purposes of this section except subsection (3) thereof.
(7) Subsection (2) of section eighty-nine, subsection (3) of section one hundred and sixty-nine and subsection (2) of section one hundred and seventy-two of the principal act shall have effect as if the references in those subsections to section one hundred and five of that Act included references to this section.
2 Contributions in respect of agricultural housing accommodation provided by local authorities.
(1) Subject to the following provisions of this Act, the Minister shall undertake to make, and shall make, in respect of each new house completed after the beginning of the year nineteen hundred and thirty-nine which, with the approval of the Minister, is provided by the council of a county district by way of housing accommodation required for the agricultural population of the district, payment to that council of an annual contribution of the amount of ten pounds for a period of forty years:
Provided that if, with respect to any proposals of such a council to provide such housing accommodation as aforesaid, the Minister, upon an application made by the council, is satisfied, after consultation with the county council and having regard to any conditions which may be laid down by the Treasury, that the provision of the said accommodation would, without an increase of any contribution which would otherwise be payable under this section in relation to that accommodation, impose an undue burden on the county district by reason of—
(a ) the exceptionally high cost of providing the accommodation, and
(b ) the amount of the rents which it will be practicable for the council of the county district to charge for the accommodation,
then, if the Minister thinks fit so to determine, the annual amount of any contribution which under this section he must make, and undertake to make, in respect of any house provided by the last-mentioned council in carrying out the said proposals shall, instead of ten pounds, be such greater amount not exceeding twelve pounds as the Minister may determine.
(2) The council of a county district shall secure that a number of houses equal to the number of houses (if any) in respect of which contributions are payable under this section to the council are reserved for members of the agricultural population, except in so far as the demand for housing accommodation in the county district on the part of members of the agricultural population can be satisfied without such reservation.
(3) Section one hundred and thirty-six of the principal Act shall apply for the purposes of this section of section one hundred and sixty-nine and subsection (2) of section one hundred and seventy-two of the principal Act shall have effect as if the references in those subsections to section one hundred and five of that Act included references to this section.
3 Contributions in respect of agricultural housing accommodation provided by persons other than local authorities.
(1) Where the council of a county district are satisfied that in any particular case housing accommodation required for members of the...
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