Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1996 c. 53 |
| Year | 1996 |
Housing Grants, Constructionand Regeneration Act 1996
1996 Chapter 53
An Act to make provision for grants and other assistance for housing purposes and about action in relation to unfit housing to amend the law relating to construction contracts and architects to provide grants and other assistance for regeneration and development and in connection with clearance areas to amend the provisions relating to home energy efficiency schemes to make provision in connection with the dissolution of urban development corporations, housing action trusts and the Commission for the New Towns and for connected purposes.
[24th July 1996]
B e 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
Grants, &c. for renewal of private sector housing
Chapter I
The main grants
Introductory
1 Grants for improvements and repairs, &c.
(1) Grants are available from local housing authorities in accordance with this Chapter towards the cost of works required for—
(a) the improvement or repair of dwellings, houses in multiple occupation or the common parts of buildings containing one or more flats,
(b) the provision of dwellings or houses in multiple occupation by the conversion of a house or other building, and
(c) the provision of facilities for disabled persons in dwellings and in the common parts of buildings containing one or more flats.
(2) A grant relating to—
(a) the improvement or repair of a dwelling, or
(b) the provision of dwellings by the conversion of a house or other building,
is referred to as a ‘renovation grant’.
(3) A grant relating to the improvement or repair of the common parts of a building is referred to as a ‘common parts grant’.
(4) A grant for the provision of facilities for a disabled person—
(a) in a dwelling, or
(b) in the common parts of a building containing one or more flats,
is referred to as a ‘disabled facilities grant’.
(5) A grant for—
(a) the improvement or repair of a house in multiple occupation, or
(b) the provision of a house in multiple occupation by the conversion of a house or other building,
is referred to as an ‘HMO grant’.
(6) In the following provisions of this Chapter the expression‘grant’, without more, means any of these types of grant.
2 Applications for grants.
(1) No grant shall be paid unless an application for it is made to the local housing authority in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter and is approved by them.
(2) An application for a grant shall be in writing and shall specify the premises to which it relates and contain—
(a) particulars of the works in respect of which the grant is sought (in this Chapter referred to as the ‘relevant works’)
(b) unless the local housing authority otherwise direct in any particular case, at least two estimates from different contractors of the cost of carrying out the relevant works
(c) particulars of any preliminary or ancillary services and charges in respect of the cost of which the grant is also sought and
(d) such other particulars as may be prescribed.
(3) In this Chapter‘preliminary or ancillary services and charges’, in relation to an application for a grant, means services and charges which—
(a) relate to the application and the preparation for and the carrying out of works, and
(b) are specified for the purposes of this subsection by order of the Secretary of State.
(4) The Secretary of State may by regulations prescribe a form of application for a grant and an application for a grant to which any such regulations apply is not validly made unless it is in the prescribed form.
Preliminary conditions
3 Ineligible applicants.
(1) No grant is payable under this Chapter unless the applicant is aged 18 or over on the date of the application. In the case of a joint application, any applicant under the age of 18 years on the date of the application shall be left out of account.
(2) No grant is payable under this Chapter if the person who would otherwise qualify as the applicant for the grant is—
(a) a local authority
(b) a new town corporation
(c) an urban development corporation
(d) a housing action trust
(e) the Development Board for Rural Wales
(f) a health authority, special health authority or NHS trust
(g) a police authority established under section 3 of the Police Act 1964
(h) a joint authority established by Part IV of the Local Government Act 1985
(i) a residuary body established by Part VII of that Act or
(j) an authority established under section 10(1) of that Act (waste disposal).
(3) No grant is payable under this Chapter if the applicant is of a description excluded from entitlement to grant aid by regulations made by the Secretary of State.
(4) Regulations under subsection (3) may proceed wholly or in part by reference to the provisions relating to entitlement to housing benefit, or any other form of assistance, as they have effect from time to time.
4 The age of the property.
(1) A local housing authority shall not entertain an application for a grant in respect of premises provided (by construction or conversion) less than ten years before the date of the application, unless—
(a) the application is for a disabled facilities grant, or
(b) the application is for an HMO grant in respect of a house in multiple occupation provided by conversion.
(2) The Secretary of State may by order amend subsection (1) so as to substitute another period for that specified.
5 Excluded descriptions of works.
(1) No grant is payable in respect of works of a description excluded from grant aid under this Chapter by regulations made by the Secretary of State.
(2) Regulations may be made with respect to local housing authorities generally or to a particular local housing authority and may be made with respect to particular areas.
(3) Regulations may specify descriptions of works for which grant aid is not to be available without the Secretary of State's consent, which may be given—
(a) to local housing authorities generally or to a particular local housing authority,
(b) with respect to particular areas, or
(c) with respect to applications generally or to a particular description of application.
6 Defective dwellings.
(1) No grant is payable if—
(a) the dwelling, house or building is or forms part of a building of a class designated under section 528 or 559 of the Housing Act 1985 (defective dwellings),
(b) the applicant is eligible for assistance under Part XVI of that Act in respect of a defective dwelling which is or forms part of the dwelling, house or building concerned, and
(c) the relevant works are, within the meaning of that Part, works required to reinstate that defective dwelling.
(2) If the local housing authority consider that the relevant works include works for which assistance is available under Part XVI of the Housing Act 1985 (assistance for owners of defective housing), they shall treat the application as if the relevant works did not include those works.
Renovation grants
7 Renovation grants: owner's applications and tenant's applications.
(1) A local housing authority shall not entertain an application for a renovation grant unless they are satisfied—
(a) that the applicant has, or proposes to acquire, an owner's interest in every parcel of land on which the relevant works are to be carried out, or
(b) in the case of an application other than a conversion application, that the applicant is a qualifying tenant of the dwelling (alone or jointly with others) but does not have, or propose to acquire, an owner's interest in the dwelling.
(2) References in this Chapter to an ‘owner's application’ or a ‘tenant's application’, in relation to a renovation grant, shall be construed accordingly.
(3) In accordance with directions given by the Secretary of State, a local housing authority may treat the condition in subsection (1)(a) as met by a person who has, or proposes to acquire, an owner's interest in only part of the land concerned.
(4) References in this Chapter to‘a qualifying owner's interest’, in relation to an application for a renovation grant, are to an owner's interest meeting the condition in subsection (1)(a) or treated by virtue of subsection (3) as meeting that condition.
(5) In this Chapter a‘qualifying tenant’, in relation to an application for a renovation grant, means a person who (alone or jointly with others) is a tenant of the premises to which the application...
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