Housing Subsidies Act 1967

PART I — Subsidies to Local Authorities, Etc.

New subsidies for approved dwellings

New provisions for financial assistance towards provision of dwellings.

1

• (1) The provisions of this Part of this Act shall have effect with respect to assistance to local authorities and such other bodies as are mentioned in subsection (2) of this section (in this Part of this Act referred to as " recipient authorities ") towards the expenditure incurred by them in the provision of such new dwellings as, in accordance with the said subsection (2), are approved for the purposes of this Part of this Act by the Minister (in this Part of this Act referred to as "approved dwellings"); and exchequer subsidies under Part I of the Housing Act 1961 shall not be payable in respect of any dwelling falling within paragraph (a) or (b), or approved for the purposes of this Part of this Act by virtue of paragraph (c) or (d), of subsection (3) of this section.

• (2) The new dwellings which may be approved for the purposes of this Part of this Act are new dwellings provided—

• (a) by a local authority in the exercise of their powers to provide housing accommodation ; or

• (b) by a development corporation otherwise than in pursuance of such arrangements as are mentioned in paragraph (c) of this subsection, or by the Commission for the New Towns ; or

• (c) by a development corporation or housing association in pursuance of authorised arrangements made with a local authority, or by a housing association in pursuance of special arrangements made with the Minister,

and falling within one of the categories specified in subsection (3) of this section.

• (3) The categories of new dwellings referred to in subsection (2) of this section are—

• (a) new dwellings provided as mentioned in paragraph (a) or (b) of the said subsection (2) in the case of which the formal resolution of the recipient authority accepting the tender or estimate for, or approving the cost or estimated cost of, their erection was passed on or after 25th November 1965 ;

• (b) new dwellings provided as mentioned in paragraph (c) of the said subsection (2) in pursuance of arrangements made on or after 25th November 1965 ;

• (c) new dwellings which do not fall within paragraph (a) of this subsection but which have been completed on or after 25th November 1965 and provided by a local authority in whose case the Minister is of opinion—

• (i) that at that date, on the information which had by then been made available to the Minister, there was in their area an exceptional need for new dwellings owing to an exceptional need for slum clearance or an exceptional shortage of housing accommodation or both ; and

• (ii) that the number of new dwellings completed on or after that date in the case of which the formal resolution of the recipient authority such as is mentioned in paragraph (a) of this subsection was passed before that date is such that, unless the dwellings are approved for the purposes of this Part of this Act, an unreasonable rate burden will have to be imposed or unreasonably high rents will have to be charged by the authority;

• (d) new dwellings which do not fall within paragraph (a) of this subsection but which have been completed on or after 25th November 1965 and provided by a local authority who are not such an authority as are mentioned in paragraph (c) of this subsection in the course of a scheme of town development within the meaning of the Town Development Act 1952 carried out with the approval of the Minister for the purpose of relieving congestion or over-population in the area of another local authority who are such an authority as are so mentioned.

• (4) For the purposes of this section—

• (a) a formal resolution passed on or after 25th November 1965 and accepting a tender or estimate shall be deemed to have been passed before that date if either the tender or estimate was submitted to the Minister for approval before that date or the Minister is satisfied that it replaced a tender or estimate so submitted and relating to substantially the same dwellings;

• (b) where, on approving any authorised arrangements made with a local authority on or after 25th November 1965, the Minister is satisfied that the substantial effect of those arrangements had been agreed between the parties before that date, those arrangements shall be deemed to have been made before that date ; and

• (c) where a resolution passed before 25th November 1965 accepted a tender or estimate for the erection of any dwellings over a period of three years or more, then if, in accordance with the contract for their erection, the erection of some of them was not begun before 25th November 1966, the resolution, so far as it relates to those dwellings, shall be treated as having been passed after 25th November 1965.

• (5) Any subsidy under any of sections 2, 4 to 8 and 10 of this Act shall be paid to the recipient authority by whom the dwelling or dwellings by reference to which the subsidy is payable were provided, except that in relation to a dwelling or dwellings provided by a development corporation or housing association in pursuance of authorised arrangements made with a local authority the subsidy 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 subsidy.

Subsidies for aggregate approved cost of dwellings

Aggregate cost subsidies.

2

• (1) In the case of each recipient authority, in respect of the aggregate amount of the approved cost (determined in accordance with section 3 of this Act) of the approved dwellings provided by that authority which are completed in any one financial year, the Minister shall pay for each of the sixty years beginning with that financial year a subsidy of an amount calculated in accordance with the following provisions of this section.

• (2) An amount equal to the aggregate amount 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 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 by an order of the Minister made in respect of the financial year in which the dwellings were completed; and the amount of the subsidy shall be twice the amount by which the amount of such an instalment calculated at that rate exceeds what the amount of that instalment would have been if calculated at the rate of four per cent. per annum.

• (3) The rate so specified shall be such as appears to the Minister, after consultation with such recipient authorities, or such bodies representative of recipient authorities, as appear to him to be appropriate, to be representative of the rates of interest paid on loans raised (including any sums borrowed by way of temporary loan) by recipient authorities in the financial year immediately preceding that in which the dwellings in question were completed; and different rates may be so specified in relation to different classes of recipient authority, and for that purpose the Greater London Council and the Commission for the New Towns may each either be treated as a class of recipient authorities or be included in any class of other recipient authorities.

• (4) Where the recipient authority are a development corporation or housing association and the approved dwellings provided by that authority which have been completed in any one financial year include both—

• (a) dwellings provided in pursuance of authorised arrangements made with a local authority; and either

• (b) dwellings provided in pursuance of authorised arrangements made with another local authority ; or

• (c) dwellings provided otherwise than in pursuance of such arrangements,

a separate subsidy shall be paid in respect of the aggregate cost of the dwellings provided as mentioned in each respectively of the paragraphs of this subsection.

• (5) The power to make an order under this section shall be exercisable by statutory instrument, and no such order shall be made unless a draft thereof has been approved by a resolution of the Commons House of Parliament.

Ascertainment of approved cost of dwelling.

3

• (1) Subject to the provisions of this section, the approved cost of any approved dwelling shall be taken for the purposes of this Part of this Act to be the cost incurred by the recipient authority in providing the dwelling (including so much of the cost of acquiring the site on which the dwelling is provided as is apportioned to that dwelling under subsection (6) of this section, irrespective of the date when or purpose for which any land comprised in that site was acquired by the authority).

• (2) So much of the cost incurred as aforesaid as is attributable to the acquisition of any site shall be ascertained in accordance with Schedule 1 to this Act and subsection (6) of this section.

• (3) The remainder of the cost incurred as aforesaid, so far as not known at the time when the formal resolution of the recipient authority accepting the tender or estimate for, or approving the cost or estimated cost of, the erection of the dwelling was passed or, as the case may be, when the relevant arrangements such as are mentioned in section 1(2)(c) of this Act were made, shall be taken to be what it was then estimated to be.

• (4) Where the cost of any works has in pursuance of subsection (3) of this section been taken to be the estimated cost thereof, and the actual cost thereof, when ascertained, is found to differ from that estimated cost to such an extent that it appears to the Minister right and proper that this subsection should apply, then—

• (a) if the actual cost is greater than the estimated cost and in the opinion of the Minister the difference is caused by exceptional conditions underground which could not reasonably have been foreseen at the time when the estimate was made, the Minister may treat the approved cost of the dwelling in question as being, and as always having been, increased by such sum not exceeding the amount of the difference as he may think fit;

• (b) if the actual cost is less than the estimated cost, the Minister may treat that approved cost as being, and as having always been, reduced by such sum as aforesaid.

• (5) The Minister may determine that the approved cost of any dwelling shall be reduced by deducting from the cost incurred as aforesaid in respect thereof as determined in accordance with the foregoing provisions of this section an amount not exceeding the amount, if any, by which the part of that cost referred to in subsection (3) of this section exceeds what in the opinion of the Minister, having regard to all the circumstances of the case, should be the reasonable and appropriate cost (apart from any cost attributable to the acquisition of a site) of providing an adequate dwelling in those circumstances.

• (6) Any apportionment of cost necessary to arrive at the approved cost of any dwelling shall be made in such manner as the Minister may determine.

Subsidies for individual dwellings

Subsidies for flats in blocks of four or more storeys.

4

In respect of each approved dwelling which is a flat in a block of flats of four or more storeys the Minister shall pay for each of the sixty years beginning with the financial year in which the dwelling was completed a subsidy of the following amount, that is to say—

• (a) if the block of flats has four storeys, eight pounds;

• (b) if the block of flats has five storeys, fourteen pounds;

• (c) if the block of flats has six or more storeys, twenty-six pounds.

Subsidies for dwellings provided to meet special needs.

5

• (1) Where the Minister is of opinion, on an application made to him by a local authority—

• (a) that there is urgent need for more dwellings which will only be met if the dwellings are provided by that authority; and

• (b) that, unless the Minister exercises his powers under this subsection, the dwellings cannot be provided without imposing an unreasonably heavy rate burden or charging unreasonably high rents for those and other dwellings provided by the authority,

the Minister may, in respect of any approved dwelling thereafter provided by that authority, pay for each of such number of years as he may determine, beginning with the financial year in which the dwelling was completed, a subsidy of such amount as he may, subject to subsection (3) of this section, determine.

• (2) Where the Minister is of opinion, on an application made to him by a local authority—

• (a) that, in circumstances other than those mentioned in section 8 of this Act, dwellings will be provided as part of a scheme amounting to a substantial transfer of industry or of persons engaged in an industry; and

• (b) that, unless the Minister exercises his powers under this subsection, the dwellings cannot be provided without unreasonably increasing the rate burden or the rents for other dwellings provided by the authority,

the Minister may, in respect of any approved dwelling thereafter provided by that authority, pay for each of such number of years as he may determine, beginning with the financial year in which the dwelling was completed, a subsidy of such amount as he may, subject to subsection (3) of this section, determine.

• (3) The amount determined under either of the foregoing subsections shall not, together with the amount (if any) determined under the other of those subsections in respect of the same dwelling, exceed thirty pounds.

• (4) In exercising his powers under this section the Minister shall have regard to any conditions which may be laid down by the Treasury.

Subsidies for dwellings enjoying rights of support, etc.

6

Where the Minister is satisfied, on an application made to him by a recipient authority with respect to any dwelling which the authority have provided or intend to provide, that the cost of providing the dwelling has been or will be substantially enhanced by expenses attributable to the acquisition of rights of support, or otherwise attributable to measures taken by them for securing protection against the consequences of a subsidence of the site, then, if the dwelling is or becomes an approved dwelling, the Minister may pay in respect thereof for each of the sixty years beginning with the financial year in which it was completed a subsidy of such amount not exceeding two pounds as the Minister may determine.

Subsidies for dwellings erected to preserve the character of the surroundings.

7

Where the Minister is satisfied, on an application made to him by a recipient authority with respect to any dwelling which the authority have provided or intend to provide, that the cost of providing the dwelling has been or will be substantially enhanced by expenses attributable to measures taken by them with his consent in the erection of the dwelling (whether by the use of stone or other special material or in any other way) in order to preserve the character of the surroundings, then, if the dwelling is or becomes an approved dwelling, the Minister may pay in respect thereof for each of the sixty years beginning with the financial year in which it was completed a subsidy of such amount not exceeding ten pounds as the Minister may determine.

Subsidies for dwellings provided in course of town development.

8

• (1) Where an approved dwelling is provided by, or by a housing association in pursuance of authorised arrangements made with, a local authority, and either—

• (a) the dwelling is provided in the course of a scheme of town development within the meaning of the Town Development Act 1952 which is carried out wholly or partly in the area of the local authority and in the opinion of the Minister is on a substantial scale; or

• (b) the area of the local authority is a congested or over populated area and the dwelling is provided 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,

the Minister may in respect of the dwelling pay for each of the ten years beginning with the financial year in which the dwelling is completed a subsidy of twelve pounds.

• (2) No contribution towards the expenses mentioned in subsection (2)(a) of section 2 of the Town Development Act 1952 shall be payable under that section in respect of any dwelling falling within paragraph (a), or approved for the purposes of this Part of this Act by virtue of paragraph (c) or (d), of section 1(3) of this Act.

Contributions between authorities.

9

• (1) Where any subsidy is paid under section 8 of this Act in respect of a dwelling provided by, or by a housing association in pursuance of authorised arrangements made with, a local authority (in this section referred to as the " receiving authority ") and—

• (a) the dwelling was provided as mentioned in subsection (1)(a) of that section and is a dwelling falling within paragraph (a) or (b) of section 1(3) of this Act; and

• (b) the Minister has designated another local authority, or each of two or more other local authorities, as a sending authority for the purposes of this section and of the scheme in the course of which the dwelling was provided; and

• (c) either that dwelling or another becoming available as the result of the provision of that dwelling is let to a person who has with a sending authority any such connection as is specified in subsection (2) of this section,

the sending authority in question shall pay to the receiving authority for each of the ten years commencing with the date on which the dwelling or the said other dwelling is first let to such a person a contribution of twelve pounds.

• (2) The said connection is that the said person—

• (a) immediately before the said dwelling was let to him—

• (i) occupied a dwelling managed by the sending authority in question under the Housing Acts 1957 to 1965; or

• (ii) occupied a dwelling in an area which that sending authority have declared to be a clearance area or on any land which they have determined to purchase under section 43 of the Housing Act 1957 or any premises in respect of which they have made a demolition order or closing order under Part II of that Act; or

• (iii) was on that sending authority's list of persons to be offered, when opportunity arose, tenancies of dwellings managed by them under the said Acts of 1957 to 1965 ; or

• (b) was nominated by the sending authority in question as a person to be offered a tenancy in the area of the receiving authority; or