Housing (Financial Provisions) (Scotland) Act 1968

PART I — Financial Assistance in respect of Housing Accommodation provided or improved by Local Authorities and other bodies

Exchequer contributions for new houses

Exchequer contributions towards provision of new houses

1

• (1) The provisions of sections 1 to 12 of this Act shall have effect with respect to assistance to local authorities and other bodies mentioned in subsection (2) of this section (hereinafter referred to as " recipient authorities") towards the expenditure incurred by them in the provision of new houses approved for the purposes of this section by the Secretary of State (hereinafter referred to as " approved houses ").

• (2) The houses that may be approved for the purposes of this section are new houses which are—

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

• (b) provided by a development corporation otherwise than in pursuance of authorised arrangements made with a local authority, or

• (c) provided by a development corporation in pursuance of authorised arrangements made with a local authority, or

• (d) provided by a housing association in pursuance of authorised arrangements made with a local authority or special arrangements made with the Secretary of State, or

• (e) provided by the Scottish Special Housing Association in any of the circumstances specified in paragraph (a) or paragraph (b) or paragraph (c) of subsection (3) of this section;

and in respect of which proposals for their provision were or are submitted to the Secretary of State for his approval—

• (i) in the case of proposals submitted by a local authority in respect of houses which would have been eligible for Exchequer contributions calculated in accordance with section 2, or paragraph (a) or paragraph (b) of section 3(4), of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1962 had the Housing (Financial Provisions, &c.) (Scotland) Act 1967 (other than section 16(1) thereof and Part I of Schedule 5 thereto) and this Act not been passed, on or after 1st January 1965 ; and

• (ii) in any other case, on or after 25th November 1965.

• (3) The circumstances referred to in subsection (2)(e) of this section are that the houses are provided—

• (a) in the district of any local authority as respects which the Secretary of State is satisfied—

• (i) that there is an urgent need for more housing accommodation which will be met only if such accommodation is provided by the local authority or the Scottish Special Housing Association, and

• (ii) that all accommodation so required cannot be provided by the local authority without imposing an unreasonably heavy rate burden or necessitating the charging of unreasonably high rents for that accommodation and other accommodation provided by the authority; or

• (b) in pursuance of arrangements such as are mentioned in section 8(1) of the Housing and Town Development (Scotland) Act 1957 (provision of housing accommodation in relief of over-populated districts); or

• (c) in the district of any local authority in accordance with arrangements made with the approval of the Secretary of State as being desirable by reason of special circumstances for the provision of housing accommodation in any area for persons coming to that area in order to meet the urgent needs of industry, and so coming wholly, or, in the case of the council of a county (other than a county of a city), wholly or partly, from outside the district of the authority.

• (4) Any Exchequer contribution under this Part of this Act payable in respect of any approved house or in respect of the cost of any approved house or in respect of the cost of the site of any approved house shall be paid to the recipient authority by whom the house was provided, except that where it was provided by a development corporation or a housing association in pursuance of authorised arrangements made with a local authority the Exchequer contribution shall be paid to the local authority, who shall pay to the development corporation or housing association, as the case may be, by way of annual grant an amount not less than the said Exchequer contribution.

Exchequer contributions for aggregate cost of approved houses

Aggregate cost contributions

2

• (1) In respect of the aggregate cost, ascertained in accordance with the provisions of this Act, of the approved houses provided by each recipient authority and completed in any financial year, so far as that cost is approved by the Secretary of State for the purposes of this section, the Secretary of State shall pay for each of the sixty years beginning with that financial year an Exchequer contribution of an amount calculated in accordance with the following provisions of this section.

• (2) An amount equal to the aggregate cost so far as approved as 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 instalment 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 in an order made by the Secretary of State in respect of the financial year in which the houses were completed ; and the amount of the Exchequer contribution shall be twice the amount by which the amount of such an instalment calculated at that rate would exceed the amount of such an instalment calculated at the rate of four per cent, per annum.

• (3) The rate so specified in respect of any financial year shall be such as appears to the Secretary of State, after consultation with recipient authorities or such associations thereof as appear to him to be concerned, to be representative of the rates of interest paid on loans raised by recipient authorities in the preceding financial year; and different rates may be so specified in relation to the different kinds of recipient authority mentioned in section 1(2) of this Act and also in relation to different classes of local authority.

• (4) Where the approved houses provided by a recipient authority (other than a local authority) and completed in a financial year include both—

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

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

• (c) houses provided otherwise than in pursuance of such arrangements;

a separate Exchequer contribution shall be paid in respect of the. aggregate cost of the houses provided as mentioned in each of the paragraphs of this subsection.

• (5) The power to make orders under this section shall be exercisable by statutory instrument, and such an order shall not be made unless a draft thereof has been laid before the Commons House of Parliament and has been approved by a resolution of that House.

Ascertainment of aggregate cost

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• (1) Subject to the provisions of this section, the aggregate cost of any houses shall be taken for the purposes of this Act to be the cost incurred by the recipient authority in providing the houses.

• (2) So much of that cost as is attributable to the acquisition of any site shall be ascertained in accordance with Schedule 1 to this Act.

• (3) The remainder of the said cost, so far as it was not known at the time the proposals referred to in section 1(2) of this Act were approved, shall be taken to be what it was then estimated to be.

• (4) Any apportionment necessary to arrive at the said aggro-gate cost shall be made in such manner as the Secretary of State may determine.

Additional Exchequer contributions for individual houses

Exchequer contributions for flats in blocks of six or more storeys

4

In respect of each approved house provided in a block of flats the major part of which, as determined by the Secretary of State, is of six or more storeys (inclusive of any storey constructed for use for purposes other than those of a dwelling), the Secretary of State shall pay for each of the sixty years beginning with the financial year in which the house was completed an Exchequer contribution of thirty pounds.

Exchequer contributions for houses provided by local authorities with special financial difficulties

5

In respect of each approved house provided by a local authority (being an authority with special financial difficulties), the Secretary of State shall pay for each of the sixty years beginning with the financial year in which the house was completed any Exchequer contribution which may be determined in accordance with Schedule 2 to this Act to be payable to that authority.

Exchequer contributions for houses where rights of support, etc., enhance cost

6

Where the Secretary of State is satisfied, on an application made to him by a recipient authority with respect to any house which the authority have provided or intend to provide, that the cost of providing the house 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 house is or becomes an approved house, the Secretary of State may pay in respect thereof for each of the sixty years beginning with the financial year in which it was completed an Exchequer contribution of such amount not exceeding two pounds as the Secretary of State may determine.

Exchequer contributions for houses where measures to preserve character of surroundings enhance cost

7

Where the Secretary of State is satisfied, on an application made to him by a recipient authority with respect to any house which the authority have provided or intend to provide, that the cost of providing the house has been or will be substantially enhanced by expenses attributable to measures taken by them with his consent in the erection of the house (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 house is or becomes an approved house, the Secretary of State may pay in respect thereof for each of the sixty years beginning with the financial year in which it was completed an Exchequer contribution of such amount not exceeding ten pounds as the Secretary of State may determine.

Exchequer contributions for houses provided by local authorities for special purposes

8

• (1) Where an approved house is provided—

• (a) by a local authority in pursuance of any overspill agreement within the meaning of Part II of the Housing and Town Development (Scotland) Act 1957, or

• (b) by a local authority, being an exporting authority within the meaning of the said Part II, in the district of another local authority, or

• (c) by a local authority, in .circumstances other than those mentioned in paragraph (a) or paragraph (b) of this subsection, as part of a scheme amounting to a substantial transfer of industry or of persons engaged in an industry and the Secretary of State is of opinion that, unless he exercises his powers under this section, the house could not be provided without unreasonably increasing the rate burden or the rents for other houses provided by the authority,

the Secretary of State may, in respect of the house, pay for each year of such a period not exceeding ten years as he may determine, beginning with the financial year in which the house was completed, an Exchequer contribution of such amount not exceeding fourteen pounds as he may determine.

• (2) Without prejudice to section 57(1) of this Act, the payment of Exchequer contributions under this section in respect of any house shall be subject to such conditions as may be specified by the Secretary of State when undertaking to pay the said Exchequer contributions.

Additional Exchequer contributions for houses in remote areas

Remote area contributions

9

• (1) Where the Secretary of State is satisfied that the total expenditure likely to be incurred in any year by a local authority, not being the town council of a large burgh, in providing housing accommodation by way of approved houses could not, in consequence of the remoteness of the sites of any of the houses from centres of supply of building labour and material, be met without charging unreasonably high rents for that accommodation and other accommodation provided by the authority or imposing an unreasonably heavy rate burden, the Secretary of State may, with the sanction of the Treasury, undertake to pay, and pay, for each year of a period of sixty years (in addition to any other Exchequer contribution) an Exchequer contribution of such amount, and in respect of such of the houses so provided, as he considers just and reasonable.

• (2) Where housing accommodation is provided by a development corporation or a housing association, and is so provided by way of approved houses in pursuance of authorised arrangements made with a local authority to which Exchequer contributions under subsection (1) of this section are payable, the Secretary of State may, if he thinks fit having regard to the remoteness of the sites of any of the houses from centres of supply of building labour and material, pay in respect of any of the houses in any year (in addition to any other Exchequer contribution) an Exchequer contribution not exceeding the Exchequer contribution which would have been payable under this section in that year if the house had been provided by the local authority.

• (3) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsections (1) and (2) of section 1 of this Act, and of section 12(1) thereof, references in this section to approved houses shall include (in addition to references to approved houses within the meaning of section 1 of this Act) references to approved houses within the meaning of Part I of the Housing and Town Development (Scotland) Act 1957 and references to approved houses within the meaning of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1962.

Additional Exchequer contributions for expensive sites

Expensive site contributions

10

• (1) If any building consisting of or including an approved house is provided on a site which is approved for the purposes of this section by the Secretary of State and the net cost of which exceeds four thousand pounds per acre, then in respect of that site or the part of it on which the building is erected the Secretary of State shall pay for each of the sixty years beginning with the financial year in which the building was completed an Exchequer contribution at the rate of thirty-four pounds per acre for every one thousand pounds or part of a thousand pounds by which the net cost exceeds four thousand pounds per acre.

• (2) For the purposes of this section—

• (a) any amount by which the net cost of a site exceeds ten thousand pounds per acre shall be disregarded unless the building or one of the buildings provided or to be provided on the site is a block of flats of four or more storeys;

• (b) if any building or part of a building erected or to be erected on a site is designed for use otherwise than as housing accommodation, the net cost of the site shall be deemed to be reduced by so much thereof as, in the opinion of the Secretary of State, may fairly be apportioned to that building or part of a building.

• (3) For the purposes of this section the net cost of a site shall be taken to be—

• (a) where subsection (4) of this section does not apply, the cost of the site as ascertained in accordance with Schedule 1 to this Act; and

• (b) where that subsection applies, the cost of the site as reduced under that subsection.

• (4) Where any works of construction or any works carried out for the purpose of making a site suitable for the provision of houses would fall to be taken into account in ascertaining its cost in accordance with Schedule 1 to this Act, the Secretary of State may determine that that cost shall be taken to be reduced by such amount as is in his opinion fairly attributable to those works.

Provisions supplemental to sections 1 to 10

Expenses of acquisition of land deemed to include sum in respect of feuduty or rent in certain cases

11

Where any house or other land has been acquired by way of feu or by way of lease or the assignation of a lease, the expenses incurred in connection with the acquisition shall be taken for the purposes of the foregoing provisions of this Part of this Act to include such sum as the Secretary of State may determine to be the capital equivalent of the feuduty or, as the case may be, of any rent or other prestations due under the lease.

Interpretation

12

• (1) In the foregoing provisions of this Part of this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—

• " approved house " has the meaning assigned to it by section 1 of this Act;

• " recipient authority " has the meaning assigned to it by section 1 of this Act.

• (2) Any reference in the foregoing provisions of this Part of this Act or in the following provisions of this section to a house shall be construed as including a reference to any residential accommodation provided for occupation by not more than two persons and equipped with cooking facilities for the exclusive use of those persons, notwithstanding that it is not equipped with facilities of other kinds for such exclusive use.

In this subsection the expression " cooking facilities" in relation to any residential accommodation means facilities suitable for the preparation of food for the number of persons for which the accommodation is provided, and if any question arises whether any particular facilities fall within that description it shall be decided by the Secretary of State.

• (3) In relation to a house which is acquired by a recipient authority after its completion references in the foregoing provisions of this Part of this Act or in the following provisions of this section to the provision or the completion of any house shall be construed as referring to its acquisition by the recipient authority.

• (4) References in the foregoing provisions of this Part of this Act to—

• (a) authorised arrangements made with a local authority, in relation to a development corporation or a housing association, are references to arrangements made between the development corporation or housing association and a local authority, with the approval of the Secretary of State, under section 153 of the principal Act;

• (b) special arrangements made by a housing association with the Secretary of State are references to arrangements which the Secretary of State may have made with a housing association for the provision of houses with a view to their approval under this Act.

Exchequer contributions towards improvement of housing accommodation