Section 1.
1The Corporation shall be a body corporate with perpetual succession and a common seal.
2(1)The members of the Corporation, of whom there shall be not more than nine, shall be appointed by the Minister and the Secretary of State acting jointly, and the Minister and the Secretary of State so acting shall appoint one of those members to be Chairman and one to be Deputy Chairman.
(2)Subject to the following provisions of this Schedule, a member of the Corporation, and the Chairman and Deputy Chairman, shall hold and vacate office as such in accordance with the terms of his appointment.
(3)If the Chairman or Deputy Chairman of the Corporation ceases to be a member of the Corporation, he shall also cease to be Chairman or Deputy Chairman.
(4)A member of the Corporation may, by notice in writing addressed to the Minister or the Secretary of State, resign his membership, and the Chairman or Deputy Chairman may, by the like notice, resign his office as such.
(5)If the Minister and the Secretary of State are satisfied that a member of the Corporation—
(a)has become bankrupt or made an arrangement with his creditors; or
(b)is incapacitated by physical or mental illness ; or
(c)has been absent from meetings of the Corporation for a period longer than three consecutive months without the permission of the Corporation; or
(d)is otherwise unable or unfit to discharge the functions of a member, or is unsuitable to continue as a member,
they may remove him from his office as a member of the Corporation.
In the application of this sub-paragraph to Scotland, for the references in head (a) to a member's having become bankrupt and to a member's having made an arrangement with his creditors there shall be substituted respectively references to sequestration of a member's estate having been awarded and to a member's having made a trust deed for behoof of his creditors or a composition contract.
(6)A member of the Corporation who ceases to be a member or ceases to be Chairman or Deputy Chairman shall be eligible for re-appointment.
(7)The Minister may, out of moneys provided by Parliament, pay the persons holding office as Chairman, Deputy Chairman or member of the Corporation such remuneration in respect of that office as the Minister and the Secretary of State acting jointly may with the consent of the Treasury determine, and the Corporation may pay to those persons such reasonable allowances as may be so determined in respect of expenses properly incurred by them in the performance of their duties.
(8)In the case of any such person as the Minister and the Secretary of State acting jointly may with the consent of the Treasury determine, the Minister may in respect of that person's office as Chairman, Deputy Chairman or member of the Corporation, pay out of moneys provided by Parliament such pension, allowance or gratuity to or in respect of him on his retirement or death, or such contributions or other payments towards provision for such pension, allowance or gratuity, as may be so determined; and as soon as may be after the making of any determination under this sub-paragraph, the Minister shall lay before each House of Parliament a statement of the amount of the pension, allowance or gratuity or the contributions or other payments towards pension, allowance or gratuity, as the case may be, payable in pursuance of the determination.
(9)Section 15 of the Local Government Superannuation Act 1953 (which enables local authorities to admit to their superannuation schemes employees of statutory undertakers) as extended by section 1(5) of this Act, shall apply to members of the Corporation as if they were employees of the Corporation; but where a member of the Corporation is admitted by virtue of this sub-paragraph to participate in the benefits of a superannuation fund maintained by a local authority, then—
(a)the last foregoing sub-paragraph shall not apply to him ; and
(b)the Minister shall make out of moneys provided by Parliament any payments which in consequence of the admission agreement are required to be made to the superannuation fund in respect of him by the employing authority, and may make from his remuneration any deductions which in consequence of that agreement the employing authority might make in respect of his contributions to that fund.
(10)In Part II of Schedule 1 to the House of Commons Disqualification Act 1957 (which specifies the bodies of which the members are disqualified under that Act) as it applies to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, after the entry relating to the Herring Industry Board, there shall be inserted the words " The Housing Corporation " .
This sub-paragraph shall extend to Northern Ireland.
3(1)The quorum of the Corporation and the arrangements relating to its meetings shall, subject to any directions given by the Minister and the Secretary of State acting jointly, be such as the Corporation may determine.
(2)The validity of any proceedings of the Corporation shall not be affected by any vacancy among its members or by any defect in the appointment of any of its members.
4(1)The fixing of the seal of the Corporation shall be authenticated by the signature of the Chairman or of some other member authorised generally or specially by the Corporation to act for that purpose.
(2)Any document purporting to be a document duly executed under the seal of the Corporation shall be received in evidence and shall, unless the contrary is proved, be deemed to be so executed.
5It shall be within the capacity of the Corporation as a statutory corporation to do such things and enter into such transactions as are incidental or conducive to the exercise or performance of their functions under this Act.