Housing Act 1964

44 Interpretation and construction of Part II

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

• " dwelling " means a building or part of a building occupied or intended to be occupied as a separate dwelling;

• " flat " means a separate set of premises, whether or not on the same floor, constructed for use for the purposes of a dwelling and forming part of a building from some other part of which it is divided horizontally ;

• " improvement area " means an improvement area under section 13 of this Act;

• " improvement notice " means a suspended improvement notice, an immediate improvement notice or a final improvement notice;

• " local authority " means the council of a county borough, London borough or county district or the Common Council of the City of London, and in relation to Scotland means a local authority for the purposes of the Act of 1950; and, in relation to a dwelling or other premises, references to the local authority are references to the local authority in whose district the premises are situated;

• " owner ", in relation to any land, means a person, other than a mortgagee not in possession, who is for the time being entitled to dispose of the fee simple, and in relation to Scotland has the meaning given by section 184(1) of the Act of 1950 ;

• " the person having control "—

  (a)

  in relation to any premises in England and Wales, means the person who receives any rent (including a rack-rent) payable by the tenant (as defined in this section) of the premises, whether on his own account or as agent or trustee for any other person, or who would so receive the rent if the premises were let at a rack-rent, and for the purposes of this definition " rack-rent" means rent which is not less than two-thirds of the full net annual value of the premises, and

  (b)

  in relation to any premises in Scotland has the meaning given by section 7(3) of the Act of 1950;

• " tenement " means a building which as constructed contained, and which contains, two or more flats;

• " tenement block " means a building or a part of a building which was constructed in the form of, and consists of, two or more flats.

(2) In this Part of this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, " tenant"—

(a) includes a sub-tenant and a tenant (as defined in section 12(1)(g) of the Rent and Mortgage Interest (Restrictions) Act 1920) who retains possession by virtue of the Rent Acts and not as being entitled to a tenancy, but does not include—

(i) in relation to England and Wales, a tenant holding under a lease granted for a term certain of more than twenty-one years at a rent of less than two-thirds of the full net annual value of the demised premises, or a mortgagee in possession,

(ii) in relation to Scotland, a tenant holding under a lease granted for a period of more than twenty-one years at a rent of less than two-thirds of the net annual value for rating purposes of the leased premises, or a heritable creditor in possession, and

(b) includes, in relation to a dwelling, a person employed in agriculture (as defined in section 17(1) of the Agricultural Wages Act 1948, or in relation to Scotland, section 17 of the Agricultural Wages (Scotland) Act 1949) who occupies or resides in the dwelling as part of the terms of his employment,

and " tenancy " shall be construed accordingly.

References in this Part of this Act to a tenant occupying a dwelling include, in the case of a tenant within paragraph (b) of this definition, a tenant residing in the dwelling and " occupation " and " occupied " and related expressions shall be construed accordingly; and in relation to a dwelling occupied by such a tenant " the person having control" of the dwelling means, in this Part of this Act, the employer or other person by whose authority the tenant occupies the dwelling.

(3) Sections 4 and 5 of the Act of 1957 or, in relation to Scotland, section 24 of the Act of 1962 and section 23 of the Act of 1950 shall apply for the determination for the purposes of this Part of this Act of any question whether any dwelling—

(a) is fit or unfit for human habitation, or

(b) will be likely, subject to normal maintenance, to remain fit for human habitation and available for use as a dwelling for a period of not less than fifteen years,

and in determining the question under paragraph (b) of this subsection the term " normal maintenance " shall include only such repairs as are reasonable having regard to the prospective life of the dwelling.

(4) This Part of this Act, in its application to England and Wales, shall be construed as one with the Act of 1957 and, in its application to Scotland, shall be construed as one with the Act of 1950.