Housing (Financial Provisions) (Scotland) Act 1946

1 Exchequer contributions in respect of housing accommodation provided by local authorities.

(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the Secretary of State shall undertake to make, and make, in respect of each new house completed after the seventh day of March, nineteen hundred and forty-four, by way of housing accommodation for the working classes provided by a local authority in accordance with proposals approved by the Secretary of State, payment to that local authority of an annual contribution for a period of sixty years.

(2) An annual contribution under this section shall be—

(a) in respect of a house of three apartments the sum of twenty-one pounds ten shillings ;

(b) in respect of a house of four apartments the sum of twenty-three pounds ; and

(c) in respect of a house of five apartments the sum of twenty-five pounds ten shillings :

Provided that—

(a) where the Secretary of State is satisfied that by reason of—

(i) the costliness of providing housing accommodation in a re-development area ; or

(ii) the purchase under Part I of the Act of 1930, or the payment of compensation under that Act in respect of the demolition, of dwelling-houses or other premises which are neither unfit for human habitation nor injurious or dangerous to health and which are included in, or adjoin, or are surrounded by, a clearance area ; or

(iii) the costliness of the provision by a local authority, being the town council of a large burgh, of housing accommodation in tenements on a central site ;

the total annual expenditure likely to be incurred by the local authority in providing housing accommodation to which this section applies is substantially greater than the aggregate of the appropriate annual contributions payable by the Secretary of State under the foregoing provisions and the provisions of subsection (4) of this section and the corresponding annual contributions payable by the local authority under section two of this Act, the Secretary of State may, with the sanction of the Treasury, undertake to make, and make, in addition to the appropriate contribution aforesaid payment to the local authority for a period of sixty years of an annual contribution of such amount not exceeding twenty pounds in respect of each house provided by way of such housing accommodation in the re-development area, in the clearance area or on land adjoining or surrounded by the clearance area and acquired in connection therewith, or in tenements on the central site as the case may be, as seems to the Secretary of State just and reasonable ;

(b) where housing accommodation is provided by a local authority, being the town council of a large burgh, in a tenement the whole or any part of which is of at least four storeys (inclusive of any storey constructed for use for purposes other than those of a dwelling), and expenditure has been incurred in installing lifts in the tenement, the Secretary of State may, in respect of each of such number of the houses in the tenement as he may think fit, undertake to make, and make, for a period of sixty years an annual contribution of seven pounds in addition to any annual contribution which he may undertake to make, and make, under the foregoing provisions of this section ;

(c) where the Secretary of State is satisfied that the total annual expenditure likely to be incurred by a local authority not being the town council of a large burgh in providing housing accommodation to which this section applies is substantially greater than the aggregate aforesaid in consequence of the remoteness of the sites of any houses in which such accommodation is provided from centres of supply of building labour and material, and the impracticability of obtaining for such houses higher rents than are ordinarily payable by persons employed in agriculture or fishing or by persons of the like economic condition, the, Secretary of State may, with the sanction of the Treasury, undertake to make, and make, in addition to the appropriate contribution aforesaid payment to the local authority for a period of sixty years of an annual contribution of such amount in respect of such of the houses so provided as seems to the Secretary of State just and reasonable.

(3) For the purposes of this section and of section two of this Act, a house of less than three apartments shall be deemed to be a house of three apartments, and a house of more than five apartments shall be deemed to be a house of five apartments.

(4) Where a local authority, in accordance with proposals approved by the Secretary of State, provide housing accommodation for single persons in a hostel completed after the seventh day of March, nineteen hundred and forty-four, then, subject to the authority complying with such conditions, if any, as the Secretary of State may impose, each part of the hostel designed for separate occupation by such persons shall be deemed to be a new house in respect of which the Secretary of State must undertake to make, and make, an annual contribution under this section, so however that the amount of the annual contribution shall be eleven pounds.

(5) No contribution shall be payable under this section in respect of any house in respect of which a contribution is payable under section three of this Act.

(6) In subsection (2) and subsection (3) of section forty-seven of the [8 & 9 Geo. 6. c. 33.] Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act, 1945 (which provides for the payment in certain cases of subsidy under the [2 & 3 Geo. 6. c. 3.] Housing (Financial Provisions) (Scotland) Act, 1938, in respect of housing accommodation provided on land acquired under the said Act of 1945) any reference to a provision of the Housing (Financial Provisions) (Scotland) Act, 1938, shall include a reference to the corresponding provisions of this Act.