11.—(1) The Board shall commence to give effect to their proposals under regulation 3 in respect of the housing stock other than relevant property disposed of by Part II of these Regulations, by serving:—
(a)not sooner than 30 days after the notice in regulation 5(5) a notice on all their tenants and upon such other parties as the Board shall deem appropriate:—
(i)inviting representations regarding the persons upon whom notices should be served under subparagraph (b); and
(ii)inviting representation on the Board’s proposals for division of stock for the purpose stated in regulation 11(1)(b); and
(iii)specifying that such representations should be received within 2 months or such longer period as the Board shall determine from the service of their notices; and
(iv)drawing tenants' and other recipients' attention to the provisions of these Regulations, especially but not exclusively to the provisions of this regulation and regulations 12, 13, 14 and 15; and
(b)subsequent to the expiry of the period referred to in sub-paragraph (a)(iii), and consequent upon consideration of representations received under sub-paragraph (a)(iii), one or more notices setting out the information specified in paragraph (2), on one or more authorities or approved persons, so that part of the housing stock is specified in at least one of the notices served.
(2) A notice served under paragraph (1)(b) shall contain the initial valuation of the housing stock specified in that notice, and the addresses of the dwellings specified, and shall state whether each dwelling is a flat and how many bedrooms it has, and the Board’s notice shall invite a notice in reply to be served within 2 months of the service of the Board’s notice or such longer period as the Board shall determine.
(3) A notice in reply shall contain the information set out in paragraph (2) above and shall state that the authority or approved person wishes to acquire in accordance with these Regulations all of the housing stock specified in the notice that that authority or person has received.
12.—(1) This regulation applies in relation to any housing stock where two or more applicants have both given the notice in reply referred to in regulation 11(3) indicating a wish to acquire, and (subject to paragraph (3)) have not subsequently indicated that they are not prepared to acquire under these Regulations the housing stock to which their notice in reply relates.
(2) Where this regulation applies, the Board shall in accordance with regulation 13 consult each of the tenants of the dwellings as to which applicant the tenant wishes his dwelling to be transferred to and thereafter, subject to section 172(4) of the 1989 Act, and to the agreement of the transferee to the terms of the transfer:—
(a)all housing stock to which a notice of reply relates shall be transferred to the applicant for whom the most tenants of the housing stock have voted or
(b)where there is a tie in the votes the teller shall decide between the applicants by lot and thereafter the provisions of paragraph (3) will apply.
(3) If, after the consultation required by paragraph (2), the applicant for whom most of the tenants of stock in the parcel have voted indicates that he is not prepared to acquire under these Regulations the stock to which his notice in reply relates, this regulation shall continue to apply insofar as:—
(a)if there is only one other applicant who has given the notice in reply referred to in regulation 11(3) then the dwellings will be transferred to that other applicant; and
(b)if there are two or more applicants who have served the notice in reply referred to in regulation 11(3) then the Board shall, in accordance with the procedure set out in regulation 13, consult the tenants a second time as to which of the two or more remaining applicants the tenant wishes his dwelling to be transferred to and thereafter, subject to section 172(4) of the 1989 Act, and to the agreement of the transferee to the terms of the transfer:—
(i)all housing stock to which a notice of reply relates shall be transferred to the applicant for whom the most tenants of the housing stock have voted or
(ii)where there is a tie in the votes the teller shall decide between the applicants by lot
and thereafter the provisions of this paragraph will apply.
13.—(1) The Board shall appoint a teller, independent of itself, the authority, and any approved person to conduct any consultation under regulation 12 and shall give the teller such information and assistance as the teller shall reasonably require.
(2) The teller shall send to each tenant being consulted:—
(a)a statement in both English and Welsh prepared by the Board:—
(i)explaining the operation and purpose of the consultation; and
(ii)that in this regulation consultation is by a ballot; and
(iii)stating the date by which the tenant has to respond to the voting form
(b)a voting form in both English and Welsh; and
(c)separate statements, approved by the Board with the consent of the Secretary of State but subject to paragraph (8) prepared by the applicants who served the notice in reply referred to in regulation 11(3), stating their intentions in relation to the housing stock they may acquire and the address and telephone number from which the tenants may seek further information; and
(d)a reply-paid envelope for the return of the voting form to the teller.
(3) The teller shall send a notice to each tenant recording his vote or that no vote is recorded for that tenant and shall on the basis of voting forms received by the teller before the date specified in the statement mentioned in paragraph (2)(a)(iii) (which may be a different period for different parcels) inform the Board and each tenant of the result of the consultation.
(4) Every person who is a tenant on the first day on which the teller sends documents to any tenants under paragraph (2) shall be consulted under that consultation, except any tenant who at that date either:—
(a)is obliged to give up possession of the dwelling in pursuance of an order of the court; or
(b)will be so obliged at a date specified in such an order, unless in either case the Board certifies to the teller that it no longer intends to enforce the order.
(5) For the purpose of this regulation, joint tenants shall each be entitled to a vote and shall each be sent a copy of the documents specified in paragraphs (2) and (3).
(6) For the purpose of this regulation, tenants of long tenancies affected by a transfer of dwellings and retained dwelling tenants, shall each be entitled to vote and shall each be sent a copy of the documents specified in paragraphs (2) and (3).
(7) The Board shall pay:—
(a)the reasonable fees and expenses of the teller in pursuance of the duties in paragraphs (2) and (3); and
(b)a reasonable amount in respect of the costs of the applicants incurred in the preparation of the statement mentioned in paragraph (2)(c) and in answering queries from tenants.
(8) Where the Board or the Secretary of State is of the opinion that a statement submitted to the Board under paragraph 2(2) is misleading or inaccurate in any particular, the Board shall either require a new statement to be prepared or approve the statement save for that particular and direct the teller to send to each tenant being consulted the submitted statement together with an additional statement prepared by the Board which they and the Secretary of State consider corrects the inaccurate or misleading particular.
(9) Any dispute arising under paragraph (8) between the Board and the teller or the Board and any of the applicants shall be resolved by the Secretary of State, or else resolved by the Board and the teller taking such steps as the Secretary of State shall determine.
14.—(1) This regulation applies in relation to any housing stock where:—
(a)regulation 12 does not apply; and
(b)one applicant has served the notice in reply referred to in regulation 11(3) in relation to that part of the housing stock and is willing to acquire those dwellings under these Regulations.
(2) Where this regulation applies, the Board shall, subject to section 172(4) of the 1989 Act and the agreement of the applicant to the terms of the transfer, transfer those dwellings to the applicant.
15.—(1) This regulation applies in relation to any housing stock where regulations 12 or 14 do not apply.
(2) Where this regulation applies the Board shall dispose of the housing stock, subject to section 172(4) of the 1989 Act and the agreement of the relevant transferee to the terms of the transfer, by transferring them to one or more approved persons or to the authority.
(3) Prior to reaching agreement with a particular transferee in relation to any dwellings the Board shall invite representations within 2 months or such longer period as the Board shall determine of the issuing of that invitation from the tenants of the dwellings and shall take into account their views regarding the identity of the transferee or transferees.
16.—(1) The Board shall appoint and pay the reasonable fees and expenses of the valuer or valuers chosen by the Board from a list approved by the district valuer and independent of itself and of any applicant. A valuer shall prepare:—
(a)an initial valuation of housing stock (except retained dwellings) to be included in a notice to be given by the Board under regulation 11(1)(b), and
(b)subject to paragraph (6), a final valuation of stock (except retained dwellings) to be transferred under regulations 12 or 14.
(2) The Board shall give to a valuer or valuers such information and assistance as he shall reasonably require.
(3) The valuations referred to in paragraph (1) shall be on the basis of the price the property to be transferred would realise if sold on the open market by a willing vendor on the following assumptions:—
(a)that any dwellings and other property are sold subject to any subsisting tenancies but otherwise with vacant possession;
(b)that the only bidders in the market for any dwellings (but not for any relevant property) are approved persons and other persons who fulfil the criteria for approval established under regulation 5; and
(c)that any property is to be conveyed on the terms which have been agreed or required to be imposed in relation to its transfer under these Regulations; and
(d)that the rent in respect of a subsisting tenancy mentioned in sub-paragraph (a) of any dwelling occupied as such at the date of transfer:—
(i)for the period ending immediately before the first anniversary of the relevant date after the transfer will not exceed that charged by the Board at the date of transfer; and
(ii)thereafter would increase (if at all) on each anniversary of the relevant date by an amount not exceeding the aggregate of 4% and the amount (if any) by which the valuers estimate that the retail prices index for the month in which the anniversary occurs will be greater than that for the month in which the previous anniversary of the relevant date occurred, expressed as a percentage of the estimated retail prices index for the last-mentioned month.
(4) For the purposes of the valuation assumption in paragraph (3)(d) an estimate of the duration of a subsisting tenancy of a dwelling shall be made on the basis that the tenancy is treated as in effect during any period when a subsequent tenancy of the dwelling is in effect which was granted to a person who was a tenant of another dwelling, which was occupied as such, at the date of transfer.
(5) In paragraph (3)(d) “the relevant date” means the date on which the Board last increased the rent under the tenancy prior to the date of transfer.
(6) Any dispute between the Board and any applicant regarding valuation of the housing stock shall be resolved by the Secretary of State, or else resolved by the Board and the applicant taking such steps as the Secretary of State shall determine.