Housing (Northern Ireland) Order 1981

Administration N.I.

154.—(1) The lending institutions recognised for the purposes of Article 153 are specified in Part I of Schedule 10, and the savings institutions so recognised are specified in Part II of Schedule 10; and the Department may, with the consent of the Department of Finance—

(a) add to either Part of the Schedule by order;

(b) by order made in the case of a body named in it direct (but only after giving an opportunity for representations to be made on the body's behalf) that it be no longer a recognised institution.

(2) Advances to lending institutions shall be on such terms as to repayment and otherwise as may be settled by the Department with the consent of the Department of Finance, after consultation with lending and savings institutions or organisations representative of them; and the terms shall be embodied in directions issued by the Department.

(3) The following matters (among others) may be dealt with in the Department's directions—

(a) the cases in which assistance under this Part is to be provided and the method—

(i) of determining loan value for the purpose of Article 153(4)( a), and

(ii) of quantifying bonus by reference to savings;

(b) the considerations by reference to which a person is or is not to be treated as a first-time purchaser of house property;

(c) the steps which must be taken with a view to satisfying the conditions of Article 153(3), and the circumstances in which those conditions are to be treated as satisfied;

(d) the supporting evidence and declarations which are to be furnished by a person applying for the assistance, in order to establish his qualification for it, and the means of ensuring that restitution is made in the event of it being obtained by false representations; and

(e) the way in which amounts paid over by way of assistance under this Part are to be repaid to the lending institutions and the Department.

(4) The Department may, to such extent as it thinks proper for safeguarding the lending institutions, include in the terms an undertaking to indemnify the institutions in respect of loss suffered in cases where assistance has been given under this Part.