The Housing (Northern Ireland) Order 1988

Right to a loan in certain cases after exercise of right to buy

22.—(1) The Department may by regulations provide that where—

(a) a lease of a flat has been granted in pursuance of Chapter I of Part II of the Order of 1983 (the right to buy), and

(b) the landlord is the Executive,

the tenant has, in such circumstances as may be prescribed, a right to a loan in respect of service charges to which this Article applies.

(2) This Article applies to service charges in respect of repairs (whether to the flat, the building in which it is situated or any other building or land) which are payable in the period beginning with the grant of the lease and ending with the tenth anniversary of the grant or, where the lease provides for service charges to be payable by reference to a specified annual period, with the end of the tenth such period beginning after the grant of the lease.

(3) The regulations may provide that the right—

(a) arises only in respect of so much of a service charge as exceeds a minimum qualifying amount and does not exceed a maximum qualifying amount, and

(b) does not arise unless the amount thus qualifying for a loan itself exceeds a minimum amount,

the amounts being either prescribed or ascertained in a prescribed manner.

(4) The regulations shall provide that the right—

(a) is to leave the whole or part of the service charge outstanding; and

(b) arises only if the tenant is unable to obtain from a lending institution, within the meaning of Article 3(4) of the Order of 1983, a loan sufficient to assist him to meet the service charges.

(5) The regulations may, as regards procedure for exercising the right, provide—

(a) that a demand for service charges in respect of repairs shall inform the tenant whether, in the Executive’s opinion, he is entitled to a loan and, if he is, what he must do to claim it;

(b) that the right must be claimed within a prescribed period of the demand; and

(c) that on the right being claimed the lender shall inform the tenant of the terms of the loan and of the prescribed period within which the tenant may accept the offer.

(6) In this Article “repairs” includes works for making good structural defects.