Housing Act 1957

47 Treatment of land acquired by local authority

(1) Subject to the provisions of the next following section, a local authority who have under this Part of this Act purchased any land comprised in, or surrounded by, or adjoining, a clearance area shall, so soon as may be, cause every building thereon to be vacated and shall deal with that land in one or other of the following ways, or partly in one of these ways and partly in the other of them, that is to say—

(a) they shall demolish every building thereon before the expiration of six weeks from the date on which it is vacated, or before the expiration of such longer period as in the circumstances they deem reasonable, and thereafter may sell or let the land subject to such restrictions and conditions, if any, as they think fit, or may, subject to the approval of the Minister, and subject to the like restrictions as are contained in section one hundred and sixty-three of the Local Government Act, 1933, with respect to the appropriation of land by local authorities under that section, appropriate the land for any purpose for which they are authorised to acquire land ; or

(b) they shall, so soon as may be, sell or let the land subject to a condition that the buildings thereon shall be demolished forthwith and subject to such restrictions and other conditions, if any, as they think fit:

Provided that, in lieu of selling the land, the authority may, where the owner of other land (being land which the local authority have power to acquire) is willing to take the land in exchange for that other land, exchange it for that other land, either with or without paying or receiving money for equality of exchange, and in relation to any such exchange the like provisions shall have effect as respects the land to be given in exchange by the local authority as have effect by virtue of the foregoing provisions of this section as respects land sold thereunder.

(2) Land sold, exchanged or leased under this section shall be sold, exchanged or leased at the best price, for the best consideration or for the best rent that can reasonably be obtained having regard to any restriction or condition imposed.

(3) For the purposes of this section " sale " includes sale in consideration of a chief rent, rentcharge or other similar periodical payment and " sell" has a corresponding meaning.