Housing Act 1969

Special grants

13 Special grants

(1) A local authority may pay a special grant if an application therefor is made in accordance with this section and approved by them and the works are executed to the satisfaction of the local authority.

(2) Such an application must specify the house and the works, and must state by how many households and individuals the house is occupied and with what standard amenities it is already provided.

(3) A local authority shall not entertain an application for a special grant unless they are satisfied that the applicant has, in every parcel of land on which the works specified in the application are to be or have been carried out, an interest which is either an estate in fee simple absolute in possession or a term of years absolute of which not less than five years remain unexpired at the date of the application.

(4) Part II of Schedule 1 to this Act shall apply for the purposes of the provisions of this Act relating to special grants as if paragraphs 2 and 3 and, in paragraph 1, the words from " except" onwards, were omitted.

14 Approval of application for special grant

(1) Subject to subsection (2) of this section and to any general or special directions which may be given by the Minister for the purposes of this section, a local authority may approve an application for a special grant in such circumstances as they think fit.

(2) A local authority shall not approve an application for a special grant if the works specified therein have been begun, unless they are satisfied that there were good reasons for beginning the works before the application was approved.

(3) In approving an application for a special grant a local authority may require as a condition of paying the grant that the works specified in the application are carried out within such time (which must not be less than twelve months) as the local authority may specify or such further time as the local authority may allow.

15 Amount of special grant

(1) The amount of a special grant made towards the cost of any works shall, subject to the following provisions of this section, be one half of that cost.

(2) If any of the works are not exclusively for the purpose of providing one or more of the standard amenities, only so much of the cost of carrying out those works as is, in the opinion of the local authority, attributable to the provision of the standard amenity or standard amenities shall be taken into account under the preceding subsection.

(3) The amount of a special grant shall not exceed the sum arrived at by allowing for each of the standard amenities provided the amount specified for an amenity of that description in the third column of the Table set out in Part I of Schedule 1 to this Act.