(1)If it appears to the Secretary of State that—
(a)before 1st January 1973 a housing association provided any dwellings without the assistance of any grant, subsidy or contribution from the Secretary of State or a local authority under any enactment, other than section 93 of the [1965 c. 25.] Finance Act 1965 (grants for affording relief from tax), and
(b)during the whole or any part of an accounting year of the association beginning on or after that date the dwellings were subject to tenancies to which Part VIII of the [1972 c. 47.] Housing Finance Act 1972 or sections 60 to 66 of the [1972 c. 46.] Housing (Financial Provisions) (Scotland) Act 1972 applied, being tenancies under which the interest of the landlord belonged to the association, and
(c)by reason of the operation of the said Part VIII, or of the said sections 60 to 66, and the association's lack of any other funds, the association has incurred a deficit in that accounting year as a result of its expenditure in connection with those dwellings,
the Secretary of State may, in accordance with the provisions of this section, pay to the association a grant towards the difference between the income arising to the association from those dwellings in that year and so much of the expenditure incurred by the association in that year as, in the opinion of the Secretary of State, was necessary for the proper management of those dwellings.
(2)No grant shall be payable under this section in respect of an accounting year of a housing association unless—
(a)an application in respect of that year is made by the association to the Secretary of State not later than the expiry of the period of 15 months beginning immediately after the end of that year and that application is approved by him; and
(b)the application is made with the consent of the Corporation ; and
(c)both at the time the application is made and at the time the grant is paid the association is a registered housing association.
(3)An application under subsection (2) above shall be in such form and contain such information as the Secretary of State may from time to time determine.
(4)A grant to a housing association under this section shall be paid in a single sum in respect of the year to which it relates; and the amount of any such grant shall be calculated in such manner as the Secretary of State may, with the agreement of the Treasury, determine.
(5)No grant shall be paid under this section before the operative date, but an application for such a grant may be made before that date.