Section 253 - Transfer of land
751.Sections 253 and 254 permit the regulator to transfer the land of a registered provider and broadly replicate paragraph 27 and 29 of Schedule 1 to the 1996 Act.
752.Subsection (1) provides that this section applies if as a result of an inquiry under section 206 or an audit under section 210, the regulator is satisfied that the affairs of a provider have been mismanaged in relation to social housing, or that transfer of the land of a provider would be likely to improve the management of that land.
753.Subsection (2) gives the regulator power to require that the registered provider should transfer its land either to the regulator or to another specified registered provider.
754.Subsections (3) and (4) provide that a requirement may be imposed on a profit-making registered provider only in relation to its social housing and associated land, and that land is considered to be associated if the regulator thinks that it is used in connection with social housing or its management.
755.Subsection (5) provides that a requirement must not be imposed on non-profit registered providers to transfer land to profit-making registered providers.
756.Subsections (6) and (7) concern charities. They specify that this power may not be imposed on a charity registered with the Charity Commission, and although it may be imposed on an unregistered charity, that charity's land may only be transferred to another charity whose objects the regulator thinks are similar to those of the transferring charity.