The Development Board for Rural Wales (Transfer of Housing Stock) Regulations 1993

PART 1 GENERAL

Citation, Commencement and Application

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Development Board for Rural Wales (Transfer of Housing Stock) Regulations 1993 and shall come into force on 12th August 1993.

(2) These Regulations apply in relation to the disposal of dwellings in Wales and of relevant property (wherever situated) relating to such dwellings.

Interpretation

2.—(1) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires:—

“the 1989 Act” means the Local Government and Housing Act 1989;

“applicant” means an authority or approved person who has served a notice in reply as referred to in regulation 11(3), and who has not subsequently indicated that he does not wish to acquire the dwellings referred to in that notice and has not ceased to be an approved person;

“approved person” means a person approved in accordance with regulation 5;

“authority”, in relation to any dwelling or relevant property, means the district council within whose district that dwelling or relevant property is situated;

“block of flats” means a building:—

(a)

containing 2 or more flats; and

(b)

occupied or intended to be occupied wholly or mainly for residential purposes;

“the Board” means the Development Board for Rural Wales;

“final valuation” means a valuation prepared under regulation 16(1)(b);

“housing stock”has the same meaning as in the 1989 Act but does not include:—

(a)

any property, rights, liabilities and obligations associated with dwellings within the meaning of section 172(9) of the 1989 Act which, taking account of any proposals there may be to dispose of any property vested in the Board other than its housing stock, ought reasonably to be excluded from disposal under these Regulations; or

(b)

liabilities and obligations under Part V of the Housing Act 1985(1) which, apart from any provision in regulations made under section 172 of the 1989 Act, would not be capable of being assigned or transferred by the Board;

“initial valuation” means a valuation prepared under regulation 16(1)(a);

“long tenancy” has the meaning given in section 115 of the Housing Act 1985(2);

“relevant property” means the property, rights, liabilities and obligations which are within the housing stock of the Board and which are (within the meaning of section 172(9) of the 1989 Act) associated with the dwellings comprised in that stock;

“retained dwelling” has the meaning given in regulation 4;

“teller” means a person appointed under regulation 13(1);

“tenant”, in relation to a dwelling, means a person holding either a tenancy of the dwelling or a licence to occupy the dwelling as a dwelling, in either case granted by the Board.

(2) Any reference in these Regulations to the transfer of dwellings includes a reference to the transfer with them of any relevant property which relates to those dwellings and which, in accordance with proposals made by the Board under regulation 3, is to be transferred with them.

(3) Any notice under these Regulations shall be in writing and may be served or given in accordance with paragraph 54 of Schedule 3 to the Development of Rural Wales Act 1976(3).

(4) Nothing in these Regulations shall:—

(a) prevent the Board making a disposal in exercise of their powers under section 4 of the Development of Rural Wales Act 1976, or

(b) affect the Board’s duty, in the period before a disposal of a dwelling in pursuance of these Regulations, to act in accordance with Part V (The Right to Buy) of the Housing Act 1985 with respect to that dwelling;

and, where the Board transfers an estate or interest in housing stock under any of those provisions, these Regulations shall cease to apply in relation to the disposal of that estate of interest.

Requirement to make proposals and the terms of disposal

3.—(1) As soon as practicable after the Secretary of State has given it a notice requiring it so to do, the Board shall make proposals for disposing of its housing stock in accordance with these Regulations.

(2) The Board may at any time prior to the Secretary of State giving his consent to a proposed transfer under section 172(4) of the 1989 Act vary the proposals made in respect of that transfer under paragraph (1).

(3) The proposals shall provide that relevant property is to be transferred with the dwellings to which it relates, or separately from those dwellings.

(4) Subject to the provisions of these Regulations, the disposals shall be on terms agreed between the Board and the transferees, and, without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing, those terms may provide:—

(a) for payments to be made by instalments; and

(b) that the Board be paid a proportion of any future receipts from the sale of dwellings under part V of the Housing Act 1985 or from such other disposals as the Board may specify.

Retained dwellings

4.—(1) “Retained dwelling” means, subject to paragraphs (2) and (3), any dwelling vested in the Board:—

(a) in respect of which, before the final valuation referred to in regulation 16(1)(b), a notice has been served under section 122 of the Housing Act 1985 (notice of a claim to exercise the right to buy); or

(b) in respect of which, before that time, any other application to acquire the freehold or a long tenancy has been made to the Board by the tenant; or

(c) which is or is likely to be the subject of an application under section 96 of the Housing Act 1988(4); or

(d) which is likely to be demolished within a reasonable period.

(2) A dwelling ceases to be a retained dwelling:—

(a) in respect of a dwelling within paragraph (1)(a), when the notice served under section 122 has been, or been deemed to be, withdrawn, or a lease has been granted pursuant to it under Part V of the Housing Act 1985; or

(b) in respect of a dwelling within paragraph (1)(b), when the tenant withdraws the application, the Board determine not to proceed with the transaction, or the Board pursuant to the application dispose of less than their entire interest in the dwelling; or

(c) in respect of a dwelling within paragraph (1)(c), when it ceases to be likely that an application under section 96 will be made or will proceed to a disposal, or when, after a disposal pursuant to the application, the Board retain an interest in the dwelling; or

(d) in respect of a dwelling within paragraph (1)(d), when it ceases to be likely to be demolished within a reasonable period.

(3) A dwelling is a retained dwelling by virtue of paragraph (1)(a) or (b) only if it is not comprised in a block of flats.

(4) These Regulations apply in relation to retained dwellings as they apply to other dwellings of the Board except that the retained dwellings shall not be transferred under these Regulations until they cease to be retained dwellings.

(5) Where paragraph (4) applies, the transfer shall be on the terms that the dwellings (insofar as the Board has retained any interest in them) are to be transferred to the transferee for whom most of the tenants of dwellings in the parcel of stock have been transferred under the provisions of Part III of these Regulations.

(6) Where there are dwellings which have ceased to be retained dwellings and are to be transferred in accordance with paragraph (4), they shall be transferred on the same terms as those other dwellings.

(7) A parcel of stock, in sub-paragraph (5) above, is the whole of any group of stock subject to the same notice in reply referred to in regulation 11(2).

Approved Persons

5.—(1) A person is an approved person for the purposes of disposals under these Regulations if approved by Housing for Wales under this regulation.

(2) Housing for Wales shall establish criteria to be considered by them in deciding whether to give approval to a person under this regulation.

(3) An approval under this regulation:—

(a) shall only be given to a person making an application for this purpose to Housing for Wales; and

(b) shall apply in relation to all the housing stock of the Board or housing stock of such description as may be specified in the approval; and

(c) may be made subject to such conditions as may be imposed by Housing for Wales.

(4) Housing for Wales may revoke an approval given under this regulation, whether by reason of the failure of the approved person to comply with the conditions imposed in paragraph 5(3)(c) above or where an approved person ceases to meet the criteria which were taken into consideration by Housing for Wales in deciding whether to give approval under this regulation by notice to the approved person; but such revocation shall not affect any disposal completed before the notice is served or completed after such service in pursuance of a contract entered into before such service.

(5) The Board shall take the following steps to alert potential applicants to the terms of this regulation:—

(a) publish once at least in a local newspaper or newspapers circulating in the area in which any housing stock which is subject to the Board’s proposals for disposal is situated a notice stating that such proposals have been made and inviting interested persons to seek approval under this regulation; and

(b) publish a similar notice in the London Gazette; and

(c) take any other steps which the Secretary of State may determine.

Price

6.—(1) Any transfer under regulations 12 or 14 (except of retained dwellings which subsequently cease to be retained dwellings) shall be for the amount (which may be a negative amount) determined in the final valuation.

(2) Any other transfer of property under these Regulations shall be for an amount (which may be a negative amount) equal to the price which, on the basis of the assumptions described in regulation 16(3), it would realise if sold on the open market by a willing vendor.

Land Registration

7.—(1) Where the Board transfers any interest in land under these Regulations, they shall ensure that the instrument by which the transfer is effected contains a statement that the transfer is made under section 172 of the 1989 Act.

(2) Where the title of the Board to the land transferred is not registered, and the transfer is a conveyance or assignment of a description mentioned in section 123 of the Land Registration Act 1925(5) (compulsory registration of title):—

(a) the Board shall give the transferee a certificate in a form approved by the Chief Land Registrar stating that the Board is entitled to make the transfer subject only to such encumbrances, rights and interests as are stated in the instrument by which the transfer is effected or summarised in the certificate; and

(b) for the purposes of registration of title, the Chief Land Registrar shall accept such a certificate as evidence of the facts stated in it, but if as a result he has to meet a claim against him under the Land Registration Acts 1925 to 1986(6) the Board is liable to indemnify him.

Purpose of Acquisition by a Council

8.  Where the Board transfers any housing stock under these Regulations to a district council, that housing stock shall be treated as having been acquired by the council under Part II of the Housing Act 1985 except insofar as the instrument by which the transfer is effected provides that it is acquired for some other statutory purpose for which the council may acquire land.

(1)

1985 c. 68.

(2)

Section 115 was amended by paragraph 40 of Schedule 17 to the Housing Act 1988 c. 50.

(3)

1976 c. 75.

(4)

1988 c. 50.

(5)

1925 c. 21.

(6)

The Land Registration Act 1925 c. 21; the Land Registration Act 1936 c. 26; the Land Registration Act 1966 c. 39; Part I of the Land Registration and Land Charges Act 1971 c. 54; and the Land Registration Act 1986 c. 26.