Housing Renewal Grants (Prescribed Form and Particulars) (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2003

Statutory Instruments

2003 No. 2707

HOUSING, ENGLAND

Housing Renewal Grants (Prescribed Form and Particulars) (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2003

Made

8th October 2003

Coming into force

29th October 2003

The First Secretary of State, in exercise of the powers conferred upon him by sections 2(2) and (4) and 146(1) and (2) of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996(1) hereby makes the following Regulations:

Citation, commencement and application

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Housing Renewal Grants (Prescribed Form and Particulars) (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2003 and shall come into force on 29th October 2003.

(2) These Regulations apply to applications for grant made on or after 29th October 2003 to local housing authorities in England(2).

Amendments

2.  The Housing Renewal Grants (Prescribed Form and Particulars) Regulations 1996(3) are amended in accordance with the following regulations.

Regulation 2

3.  For regulation 2 (forms of application for grant) substitute—

“2.— (1) The form set out in the Schedule shall be the prescribed form of application for a grant (other than a landlord’s application) for the purposes of section 2(4) of the Act.

(2) In paragraph (1), “landlord’s application” means an owner’s application in respect of works to a dwelling which is or is intended to be let, or to the common parts of a building in which a flat is or is intended to be let.”.

Schedule

4.  The form set out in the Schedule is amended as set out in the Schedule to these Regulations.

Signed by authority of the First Secretary of State

Keith Hill

Minister of State

Office of the Deputy Prime Minister

8th October 2003

Regulation 4

SCHEDULE AMENDMENT OF PRESCRIBED FORM

1.  For the heading to the form and for the whole of the text preceding Part 1 substitute—

“

”.

2.  In the italicised words before question 1.1, omit from “Throughout” to “in the Act”.

3.  In questions 1.2A, 1.3, 1.5 and 1.9 for “property” substitute “premises”.

4.  For question 1.7 and the heading before it substitute—

“

”.

5.  Omit questions 1.8 and 1.18.

6.  In questions 1.10 and 1.11 for “this property” substitute “these premises.”

7.  For Part 2 (including Parts 2A to 2C) substitute—

“

”

8.  At the beginning of Part 3, for the italicised text preceding question 3.1 substitute—

“

”

9.  In question 3.1 after “income support” insert “, guarantee credit”.

10.  In question 3.9 omit the entry in respect of disabled person’s tax credit.

11.  In questions 3.9, 3.12, 3.13, 3.29 and 3.30 for “invalid care” (wherever these words appear) substitute “carer's”.

12.  In question 3.26—

(a) in the appropriate place insert—

“

”;

(b) after “War widow's” insert “or widower's”.

13.  In question 3.29—

(a) in the appropriate places insert—

“

”;and

“

”;

(b) omit the entry in respect of disabled person’s tax credit; and

(c) after “Statutory maternity pay” insert “paternity pay or adoption pay”.

14.  In Part 4, for paragraph 4.1(c) substitute—

“(c) The certificates required for your application as mentioned in question 2.4”.

15.  In Note 1, for “the property” substitute “the premises” and for “at that property” substitute “there”.

16.  For Note 4 substitute—

“4.   Most of the qualifying conditions for grant are waived for applications in respect of glebe land or the residence house of an ecclesiastical benefice: see section 95.”.

17.  After Note 5 insert—

“5A   A “qualifying houseboat” is a boat or similar structure designed or adapted for use as a place of permanent habitation which—

(a) has its only or main mooring within the area of a single local housing authority; and

(b) is moored in pursuance of a right to that mooring; and

(c) is a dwelling for the purposes of council tax.

• (See the definition of “qualifying houseboat” in section 58).

5B   A “qualifying park home” is defined in section 58. It means a caravan which—

(a) is stationed on land forming part of a protected site within the meaning of the Mobile Homes Act 1983; and

(b) is occupied under an agreement to which that Act applies or under a gratuitous licence; and

(c) is a dwelling for council tax purposes.

• “Caravan” is defined in section 29(1) of the Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960. It means, broadly, a structure designed or adapted for living in which is capable of being moved from place to place.

5C   Tick the box if the application includes works for the provision of facilities in the common parts of a building containing one or more flats.”.

18.  Omit Notes 6, 14, 15, 22 to 26, 28 to 30, 32, 33, 39, 41 to 47 and 54A.

19.  In Note 12 for “Where the application is for disabled facilities grant, the” substitute “The”.

20.  In Note 13 omit from “Section 29 does” to the end.

21.  For Notes 16 to 19 substitute—

“16.   You can make an owner’s application if you own the freehold of the premises or hold a tenancy of the premises with at least 5 years still to run or if you are proposing to acquire either of these interests. If you hold a tenancy with less than 5 years to run, you are not eligible to make an owner’s application but you should consider making a tenant’s application instead.

17.   A landlord’s application is an owner’s application for works to a house or flat which is or is intended to be let or to the common parts of a building in which a flat is or is intended to be let: section 31(1).

18.   You can make a tenant’s application if you are the tenant of the premises and the tenancy has less than 5 years still to run. Section 19(5) gives an extended meaning to the word “tenant”—for further information see Note 37.

19.   You can make an occupier’s application for works to a qualifying houseboat or a qualifying park home if you occupy it, whether as a sole occupier or as a joint occupier with others. See also Notes 5A and 5B.”.

22.  For Note 31 substitute—

“31.   The disabled occupant means the disabled person for whose benefit it is proposed to carry out any of the relevant works. Section 100 gives the meaning of “disabled person.””.

23.  For Note 34 substitute—

“34.   The Council is not allowed to entertain a grant application unless it is accompanied—

(a) in the case of an owner’s application, by a certificate known as an “owner’s certificate” (see Note 35);

(b) in the case of a tenant’s application, by an owner’s certificate and another certificate known as a tenant’s certificate (see Notes 35 and 36);

(c) in the case of an occupier’s application, by certificates known as an occupier’s certificate and a consent certificate (see Note 36A).

• The Council may waive the requirement for an owner’s certificate to accompany a tenant’s application, or a consent certificate to accompany an occupier’s application, if they consider the requirement unreasonable in the circumstances. As regards certificates see sections 21, 22 and 22A.”.

24.  In Notes 35 and 36 omit “relating to an application for disabled facilities grant” (in both places).

25.  After Note 36 insert—

“36A.   Under section 22A(2) an “occupier’s certificate” certifies—

(a) that the application is an occupier’s application; and

(b) that the applicant intends that he (if he is the disabled occupant) or the disabled occupant will live in the qualifying houseboat/qualifying park home as his only or main residence throughout the grant condition period or for such shorter period as his health and other relevant circumstances permit.

36B.   A consent certificate certifies that the person giving it consents to the carrying out of the relevant works. A consent certificate should be obtained from each person who is—

(a) entitled to possession of the premises at which the qualifying houseboat is moored or the pitch on which the qualifying park home is stationed; or

(b) entitled to dispose of the qualifying houseboat/qualifying park home.

• See section 22A(3) and (4).”.

26.  In Note 37 omit “for the purposes of disabled facilities grant”.

27.  In Note 40 omit “disabled facilities”.

28.  At the end of Note 47A(4) add—

• “Regulation 8 of the Housing Renewal Grants Regulations 1996 deals with the circumstances in which a person is to be treated as responsible or not responsible for a child or young person.”.

29.  At the end of Note 48 add—

• “Guarantee credit is an element of the social security benefit known as state pension credit payable under the State Pension Credit Act 2002.”.

30.  In Note 55(a) and (b), for “invalid care” substitute “carer's”.

31.  After Note 73 insert—

“73A.   Savings credit is an element of the social security benefit known as state pension credit payable under the State Pension Credit Act 2002.”.

32.  For Note 84B(5) substitute—

“84B   Include also any payment in accordance with an award for working families' tax credit which was awarded with effect from a date falling before April 6th 2003. From that date, working families' tax credit is known as working tax credit.”.

33.  In Note 93 after “maternity leave” insert “paternity leave or adoption leave”.

34.  In Note 95(1)(a) omit “disabled person’s tax credit (previously known as disability working allowance)”.

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the form set out in the Schedule to the Housing Renewal Grants (Prescribed Form and Particulars) Regulations 1996. The form is the prescribed form for applications for grant under Chapter 1 of Part 1 of the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 (“the Act”). The questions and notes included in the prescribed form reflect the means test rules for grant applications contained in the Housing Renewal Grants Regulations 1996 (S.I. 1996/2890) (“the 1996 Regulations”).

The amendments made by these Regulations apply to applications for grant made on or after 29th October 2003 to local housing authorities in England. They are consequential on changes made to the Act by the Regulatory Reform (Housing Assistance) (England and Wales) Order 2002 (S.I. 2002/1860) (“the 2002 Order”) and by the Housing Renewal Grants (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2003 (S.I. 2003/2504) (“the 2003 Regulations”).

In consequence of the changes made by the 2002 Order and the 2003 Regulations, the prescribed form is amended by these Regulations so that it will be applicable only to applications (other than a landlord’s application) for grant towards the cost of works required for the provision of facilities for disabled persons.

By virtue of changes made to the Act by the 2002 Order, applications for grant can now be made by occupiers of qualifying houseboats and qualifying park homes and these Regulations amend the prescribed form to reflect this. Among other changes consequent on the 2003 Regulations, these Regulations amend the prescribed form to take account of new tax credits introduced by the Tax Credits Act 2002 and the State Pension Credit Act 2002.

(1)

1996 c. 53. The functions of the Secretary of State under these sections were, so far as exercisable in relation to Wales, transferred to the National Assembly for Wales by the National Assembly for Wales (Transfer of Functions) Order 1999 (S.I. 1999/672), see the entry in Schedule 1 for the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996.

(2)

For the definition of “grant”, see section 1 of the Act as amended by paragraph 2 of Schedule 3 to the Regulatory Reform (Housing Assistance) (England and Wales) Order 2002 (S.I. 2002/1860) (“the 2002 Order”).

(3)

S.I. 1996/2891, amended by S.I. 1996/3119, S.I. 1997/978, S.I. 1998/809, S.I. 1999/1607, S.I. 1999/2624, S.I. 2000/538, S.I. 2001/789 and S.I. 2002/667.

(4)

Note 47A was inserted by S.I. 1997/978.

(5)

Note 84B was inserted by S.I. 1999/2624.