The Housing (Right to Buy) (Designated Rural Areas and Designated Regions) (England) Order 2016

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order designates the parishes listed in the Schedule to the Order as rural areas under section 157(1)(c) of the Housing Act 1985 (“the Act”), and provides for each of the regions of Chichester, Malvern Hills, Shropshire and Wychavon to be a designated region under section 157(3) of the Act in relation to dwelling-houses in the designated rural areas falling within the district.

Where a dwelling-house in a designated rural area is sold under the right to buy, the vendor may—

(a) impose a covenant requiring its consent to any further disposal unless it is an exempted disposal under section 160 of the Act (that consent cannot be withheld if the disposal is to a person who has throughout the preceding 3 years had his only or principal home or place of work in a designated region which, or part of which, is comprised in the designated rural area) (section 157(3) of the Act); or

(b) reserve a right of pre-emption if the Secretary of State or, if the vendor is a housing association, the Regulator of Social Housing, consents (section 156A(8) of the Act as inserted by section 188 of the Housing Act 2004).

Similar covenants as to consent or rights of pre-emption may be imposed in relation to dwelling-houses in the areas designated by this Order that are sold voluntarily under section 32 of the Act.

A full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no significant impact on the private, voluntary or public sectors is foreseen.