172Repayment chargesS
(1)A local authority entitled to recover a sum under section 59(1) or (2) or paragraph 6(1) of schedule 5 may make in favour of itself a charge (a “repayment charge”)—
(a)specifying the repayable amount and the living accommodation concerned, and
(b)providing that the living accommodation concerned is charged with the repayable amount.
(2)The repayable amount is the lowest of—
(a)the amount recoverable under section 59(1) or (2) or paragraph 6(1) of schedule 5,
(b)any lower amount determined by the local authority, and
(c)any amount which the Scottish Ministers by order prescribe as the maximum repayable amount.
(3)The repayable amount is recoverable in 30 equal annual instalments payable on the same date (specified in the charge) in each calendar year.
(4)The local authority must register a repayment charge in the appropriate land register.
(5)The owner of, or any other person interested in, any living accommodation subject to a repayment charge may at any time redeem the repayable amount early by paying to the local authority—
(a)such sum as the owner or other person may agree with the local authority, or
(b)failing such agreement, such sum as the Scottish Ministers may determine.
(6)The local authority must, on receiving—
(a)payment of the repayable amount in accordance with the repayment charge, or
(b)a sum redeeming the repayable amount under subsection (5),
register a discharge of the repayment charge in the appropriate land register.
(7)Where a repayment charge is made in respect of expenses incurred by a local authority in demolishing a house, references in this section and in section 173 to living accommodation are to be read as references to the site of the demolished house.
(8)This section does not apply in relation to—
(a)the recovery of sums under section 59(2) from a landlord who is not the owner of the living accommodation concerned,
(b)living accommodation which is not a building.