47.Section 18 allows an authority to apply for an extension of a direction if they have completed a consultation exercise in the 6 month period preceding the extension application and in light of that exercise and any other relevant information, the authority have concluded that the housing pressure condition continues to exist.
48.There is a ten year limit on the length of any direction, as extended. Under subsection (2) an authority may apply for the extension of a direction which has already been extended but an extended direction cannot have effect beyond ten years from the date of the direction issued under section 6.