1996 No. 2256
The Social Landlords (Permissible Additional Purposes or Objects) Order 1996
Made
Laid before Parliament
Coming into force
The Secretary of State for the Environment, as respects England, and the Secretary of State for Wales, as respects Wales, in exercise of the powers conferred upon them by section 2(7) and (8) of the Housing Act 19961, and of all other powers enabling them in that behalf, hereby make the following Order:—
Citation and commencement1
This Order may be cited as the Social Landlords (Permissible Additional Purposes or Objects) Order 1996 and shall come into force on 1st October 1996.
Interpretation2
In this Order, unless the context otherwise requires—
“assured percentage arrangements” means arrangements pursuant to which—
- a
a social landlord provides a sum (the “initial capital sum”) to a person who, at the time when the landlord offers to provide that sum, is a resident of theirs (the “participating resident”) for the purpose of enabling or assisting him to acquire a legal estate in a house;
- b
the participating resident, in consideration for the provision of the initial capital sum, enters into an assured percentage covenant with the landlord; and
- c
the liability to make any payment required by the assured percentage covenant is secured by a mortgage;
- a
“assured percentage covenant” means a covenant requiring the participating resident in the case of the assured percentage arrangements in question to make to the landlord at a date (the “discharge date”) determined in accordance with the covenant a payment (the “discharge payment”) calculated by reference to the product of—
- a
the difference between—
- i
the initial capital sum, expressed as a percentage of the initial value of the house, and
- ii
the aggregate of the interim payment percentages (if any), and
- i
- b
the final value of the house;
- a
“bank” means—
- a
an institution authorised under the Banking Act 19872; or
- b
a European authorised institution within the meaning of the Banking Co-ordination (Second Council Directive) Regulations 19923 where the requirements of paragraph 1 of Schedule 2 to those Regulations have been complied with in relation to that institution’s establishment of a branch;
- a
“equity percentage arrangements” means arrangements pursuant to which—
- a
a social landlord conveys a legal estate in a house to an individual (the “relevant purchaser”);
- b
the relevant purchaser, in consideration for that conveyance—
- i
makes to the landlord a payment (the “initial payment”) expressed to represent a percentage of the initial value of the house; and
- ii
enters into an equity percentage covenant with the landlord; and
- i
- c
the liability to make any payment required by the equity percentage covenant is secured by a mortgage;
- a
“equity percentage covenant” means a covenant requiring the relevant purchaser in the case of the equity percentage arrangements in question to make to the landlord at a date (the “discharge date”) determined in accordance with the covenant a capital payment (the “discharge payment”) determined by reference to that percentage (if any) of the final value of the house which remains after reducing 100 per cent. by the sum of the following percentages, that is to say—
- a
the percentage of the initial value of the house which the initial payment made pursuant to the equity percentage arrangements in question was expressed to represent, and
- b
the aggregate of the interim payment percentages (if any);
- a
“final value” of a house, in the case of an assured percentage covenant or, as the case may be, an equity percentage covenant, means the proper value of the estate in question at the time at which the discharge payment required by the covenant falls to be made;
“initial value” of a house means—
- a
in the case of assured percentage arrangements, the price required to be paid to or at the direction of the vendor for the conveyance of the estate in question to the participating resident; or
- b
in the case of equity percentage arrangements, an amount agreed between the relevant purchaser and the social landlord, before the conveyance of the estate in question to the relevant purchaser, as being the price for which the estate would have been conveyed at that time, with vacant possession, in an arm’s length transaction between a willing buyer and a willing seller on the open market;
- a
“insurance company” means a company which is—
“interim payment percentage” means, in relation to an assured percentage covenant or, as the case may be, an equity percentage covenant, the amount of any payment accepted by the landlord before the discharge date, in diminution of the liability to make the discharge payment and in accordance with the terms of the instrument containing the covenant in question, expressed as a percentage of the proper value of the estate in question as at the time of that acceptance;
“proper value”, in the case of any estate, means the value of the estate as determined by such person as may be specified or described in, and otherwise in accordance with the terms of, the instrument containing the assured percentage covenant or equity percentage covenant in question;
“qualifying lending institution” means—
“social landlord” means a body which is registered, or is eligible for registration, with the Corporation as a social landlord under Chapter I of Part I of the Housing Act 1996 (registered social landlords):
Additional permissible purposes or objects3
The following are specified as permissible purposes or objects additional to those specified in subsection (4) of section 2 (eligibility for registration of social landlords)—
a
disposing of houses by way of sale at less than the market value to residents of the social landlord;
b
acquiring, or constructing, or repairing and improving, or creating by the conversion of houses or other property, houses to be disposed of pursuant to equity percentage arrangements;
c
enabling or assisting any residents of the social landlord—
i
to acquire, or to acquire and enter into occupation of, houses, or
ii
to procure the construction of separate dwellings for occupation by those residents (whether alone or with other persons), or to procure such construction and enter into occupation of the dwellings so constructed, by—
aa
providing grants to or for such residents, or
bb
in a case falling within sub-paragraph (i) above, by entering into assured percentage arrangements with such residents (or partly in the one way and partly in the other).
Priority of mortgages4
A mortgage securing a person’s liability to make to a registered social landlord any payment required by an assured percentage covenant or equity percentage covenant shall have priority immediately after any legal charge securing an amount advanced to that person by a qualifying lending institution—
a
for the purpose of enabling him to acquire the estate in question; or
b
with the written consent of the social landlord, for the purpose of enabling him to carry out any improvement to the house in question.
Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for the Environment.
(This note is not part of the Order)