The Housing and Planning Act 2016 (Commencement No. 5, Transitional Provisions and Savings) Regulations 2017

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations bring into force various provisions of the Housing and Planning Act 2016 (c.22) (“the Act”).

Regulation 3(a) brings into force section 47(3) of the Act which enables the Secretary of State to make regulations making provision about how local housing authorities are to deal with amounts recovered under rent repayment orders.

Regulation 3(b) brings into force paragraph 7 of Schedule 9 to the Act and section 126 (in so far as it relates to that paragraph) for the purpose of making regulations making provision about how local housing authorities are to deal with financial penalties recovered pursuant to the imposition of a financial penalty as an alternative to prosecution.

Regulation 4(a) brings into force sections 40 to 46 (rent repayment orders) of the Act for the purpose only of conferring power on the First-tier Tribunal to make a rent repayment order where a landlord has committed an offence under section 6(1) of the Criminal Law Act 1977 (c. 45) (violence for securing entry), section 1 of the Protection from Eviction Act 1977 (c.43) (eviction or harassment of occupier), or any of the following sections of the Housing Act 2004 (c.34): section 30(1) (failure to comply with an improvement notice); section 32(1) (failure to comply with a prohibition notice etc.); section 72(1) (control or management of unlicensed house of multiple occupation (“HMO”)); section 95(1) (control or management of unlicensed house).

Regulation 4(b) brings into force section 48 of the Act for the purpose only of requiring a local housing authority to consider applying for a rent repayment order where a landlord has committed one of the offences mentioned above.

Regulation 4(c) brings into force sections 47(1) and (2) and 49 to 52 of the Act. Section 47(1) and (2) makes provision for the enforcement of rent repayment orders. Section 49 gives local housing authorities a power to help tenants apply for rent repayment orders. Section 50 makes consequential amendments to the rent repayment order regimes set out in the Housing Act 2004, which from the commencement of this section will apply only in Wales (unless saved by provision in regulation 5). Sections 51 and 52 are interpretation provisions.

Regulation 4(d) brings into force section 53 of the Act which makes provision for appeals from a decision of the First-tier Tribunal made under Part 2 of the Act (rogue landlords and property agents in England) to the Upper Tribunal.

Regulation 4(e) brings into force sections 54 to 56 of the Act which relate to the interpretation of Part 2.

Regulation 4(f) brings fully into force section 126 of the Act and Schedule 9 which amends the Housing Act 2004 to allow financial penalties to be imposed by a local housing authority as an alternative to prosecution for certain offences.

Regulation 4(g) brings into force sections 128 and 129 of the Act. Section 128 inserts section 212A into the Housing Act 2004. The effect of section 212A is to allow a local housing authority in England to obtain specified information held by tenancy deposit scheme administrators in order to carry out its functions under Parts 1 to 4 of that Act. Section 129 amends section 237 of the Housing Act 2004 to provide that the Secretary of State may make regulations to change the list of purposes for which a local authority may use the data that it has obtained in exercise of its functions under section 134 of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 (c. 5) or Part 1 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 (c. 14).

Regulation 4(h) brings into force section 131 of the Act which amends Schedule 11 to the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 (c. 15) to give courts and tribunals a discretionary power to restrict the ability of a landlord to recover the costs of taking part in legal proceedings from the leaseholder as an administrative charge on the tenant’s application.

Regulation 4(i) brings into force section 160 of the Act which amends section 115 of the Planning Act 2008 (c. 29) to enable the Secretary of State to grant development consent for related housing development alongside a nationally significant infrastructure project in England. The amendments made by section 160 also require the Secretary of State to take into account any matters set out in guidance when determining whether to grant development consent for development that includes related housing development.

Regulation 4(j) brings into force section 183 of the Act and paragraphs 1 to 7 of Schedule 15 in so far as they are not already in force, i.e. in relation to orders authorising compulsory acquisition which are made by, or for which the confirming authority is, the Welsh Ministers. The effect of these provisions is to change the notice requirements for general vesting declarations.

Regulation 4(k) brings into force section 196(3) of the Act, which inserts section 52B into the Land Compensation Act 1973 (c. 26), for the purpose only of making regulations to specify the rate of interest which an acquiring authority must pay in respect of an advance payment of compensation which is paid late.

The effect of regulation 5 is that a rent repayment order under the Act may only be made in relation to an offence which was committed on or after 6th April 2017. The provisions of the Housing Act 2004 relating to rent repayment orders for the offences of control or management of an unlicensed HMO or house will continue to apply to those offences if they were committed before 6th April 2017 or over a period falling in part before that date and ending before 6th April 2018.

The effect of regulation 6 is that applications may only be made by a tenant under new paragraph 5A of Schedule 11 of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 (c.15) (inserted by section 131) to restrict recovery by the landlord of litigation costs connected with legal proceedings brought after the commencement of section 131.

The effect of regulation 7 is that the amendments to the Planning Act 2008 made by section 160 of the Act do not apply in relation to applications in relation to development consent made prior to 6th April 2017.

Regulation 8 makes transitional provision in relation to the coming into force of paragraphs 1 to 7 of Schedule 15 to the Act. The amendments made by paragraphs 1 to 3, in so far as they are brought into force by regulation 4(j), do not apply in relation to a compulsory purchase order which is made by the Welsh Ministers, or confirmed by the Welsh Ministers (or an acquiring authority instead of the Welsh Ministers), before 6th April 2017. The amendments made by paragraphs 4 to 7, in so far as they are brought into force by regulation 4(j), also do not apply in relation to a compulsory purchase of land which is authorised by such a compulsory purchase order (or an order under section 1 or 3 of the Transport and Works Act 1992 (c. 42) which is, before 6th April 2017, determined to be made by the Welsh Ministers, or any other relevant order which is made by the Welsh Ministers before that date).