Housing (Scotland) Act 1988

56 Right conferred by Part III

(1) This Part of this Act has effect for the purpose of conferring on any person who has been approved under section 57 below or Scottish Homes the right to acquire from a public sector landlord any house—

(a) which, on the relevant date, is occupied by a qualifying tenant; and(b) of which, on that date, the landlord is heritable proprietor,

and any other heritable property of which, on that date, the landlord is heritable proprietor and which will reasonably serve a beneficial purpose in connection with the occupation of the house; and, in this Part of this Act, “house” includes any such property.

(2) In subsection (1) above, “heritable proprietor” includes any person entitled under section 3 of the Conveyancing (Scotland) Act 1924 (disposition by uninfeft person) to grant a disposition.

(3) The following are public sector landlords for the purposes of this Part of this Act, namely—

(a) an islands or district council, or a joint board or joint committee of an islands or district council or the common good of an islands or district council, or any trust under the control of an islands or district council;

(b) a development corporation within the meaning of the [1968 c. 16.] New Towns (Scotland) Act 1968 (including an urban development corporation within the meaning of Part XVI of the [1980 c. 65.] Local Government Planning and Land Act 1980);

(c) the Scottish Special Housing Association;

(d) the Housing Corporation;

(e) Scottish Homes.

(4) A secure tenant is a qualifying tenant for the purposes of this Part unless he is obliged to give up possession of the house in pursuance of an order of the court or will be so obliged at a date specified in such an order.

(5) The right conferred by this Part of this Act does not extend to a house—

(a) which is one of a group which has been provided with facilities (including a call system and the services of a warden) specially designed or adapted for the needs of persons of pensionable age or disabled persons;

(b) which has facilities which are substantially different from those of an ordinary house and has been designed or adapted for occupation by—

(i) a person of pensionable age; or

(ii) a disabled person,

whose special needs require accommodation of the kind provided by the house; or

(c) which is in an area which is, by order made by the Secretary of State on the application of the islands or district council in whose area it is situated, designated a rural area.

(6) The right conferred by this Part of this Act does not arise in relation to a house if—

(a) it is held by an islands council for the purposes of its functions as an education authority and is required for the accommodation of a person who is or will be employed by the council for those purposes; and

(b) the council is not likely to be able reasonably to provide other suitable accommodation for that person.

(7) An order under subsection (5)(c) above may be made only if within the designated rural area more than one-third of all relevant houses have been acquired under this Part of this Act or purchased, whether under Part III of the [1987 c. 26.] Housing (Scotland) Act 1987 (which confers the right to buy upon certain public sector tenants) or otherwise, and the Secretary of State is satisfied that an unreasonable proportion of the houses so acquired or purchased consists of houses which have been resold and are not—

(a) being used as the only or principal homes of the owners; or

(b) subject to regulated tenancies within the meaning of section 8 of the [1984 c. 58.] Rent (Scotland) Act 1984, or assured tenancies for the purpose of Part II of this Act.

(8) An order under subsection (5)(c) above shall be made by statutory instrument which shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.

(9) For the purposes of subsection (7) above a “relevant house” is one of which—

(a) at 3rd October 1980, the islands or district council in whose area it was situated;

(b) at 7th January 1987, a registered housing association (within the meaning of the [1985 c. 69.] Housing Associations Act 1985)

was landlord.

(10) In this Part of this Act “the relevant date”, in relation to an acquisition or proposed acquisition under this Part, means the date on which is made the application under section 58 below seeking to exercise the right conferred by this Part.

(11) In section 14(2) of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987 (houses which may be sold by local authorities without consent of Secretary of State) in paragraph (a) there shall be added at the end the words “or, in pursuance of Part III of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1988 (change of landlord)”.