Finance Act 2000

130 Transfers to registered social landlords etc.U.K.

(1)No stamp duty shall be chargeable under Part I or II, or paragraph 16 of Part III, of Schedule 13 to the M1Finance Act 1999 on a conveyance or transfer of an estate or interest in land, or on a lease of land,—

(a)to a qualifying landlord controlled by its tenants;

(b)to a qualifying landlord by a qualifying transferor; or

(c)to a qualifying landlord purchasing the estate or interest, or the grant of the lease, with the assistance of a public subsidy.

(2)For the purposes of this section the cases where a qualifying landlord is controlled by its tenants are those cases where the majority of the board members of the qualifying landlord are tenants occupying properties owned or managed by the qualifying landlord.

(3)For the purposes of subsection (2) a “board member” means—

(a)in relation to a qualifying landlord which is a company, a director of the company;

(b)in relation to a qualifying landlord which is a body corporate whose affairs are managed by its members, a member;

(c)in relation to a qualifying landlord which is a body of trustees, a member of that body of trustees;

(d)in relation to a qualifying landlord not falling within any of paragraphs (a) to (c), a member of the committee of management or other body to which is entrusted the direction of the affairs of the qualifying landlord.

(4)In subsection (3), “company” has the same meaning as in the M2Companies Act 1985 (see section 735(1) of that Act).

(5)In this section “qualifying landlord” means—

(a)in relation to England and Wales, any body registered as a social landlord in a register maintained under section 1(1) of the M3Housing Act 1996;

(b)in relation to Scotland—

(i)any housing association registered in the register maintained under section 3(1) of the M4Housing Associations Act 1985 by Scottish Homes; or

(ii)any body corporate whose objects correspond to those of a housing association and which, pursuant to a contract with Scottish Homes, is registered in a register kept for the purpose by Scottish Homes;

(c)in relation to Northern Ireland, any housing association registered in the register maintained under Article 14 of the M5Housing (Northern Ireland) Order 1992.

(6)In this section “qualifying transferor” means any of the following—

(a)a qualifying landlord;

(b)a housing action trust established under Part III of the M6Housing Act 1988;

(c)a principal council, within the meaning of the M7Local Government Act 1972;

(d)the Common Council of the City of London;

(e)a council constituted under section 2 of the M8Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994;

(f)Scottish Homes;

(g)the Department for Social Development in Northern Ireland;

(h)the Northern Ireland Housing Executive.

(7)In this section “public subsidy” means any grant or other financial assistance—

(a)made or given by way of a distribution pursuant to section 25 of the M9National Lottery etc. Act 1993 (application of money by distributing bodies);

(b)under section 18 of the M10Housing Act 1996 (social housing grants);

(c)under section 126 of the M11Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 (financial assistance for regeneration and development);

(d)under section 2 of the M12Housing (Scotland) Act 1988 (general functions of Scottish Homes); or

(e)under Article 33 [F1or 33A] of the M13Housing (Northern Ireland) Order 1992 (housing association grants).

(8)Where stamp duty would be chargeable on an instrument but for paragraph (c) of subsection (1), that subsection shall only have effect in relation to the instrument if the instrument is certified to the Board by the qualifying landlord concerned as being an instrument on which stamp duty is by virtue of that paragraph not chargeable.

(9)An instrument on which stamp duty is not chargeable by virtue only of this section shall not be taken to be duly stamped unless—

(a)it is stamped with the duty to which it would be liable but for this section; or

(b)it has, in accordance with section 12 of the M14Stamp Act 1891, been stamped with a particular stamp denoting that it is not chargeable with any duty.

(10)This section applies to instruments executed after the day on which this Act is passed.