The Housing (Right to Acquire and Right to Buy) (Designated Rural Areas and Designated Regions) (Amendment) (Wales) Order 2003

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Order)

Under section 157 of the Housing Act 1985 (the “1985 Act”) where in pursuance of Part V of the 1985 Act (the right to buy) a conveyance or grant is executed by a local authority or a housing association (the landlord) of a dwelling-house situated in —

• a National Park,

• an area designated under section 82 of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 as an area of outstanding natural beauty, or

• an area designated by order of the National Assembly for Wales as a rural area,

the conveyance or grant may contain a covenant limiting the freedom of the tenant to dispose of the dwelling-house in the manner specified by that section.

Under section 16 of the Housing Act 1996 (the “1996 Act”) a tenant of a registered social landlord has a right in certain circumstances to acquire the dwelling of which he or she is a tenant. This is however subject to section 17 of the 1996 Act whereby the National Assembly may by order designate rural areas in relation to dwellings in which the right conferred by section 16 does not arise.

This Order amends the Housing (Right to Acquire and Right to Buy) (Designated Rural Areas and Designated Regions) (Wales) Order 2003 which designates rural areas for the purposes of section 157 of the 1985 Act and section 17 of the 1996 Act to remedy the omission of National Parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty as respects those areas designated under section 17.