House Purchase and Housing Act 1959

1 Designation of building societies for investment by trustees and government loans

(1) Where the Chief Registrar of Friendly Societies (in this section referred to as the Registrar) is satisfied that a permanent building society fulfils such requirements as to its assets and liabilities, liquid funds, reserves, and other matters, as the Treasury may by regulations prescribe, he may designate the society for the purposes of this section; and where a society has been so designated and the designation has not been revoked—

(a) the powers of a trustee under section one of the Trustee Act, 1925, or section ten of the Trusts (Scotland) Act, 1921, shall include power to invest funds of trusts in his hands by depositing with the society amounts not exceeding five thousand pounds for any one trust; and

(b) the Minister may make advances to the society in accordance with the provisions of section two of this Act.

(2) Where the officer appointed to perform in Northern Ireland the functions of registrar of friendly societies (in this section referred to as the Registrar for Northern Ireland) is satisfied that a society incorporated under the Building Societies Acts (Northern Ireland), 1874 to 1940, which is a permanent society within the meaning of those Acts fulfils the requirements prescribed under subsection (1) of this section, he may designate the society for the purposes of paragraph (a) of that subsection ; and where a society has been so designated and the designation has not been revoked, that paragraph shall apply in relation to it as it applies in relation to a permanent building society within the meaning of this Act.

(3) The Registrar or, as the case may be, the Registrar for Northern Ireland, shall publish in the London, Edinburgh and Belfast Gazettes a notice of every designation made by him under this section and of any revocation of such a designation.

(4) If any person knowingly or recklessly makes or causes or procures another person to make a false or misleading statement in connection with any information which the Registrar or the Registrar for Northern Ireland may request for the purposes of this section he shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds or imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or both, or on conviction on indictment to a fine not exceeding five hundred pounds or imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or both.

(5) The Treasury may by order vary the amount specified in paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of this section.