Housing Act 1988

Repair notices and improvement grants

130 Repair notices

(1) Part VI of the Housing Act 1985 (repair notices) shall have effect subject to the amendments in Schedule 15 to this Act.

(2) In section 604 of that Act (fitness for human habitation) after subsection (1) there shall be inserted the following subsection—

“(1A) In the application, for the purposes of Part VI, of subsection (1) to premises consisting of a flat, within the meaning of that Part, regard shall be had not only to the condition of the flat itself but also to the condition of any other part of the building as it affects the flat and, accordingly, the flat may be deemed to be unfit by reference to the defective condition of a part of the building outside the flat (whether or not that part is itself used, or suitable for use, as a dwelling).”

(3) The amendments in subsection (2) above and Schedule 15 to this Act do not have effect in relation to any repair notice, within the meaning of the said Part VI, served before this section comes into force.

131 Letting conditions applicable to improvement grants etc

(1) With respect to applications for grants approved after the commencement of this Act, Part XV of the [1985 c. 68.] Housing Act 1985 (grants for works of improvement, repair and conversion) shall have effect subject to the following provisions of this section.

(2) In each of the following provisions—

(a) section 464 (preliminary condition: certificates as to future occupation), in subsection (5) (certificate of availability for letting), and

(b) section 501 (condition as to availability for letting), in subsection (2) (the terms of the condition),

in paragraph (a) after the word “holiday” there shall be inserted “on a tenancy which is not a long tenancy and”.

(3) After the words “Rent (Agriculture) Act 1976”, in each place where they occur in—

(a) section 464(5),

(b) section 501(2), and

(c) subsection (2)(d) of section 503 (restriction on imposition of further conditions in relation to certain grants),

there shall be inserted “or is occupied under an assured agricultural occupancy, within the meaning of Part I of the Housing Act 1988”.

(4) In section 504 (further conditions as to letting of dwelling), at the beginning of subsection (1) there shall be inserted the words “Subject to subsection (1A)”; in paragraph (a) of that subsection after the word “letting” there shall be inserted “on an assured tenancy which is not a long tenancy or”; and at the end of that subsection there shall be inserted the following subsection—

“(1A) Paragraphs (d) to (f) of subsection (1) do not apply in the case of a dwelling which is or is to be let or available for letting on an assured tenancy.”

(5) In subsection (2) of section 504 (definitions) after the words “subsection (1)” there shall be inserted “and subsection (1A)” and before paragraph (a) there shall be inserted the following paragraph—

“(aa) “assured tenancy” means a tenancy which is an assured tenancy within the meaning of Part I of the Housing Act 1988 or would be such a tenancy if paragraphs 3, 6, 7 and 10 of Schedule 1 to that Act were omitted”.

(6) In section 526 (index of defined expressions in Part XV), after the entry relating to “local housing authority” there shall be inserted—

“long tenancy ... ... ... ...

section 115”.

(7) Without prejudice to subsection (1) above, where an application for a grant—

(a) was made but not approved before the commencement of this Act, and

(b) was accompanied by a certificate of availability for letting in a form which does not take account of the amendments of section 464(5) by subsections (2) and (3) above,

the certificate shall be treated as if it were in a form which takes account of the amendments made by those subsections.

(8) Without prejudice to subsection (1) above, where a grant has been approved before the commencement of this Act and—

(a) section 501(2) applies to impose a condition of the grant, or

(b) conditions have been imposed in terms of section 504(1),

the condition or conditions shall have effect as if it or they were in a form which takes account of the amendments made by subsection (3) or, as the case may be, subsections (4) and (5) above.