Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996

78 Assistance in respect of house-boats and mobile homes

(1) Subject to the following provisions of this section, sections 76 and 77 (home repair assistance) apply in relation to a house-boat or mobile home as in relation to a dwelling.

(2) For the purposes of those sections as they apply in relation to a house-boat or mobile home, any person lawfully in occupation of the house-boat or mobile home shall be treated as a person with an owner’s interest in or a tenant of a dwelling.

But except in the case of—

(a) works to adapt a house-boat or mobile home to enable an elderly, disabled or infirm person, who lives or proposes to live there as his only or main residence, to be cared for, or

(b) works relating to means of escape from fire or other fire precautions,

the local housing authority shall not entertain an application for home repair assistance unless the residence requirement is met.

(3) The residence requirement in the case of a house-boat is that the local housing authority are satisfied that—

(a) the applicant has occupied the boat as his only or main residence for a period of at least three years immediately preceding the date of the application;

(b) the boat has for that period had its only or main mooring in the same locality on an inland waterway or in marine waters within the boundary of the authority; and

(c) the applicant had a right to moor his boat there.

(4) The residence requirement in the case of a mobile home is that the local housing authority are satisfied that—

(a) the applicant has occupied the mobile home as his only or main residence for a period of at least three years immediately preceding the date of the application;

(b) the mobile home has for that period been on land forming part of the same protected site within the meaning of the [1983 c. 34.] Mobile Homes Act 1983; and

(c) the applicant occupied it under an agreement to which that Act applies or under a gratuitous licence.

(5) In this section—

• “house-boat” means a boat or similar structure designed or adapted for use as a place of permanent habitation, and

• “mobile home” means a caravan within the meaning of Part I of the [1960 c. 62.] Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960 (disregarding the amendment made by section 13(2) of the [1968 c. 52.] Caravan Sites Act 1968),

which is a dwelling for the purposes of Part I of the [1992 c. 14.] Local Government Finance Act 1992 (council tax).