House Purchase and Housing Act 1959
An Act to authorise Exchequer advances to, and the deposit of trust funds with, designated building societies; to enlarge the power of local authorities to make advances under the Small Dwellings Acquisition Acts 1899 to 1923, the Small Dwellings Acquisition (Scotland) Acts 1899 to 1923, section forty-three of the Housing (Financial Provisions) Act 1958, and section seventy-five of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1950; to make further provision for grants by local authorities and Exchequer contributions to local authorities towards the improvement of dwellings; to amend the provisions of the said Act of 1958 and the said Act of 1950, with respect to Exchequer contributions and grants by local authorities towards the provision of dwellings by the conversion of houses and other buildings and towards the improvement of dwellings, and with respect to the conditions to be observed where assistance has been given under Part II of the said Act of 1958 or Part VII of the said Act of 1950; and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid.
Part I Loans for purchase of houses
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the society for the purposes of this section; and where a society has been so designated and the designation has not been revoked—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)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F1
(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 F2paragraph 12 of Part II and paragraph 2 of Part III of the First Schedule to the M1Trustee Investments Act 1961; and where a society has been so designated and the designation has not been revoked, that paragraph shall apply in relation to it as it applies in relation to a permanent building society within the meaning of this Act.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)
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2 Exchequer advances to building societies.
(1)
Any advance made to a building society under this Act shall be repayable to the Minister at such times and by such methods, and interest thereon shall be payable at such rates and at such times, as the Minister may with the approval of the Treasury direct.
(2)
Subject to subsection (3) of this section—
(a)
such advances made to any building society in respect of any financial year shall not exceed the amounts advanced in that year by the society to its members for the purchase or improvement of houses in the United Kingdom satisfying the following conditions, that is to say, that each house was completed before the year nineteen hundred and nineteen and that its estimated value does not exceed two thousand five hundred pounds, or in the Metropolitan Police District or the City of London, three thousand pounds;
(b)
such an advance shall not be made to a building society if the amount thereof, together with the amount outstanding in respect of any such advances previously made to the society, would exceed one-fifth of the amount outstanding in respect of any funds raised by the society by other means.
(3)
The Minister may by order vary the conditions specified in paragraph (a) of subsection (2) of this section or the fraction specified in paragraph (b) of that subsection.
(4)
Advances made to building societies under this Act shall not together exceed the sum of one hundred million pounds.
(5)
(6)
(7)
The Minister shall, as respects each financial year, prepare in such form and manner as the Treasury may direct an account of sums issued to him for advances under this Act and of sums received by him under subsection (1) of this section and of the disposal by him of those sums respectively, and send it to the Comptroller and Auditor General not later than the end of November following the year; and the Comptroller and Auditor General shall examine, certify and report on the account and lay copies of it, together with his report, before each House of Parliament.
(8)
The reference in paragraph (a) of subsection (2) of this section to the estimated value of a house shall be construed, in relation to a house in England, Wales or Northern Ireland, as a reference to the estimated value of its fee simple in possession free from incumbrances and, in relation to a house in Scotland, as a reference to the estimated value of the house subject to feu duty, ground annual or other burden incident to tenure but free from other incumbrances.
3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F6
Part II
4—12.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F7
13. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F8
14—18.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F9
Part III
19, 20.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F10
21. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F11
22—24.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F12
Part IV Miscellaneous and General
25. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F13
26. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F14
27. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F15
28 Orders and regulations.
(1)
Any order made under any provision of this Act may be varied or revoked by a subsequent order made thereunder.
(2)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F16
(3)
Any order made under any . . . F17 provision of this Act and any regulations made under section one thereof shall be made by statutory instrument which shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.
29 Interpretation.
(1)
In this Act—
“the Act of 1950” means the M2Housing (Scotland) Act 1950;
“the Act of 1958” means the M3Housing (Financial Provisions) Act 1958;
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“the Minister” means the F20Secretary of State or, as respects Scotland, the Secretary of State;
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F22
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F23
(2)(3)
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(4)
Any reference in this Act to any other enactment is a reference thereto as amended by any subsequent enactment including, except where the context otherwise requires, this Act.
30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F25
31 Amendments, repeal and saving.
(1)
The Act of 1958 shall have effect subject to the amendments specified in Part I of the First Schedule to this Act, being amendments consequential on the provisions of Part II of this Act or for applying to those provisions certain provisions of the Act of 1958 . . . F26
(2)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F27
(3)
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32 Short title, citation, construction, commencement and extent.
(1)
This Act may be cited as the House Purchase and Housing Act 1959; and—
(a)
this Act, except so far as it extends to Scotland only, and the Act of 1958 may be cited together as the Housing (Financial Provisions) Acts 1958 and 1959; and
(b)
this Act, so far as it extends to Scotland, and the Housing (Scotland) Acts 1950 to 1957, may be cited together as the Housing (Scotland) Acts 1950 to 1959.
(2)
Part III of this Act shall be construed as one with the Act of 1950.
(3)
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F29
(4)
FIRST SCHEDULE Amendments of Housing (Financial Provisions) Act 1958, and Housing (Scotland) Act 1950
Part I Amendments of Act of 1958
1, 2.
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3
In section twenty-five, the references to sections one to ten of the Act of 1958 shall be deemed to be references to sections one to nine of that Act and to sections thirteen and fourteen of this Act, and the references to the Act of 1958 in the proviso to subsection (2) of the section shall be deemed to include references to this Act.
4
. . . F33
5
In section fifty-four the references to the purposes of the Act of 1958 shall be deemed to include references to the purposes of this Act.
6
. . . F34
7
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F35
8
. . . F36
9
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F37
Part II
10, 11.
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