The Local Authorities (Capital Finance and Accounting) (England) Regulations 2003

PART 1 E+W PRELIMINARY

Citation, commencement, application and interpretation E+W

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Local Authorities (Capital Finance and Accounting) (England) Regulations 2003 and shall come into force for the purposes of regulations 1 and 2 on 1st January 2004 and for all other purposes on 1st April 2004.

(2) These Regulations apply only in relation to local authorities in England(1).

(3) Regulations 2 to 6, 8, 9, 10(3) to (6), 12 to 22, 23(d) to (f), 24, 27(1), 28, 29, 32 and 33 shall not apply to parish councils and charter trustees.

(4) In these Regulations, unless the context indicates otherwise, any reference to a Part, section or Schedule is a reference to a Part or section of, or Schedule to, the Local Government Act 2003.

(5) In these Regulations—

[F1 “the 1993 Act” means the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993;]

[F1 “associates” has the same meaning as in section 135 of the 1993 Act (disposals of dwelling-houses by local authorities);]

“CIPFA” means the body—

(a)

constituted by Royal Charter on 6th January 1959 and originally named “The Institute of Municipal Treasurers and Accountants”;

(b)

whose name was changed to “The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy” by Royal Charter on 24th October 1973; and

(c)

registered with the Charity Commissioners of England and Wales (number 231060);

“debt-free authority” means a local authority which has no money outstanding by way of borrowing other than disregarded borrowing;

“disregarded borrowing” has the same meaning as that term had on 31st March 2004 in regulation 65 of the Local Authorities (Capital Finance) Regulations 1997 (capital receipts of debt-free authorities)(2);

“dwelling” means any building or part of a building which is occupied as a dwelling, or is a hostel providing accommodation for persons who, for the purposes of Part VII of the Housing Act 1996 (homelessness)(3), are homeless, or persons who have a special need for accommodation arising from physical or mental disability, age, infirmity or other special social disability or disadvantage;

[F2 “dwelling-house” has the same meaning as in section 135 of the 1993 Act;]

“housing land” means any land, house or other building in relation to which the local authority is, or has been immediately before disposal of it, subject to the duty under section 74 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 (duty to keep Housing Revenue Account)(4);

[F3 “introductory tenant” has the same meaning as in Chapter 1 of Part V of the Housing Act 1996 (introductory tenancies);]

[F3 “long lease” means a lease for a term of years certain exceeding 21 years other than a lease which is terminable before the end of that term by notice given by or to the landlord;]

[F4 “money market fund” means a collective investment scheme which—

(a)

in accordance with the Council Directive 85/611/EEC on the co-ordination of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to undertakings for collective investments in transferable securities, is an undertaking for collective investment in transferable securities subject to that Directive; and

(b)

is either a unit trust scheme authorised under section 243 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 or a collective investment scheme recognised under section 264 of that Act;]

[F4 “multilateral development bank” means an international financial institution having as one of its objects economic development, either generally or in any region of the world;]

“the National Association of Local Councils” means the unincorporated association of that name which was established in 1947(5);

“qualifying disposal” means a disposal of an interest in housing land which is a qualifying disposal for the purposes of section 135 or 136 of the [F5 1993 Act] (disposals of dwelling-houses by local authorities)(6); F6 ...

[F7 “relevant disposal period” means the period of five years ending with the date of the disposal;]

[F7 “secure tenant” has the same meaning as in Part IV of the Housing Act 1985 (secure tenancies and rights of secure tenants);]

[F7 “small scale disposal” means a disposal by a local authority of an interest in housing land to any person where—

(a)

the Secretary of State has given consent to the disposal under section 32 (power to dispose of land held for the purposes of Part II) or 43 (consent required for certain disposals not within section 32) of the Housing Act 1985;

(b)

he has given that consent subject to the conditions that the local authority—

(i)

takes reasonable steps to ascertain whether the majority of secure tenants and introductory tenants who would be affected by the disposal are not opposed to it; and

(ii)

is satisfied that, at the time of the disposal, the majority of those tenants are not likely to be opposed to the disposal;

and

(c)

the aggregate of the following, namely—

(i)

the number of dwelling-houses included in the disposal; and

(ii)

the number of dwelling-houses which, within the relevant disposal period, have been previously disposed of by the authority to that person, or that person and any associates of his taken together,

is not more than 499,

but for the purposes of this definition, a disposal of any dwelling-house shall be disregarded if at the time of the disposal the local authority’s interest in the dwelling-house is or was subject to a long lease; and]

“the Society of Local Council Clerks” means the registered trade union of that name (Trade Union reference 1200T) which was established in 1972.

Textual Amendments

F1 Words in reg. 1(5) inserted (16.12.2004) by The Local Authorities (Capital Finance and Accounting) (Amendment) (England) (No. 2) Regulations 2004 (S.I. 2004/3055), regs. 1(1), 2(a)

F2 Words in reg. 1(5) inserted (16.12.2004) by The Local Authorities (Capital Finance and Accounting) (Amendment) (England) (No. 2) Regulations 2004 (S.I. 2004/3055), regs. 1(1), 2(b)

F3 Words in reg. 1(5) inserted (16.12.2004) by The Local Authorities (Capital Finance and Accounting) (Amendment) (England) (No. 2) Regulations 2004 (S.I. 2004/3055), regs. 1(1), 2(c)

F4 Words in reg. 1(5) inserted (1.4.2004) by The Local Authorities (Capital Finance and Accounting) (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2004 (S.I. 2004/534), regs. 1(1), 2

F5 Words in reg. 1(5) substituted (16.12.2004) by The Local Authorities (Capital Finance and Accounting) (Amendment) (England) (No. 2) Regulations 2004 (S.I. 2004/3055), regs. 1(1), 2(d)(i)

F6 Word in reg. 1(5) omitted (16.12.2004) by virtue of The Local Authorities (Capital Finance and Accounting) (Amendment) (England) (No. 2) Regulations 2004 (S.I. 2004/3055), regs. 1(1), 2(d)(ii)

F7 Words in reg. 1(5) inserted (16.12.2004) by The Local Authorities (Capital Finance and Accounting) (Amendment) (England) (No. 2) Regulations 2004 (S.I. 2004/3055), regs. 1(1), 2(e)

Commencement Information

I1 Reg. 1 in force at 1.1.2004 for specified purposes and 1.4.2004 in so far as not already in force, see reg. 1(1)

(1)

As regards the application of Part 1 of the Local Government Act 2003 to Wales, see section 24 of that Act.

(2)

S.I. 1997/319; regulation 65 was amended by S.I. 2001/3649. There are other amendments to regulation 65 but none is relevant. S.I. 1997/319 will be revoked on 1st April 2004 by virtue of the repeal of Part IV of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 (c. 42) under which it was made. See S.I. 2003/2938 (C. 107).

(3)

1996 c. 52; Part VII was amended by sections 117 and 169 of, and paragraph 116 of Schedule 14 and Schedule 16 to, the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 (c. 33), sections 5 to 12 of, paragraphs 2 and 7 to 21 of Schedule 1 and Schedule 2 to, the Homelessness Act 2002 (c. 7), and paragraphs 89 to 92 of Schedule 3 to the Adoption and Children Act 2002 (c. 38). There are other amendments to Part VII that are not relevant to these Regulations.

(4)

1989 c. 42; section 74 was amended by section 222 of, and paragraph 24(2) of Schedule 18 to, the Housing Act 1996.

(5)

The National Association of Local Councils' current address is 109 Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3LD and their website address is www.nalc.gov.uk.

(6)

1993 c. 28; section 135 was amended by S.I. 1996/2325. There are other amendments to section 135 and amendments to section 136 that are not relevant to these Regulations.