The Secure Tenancies (Notices) (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2004

Statutory Instruments

2004 No. 1627

HOUSING, ENGLAND

The Secure Tenancies (Notices) (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2004

Made

24th June 2004

Coming into force

19th July 2004

The First Secretary of State, in exercise of the powers conferred upon him by section 83(2) and (7) of the Housing Act 1985(1), hereby makes the following Regulations:

Citation, commencement and application

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Secure Tenancies (Notices)(Amendment) (England) Regulations 2004 and shall come into force on 19th July 2004.

(2) These Regulations apply to England only.

Amendment: notice to be served before proceedings for a demotion order

2.—(1) The Secure Tenancies (Notices) Regulations 1987(2) shall be amended as follows.

(2) After regulation 2, add—

“3.   The notice to be served on a secure tenant under section 83 of the Housing Act 1985 before the court can entertain proceedings for a demotion order under section 82A(3) of that Act, shall be in the form specified in Part III of the Schedule to these Regulations, or in a form substantially to the same effect.”

(3) In the Schedule, after Part II add—

“Part III Notice before proceedings for a demotion order

• Housing Act 1985, s83

This Notice is the first step towards the termination of your secure tenancy and its replacement with a demoted tenancy. You should read it very carefully.

”

Signed by authority of the First Secretary of State

Yvette Cooper

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State

Office of the Deputy Prime Minister

24th June 2004

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Secure Tenancies (Notices) Regulations 1987 as they apply in England to prescribe the form of notice which should be served on a secure tenant before a landlord begins proceedings for a demotion order under section 82A of that Act.

Section 14 of the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 amended Part 4 of the Housing Act 1985 to allow a secure tenancy to be brought to an end and replaced with a less secure demoted tenancy by a demotion order made by a county court.

Section 83 of the Housing Act 1985, as amended by section 14 of the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003, provides that a court may not entertain proceedings for a demotion order unless either a notice in the prescribed form and containing certain specified information has been served on the secure tenant, or the court considers it just and equitable to dispense with such a notice.

(1)

1985 c. 68. The functions of the Secretary of State under the Housing Act 1985 (the 1985 Act) are, so far as exercisable in relation to Wales, transferred to the National Assembly for Wales by article 2 of the National Assembly for Wales (Transfer of Functions) Order 1999 (SI 1999/672, to which there are amendments not relevant to these Regulations). Section 83 of the 1985 Act was substituted by section 147 of the Housing Act 1996 (c. 52). In section 83, subsections (1) and (2) are amended, and subsection (4A) inserted, by section 14(3) of the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 (c. 38).

(2)

SI 1987/755 as amended by SI 1997/71 and SI 1997/377.

(3)

Section 82A was inserted by section 14(2) of the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 (c. 38)