Commentary on Parts Miscellaneous and supplementary
114.Section 88 prevents a local authority from giving a further grant or subsidised loan for the same work for which a grant or subsidised loan has already been approved. It may give a standard loan for the same work, but the amount cannot exceed the approved expense minus the amount of the grant, i.e. the amount the applicant is required to pay. A local authority must not give a further grant or subsidised loan within 10 years of approving one for work on the same house, unless at least one of four conditions apply. These are that the additional work could not have been foreseen when the original application was approved; that the additional work could not have been carried out at the same time as the original work; that the additional work was not considered to be eligible for a grant or subsidised loan when the local authority approved the original application; or that the authority has invited an application for a further grant or loan under section 90.
115.Section 89 makes it a criminal offence to give false information in an application for a grant or loan or in response to an authority’s request for information to support the accuracy of an application. It is also an offence to fail to notify the authority of a change in circumstances affecting an application.
116.Section 90 allows a local authority to invite an application for a further grant or subsidised loan, where an application for grant or loan has been made and the house requires the replacement of unsafe electrical wiring, installation of mains-powered smoke detectors or provision of adequate thermal insulation. For premises where any part is owned in common (for example, a tenement), this section also applies to the installation of a fire-resistant front door for each separate house or part of the premises, or a main door entry-phone system.
117.Section 91 allows a local authority to make payments to a not for profit lender that provides loans to individuals for the purposes of work or the acquisition or sale of a house that is eligible for local authority assistance. This could allow the authority to contribute to the loan fund or subsidise administrative costs of a non-profit lender working across authority areas, as an alternative to making standard loans itself. The terms on which the local authority makes payments to the lender may include restrictions on the terms of loans made to individuals. Ministers may make regulations to change the definition of relevant lenders, or to control the terms of payments to them and to individuals.