Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1992

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Assistance by housing authorities of certain bodies.

6.—(1) A housing authority may, on such terms and conditions (including conditions requiring the giving of undertakings) as they think fit, assist—

(a) another housing authority, including the corporation of a borough, the council of an urban district and the commissioners of a town, or

(b) a body standing approved of for the purposes of this section,

in respect of the provision (whether provided by erection, purchase, improvement or conversion works) or management by the other authority or body of housing accommodation, or in respect of other matters in relation to housing.

(2) Assistance under subsection (1) may be given in one or more of the following ways—

(a) by a loan;

(b) by a periodic contribution to the funds of the other authority or body;

(c) by a guarantee of sums owed by the other authority or body in respect of borrowings;

(d) by a grant;

(e) by a subsidy towards, or the remission in whole or in part of, loan charges incurred by the other authority or body;

(f) by a contribution in kind, whether by way of materials or labour or any other service.

(3) A guarantee under this section may be given by the housing authority either alone or jointly with any other person or persons (including a housing authority).

(4) Where a housing authority have under this section assisted another housing authority or a body and, as a condition of providing such assistance, have been given an undertaking which has not been complied with, the following provisions shall have effect:

(a) the authority or body who received the assistance shall be liable to repay such amount as may be determined by the authority who provided the assistance, and

(b) the amount shall, without prejudice to any other power in that behalf, be recoverable by the authority who provided the assistance from the authority or body who received it as a simple contract debt in any court of competent jurisdiction.

(5) Where the terms and conditions of assistance under this section enable the assistance to be secured by mortgage, the housing authority may, for the purpose of securing the assistance, enter into and carry out an agreement with any other mortgagee.

(6) (a) Subject to paragraph (b), a body may be approved of for the purposes of this section by the Minister with or without conditions.

(b) The Minister may, by order, as respects their functional area, delegate to a housing authority or to housing authorities of a particular class or classes his functions under paragraph (a).

(c) An order under paragraph (b) may specify matters to which a housing authority shall have regard in deciding whether to approve of a body.

(d) The Minister may by order amend or revoke an order made under this subsection, including an order made under this paragraph.

(e) The power to approve of a body for the purposes of this section shall be construed as including the power to amend the terms of such approval or to withdraw such approval.

(f) A housing authority may not amend the terms of or withdraw an approval granted by the Minister, or deemed under subsection (7) to have been so granted, except with the consent of the Minister.

(7) A body standing approved of by the Minister under section 5 of the Act of 1988 at the commencement of this section shall be deemed to have been approved of under paragraph (a) of subsection (6).

(8) The determination of the terms and conditions under which assistance under this section is provided shall be a reserved function.

(9) Where a housing authority have assisted a body under section 12 of the Principal Act in the provision of housing accommodation, the Minister may, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, recoup out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas all or part of such assistance.

(10) Any reference to section 5 of the Act of 1988 in sections 10 and 15 of that Act, in section 28 of the Building Societies Act, 1989 , or in regulations made under the Housing Acts, 1966 to 1992, shall be construed as a reference to this section.

(11) In this section “housing accommodation” includes sites for caravans within the meaning of section 13 of the Act of 1988.