Social housing relief - Public forum - Planning Advisory Service (PAS)
Social housing relief
I have a 100% affordable housing site that is trying to claim social housing relief. The landowner (A), liable party (B) and relief claimant (C) are all different, so I've been unable to process the relief claim in accordance with Reg 51(2), which states the claimant has to be the landowner AND liable party.
The developer (B) are keen to start on site asap, but obviously any relief claim needs to be determined before they can commence. (A) is due to exchange to land to the Registered Provider (C) in a few weeks, before they commence, so I've suggested they wait until the exchange and then (C) can confirm ownership, acccept a transfer of the liability and submit their relief claim.
However, (B) wants to start on site about 2 days after the exchange (A to C)(!). As a result, (B) is concerned that any delay with that relief claim will have implications for that development.
Under Regulation 52, the landowner can make a material disposal of land to another party, before occupation. So...
- Am I right in thinking that (A) could accept a transfer of liability and make the relief claim now, to allow the development to begin*, and then notify the Council under R52 once the exchange has happened to (C) so the relief can be transferred to the RP? *Usual rules about commencement notices apply.
- Could a disposal under R52 be accepted before commencement or would it conflict with Reg 51(7(b)&(c)) and therefore require a new relief claim to be submitted?
- Is anyone aware of any issues resulting from a material disposal of land from a landowner to an RP, whereby a disqualifying event has been triggered or relief has been lost?
This the first SHR claim I've received, and want to be sure of the right approach before I give further advice.
Thanks in advance!
Rebecca Randall, modified 8 Years ago.
RE: Social housing relief
Enthusiast Posts: 60 Join Date: 06/05/14 Recent PostsHi
I'ev only granted one social housing relief claim, which was pretty straightforward. But i had another which reached an advanced stage and had similar commencement / land transaction timescales and was on council owned land, just to add to the pressure! With regards to your questions, my opinion is:
Am I right in thinking that (A) could accept a transfer of liability and make the relief claim now, to allow the development to begin*, and then notify the Council under R52 once the exchange has happened to (C) so the relief can be transferred to the RP? *Usual rules about commencement notices apply.
This sounds fine, I think. What I did in my case was allow the claimant to submit all of the relevant paper work even though they werent the landowner, with the intention that on teh day the land transaction was made, I would be in a position with all the relevant internal approvals, etc to get the relief approval out of the door.
- Could a disposal under R52 be accepted before commencement or would it conflict with Reg 51(7(b)&(c)) and therefore require a new relief claim to be submitted? I dont think this would conflict because R.51(7c) specifically refers to R.32, not R.52 which is a seperate provision/process.
- Is anyone aware of any issues resulting from a material disposal of land from a landowner to an RP, whereby a disqualifying event has been triggered or relief has been lost? If a disposal is made within 7 years of commencement of development then R.53(2) and R.53(3) apply so you need to make the claimant aware of that.
I hope this helps, Rebecca