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The interest is to be low, for it will not exceed 10s. above the rate at which
the Local Authority can at the time borrow from the Public Works Loan Commission
; the repayment is to be made within a time agreed upon, not to exceed
thirty years. There are certain conditions of proprietorship to be observed, such
as residence in the house, insurance against fire, and keeping it in good sanitary
condition.
The Westminster Vestry forwarded the following copy of a Case which they
submitted to Counsel, and his Opinion thereon, in regard to the meaning of the
word " house " in this Act:—
Vestry of St. Margaret and St. John, Westminster.
CASE TO ADVISE.
Herewith are sent:—
Copy of the Small Dwellings Acquisition Act, 1899, and of a Circular
thereon issued by the Local Government Board on the 19th
September last.
By Section 1 (1) of the Act a Local Authority for any area is empowered,
subject to the provisions of the Act, to advance money to a resident in any house
within the area for the purpose of enabling him to acquire the ownership of that
house. The amount to be advanced is limited by the Act, and the section goes on
to provide, amongst other things, that no advance shall be made where in the
opinion of the Local Authority the market value of the house exceeds £400.
By Section 2 of the Act the Local Authority, before making the advance, must
satisfy themselves, inter alia, that the applicant is resident, or intends to reside in
the house; but this is modified by Section 7 (1), which provides that an advance
may be made to an applicant who intends to reside in a house, as if he were
resident, if he undertakes to begin his residence therein within such period, not
exceeding six months, as the Local Authority may fix. Further, Section 10 (1)
provides that a person shall not be deemed for the purposes of this Act to be
resident in a house unless he is both the occupier of and resident in that house.
The estate in a house that a resident may be assisted to purchase (referred to
as the “ownership ”) is defined by Section 10 (2) as "such interest or combination
“ of interests in a house as together with the interest of the purchaser of the
“ ownership will constitute either a fee simple in possession or a leasehold interest
“ in possession of at least 60 years unexpired at the date of the purchase." The
statutory conditions on which the house is to be held and the remedies for enforcing
the same are set out in Section 3.
Under the Act, therefore, it would seem that an advance can only be made to
a person residing or intending to reside [see Section 7 (1) ] in and occupying a
house worth not more than £400 to enable him or her to acquire the freehold, or a
lease with 60 years still to run. It is obvious that the operation of the Act in
London must necessarily be very restricted.
The Local Authority in Westminster is the United Vestry of the Parishes of
St. Margaret and St. John the Evangelist, a Committee of which Vestry have
recently had the Act under their consideration, which the Vestry are anxious if
possible to adopt. It appears that there exist no houses in Westminster the