Citation, commencement, application and interpretation

1.–(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Housing (Service Charge Loans) (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2009 and shall come into force on 6th April 2009.

(2) These Regulations apply in relation to England only.

(3) In these Regulations "the 1992 Regulations" means the Housing (Service Charge Loans) Regulations 1992(2).

Terms of loans

2. The 1992 Regulations are amended in regulation 6 (terms of loans) by the substitution for paragraph (2) of–

"(2) A loan made by virtue of regulation 5 may be made on terms that–

(a) do not require the payment of interest; or

(b) require the payment of interest only on part of the loan;

and shall otherwise, subject to paragraph (3), be on such terms as the lender may determine.".

The rate of interest

3. The 1992 Regulations are amended, in paragraph 1(a) of Schedule 2, by the insertion after "loan" of "or the part of it on which interest is payable".

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the Housing (Service Charge Loans) Regulations 1992 ("the 1992 Regulations") which provide for housing authorities to make loans to their tenants in respect of service charges for repairs or improvements. The amendments, which apply only in relation to England, relate to loans made under the discretionary power in regulation 5 of the 1992 Regulations. That power may be exercised, in respect of flats, by "housing authorities". The term "housing authority" for the purposes of these amendments is defined in section 450B(4) of the Housing Act 1985.

Regulation 2 substitutes regulation 6(2) of the 1992 Regulations to provide that a loan made under the power in regulation 5 may be on terms that do not require the payment of interest or that require the payment of interest on only part of the loan.

Regulation 3 amends paragraph 1(a) of Schedule 2 to the 1992 Regulations in consequence of the new regulation 6(2).

A full regulatory impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no impact on the private or voluntary sectors is foreseen. However the proposed provision was included in a consultation document issued in August 2007 on proposed changes to the Right to Buy scheme, to which a general impact assessment regarding these changes was attached.