# Finance Act 1988, Paragraph 15

Extent: E+W+S+N.I.

(1) Subject to sub-paragraphs (1A) to (1C) below, section 50 of this Act does not apply to a dwelling-house if—
(a) before the relevant date, the company or any of its subsidiaries had entered into arrangements for letting the whole or any part of the dwelling-house;
(b) at that date, the whole or any part of the dwelling-house was let; or
(c) after that date, the whole or any part of the dwelling-house has been let otherwise than on a qualifying tenancy.
(1A) Section 50 of this Act is not precluded from applying to a dwelling-house by sub-paragraph (1)(a) above if the arrangements there mentioned were for letting to a person who was an owner-occupier of the dwelling-house before the relevant date.
(1B) Section 50 of this Act is not precluded from applying to a dwelling-house by sub-paragraph (1)(b) above if the letting there mentioned was to a person—
(a) who was an owner-occupier of the dwelling-house before the date of the letting, and
(b) to whom the dwelling-house or part is let on a qualifying tenancy by the company or any of its subsidiaries after the relevant date.
(1C) Section 50 of this Act is not precluded from applying to a dwelling-house by sub-paragraph (1)(c) above if the letting there mentioned was to a person—
(a) who was an owner-occupier of the dwelling-house before the relevant date, and
(b) to whom the dwelling-house or part is let on a qualifying tenancy by the company or any of its subsidiaries after the letting mentioned in sub-paragraph (1)(c).
(2) In this paragraph—
“let” includes let under a licence and “letting” shall be construed accordingly;
“the relevant date” means the date when the company or any of its subsidiaries first acquired an interest in the dwelling-house (or the land which comprises the dwelling-house).
(3) For the purposes of this paragraph, a person shall be taken to have been an owner-occupier of a dwelling-house before the relevant date or, as the case may be, the date mentioned in sub-paragraph (1B)(a) above if—
(a) at any time before that date, he occupied the dwelling-house as his only or principal home and had a freehold interest in it, or
(b) for a period of at least two years ending on that date, he occupied the dwelling-house as his only or principal home and had an interest in it under a lease for a term of years certain not less than twenty-one of which remained unexpired at that date.
(4) In the application of sub-paragraph (3) above to a dwelling-house in Scotland—
(a) for paragraph (a) there shall be substituted—
“(a) at any time before that date he occupied the dwelling-house and—
(i) was the absolute owner of it, or
(ii) was the owner of thedominium utile in it,”; and
(b) in paragraph (b) the word “certain” shall be omitted.
(5) In the application of sub-paragraph (3) above to a dwelling-house in Northern Ireland, any conveyance or assignment of an interest in it by way of mortgage shall be disregarded.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/39/schedule/4/paragraph/15 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/finance-act-1988/schedule-4/paragraph-15
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.