Explanatory note

Where a dwelling-house disposed of in pursuance of Chapter I of Part I of the Housing Act 1980 is situated in a National Park, an area designated under section 87 of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 as an area of outstanding natural beauty or an area designated by order of the Secretary of State as a rural area, the conveyance or grant effecting that disposal may contain a covenant limiting the freedom of the purchaser and his successors in title to dispose of the dwelling-house by conveying the freehold or assigning the lease, or granting certain kinds of lease or sub-lease other than with the consent of the landlord.

Under the Act such consent is not to be withheld where the disposal is made to a person who has, throughout the three years immediately preceding the application for consent, had either his only or principal home or his place of work in a region which or part of which is comprised in the National Park or area of outstanding natural beauty in which the dwelling-house is situated. Such regions may be designated by order of the Secretary of State. This order designates in respect of dwelling-houses in National Parks or areas of outstanding natural beauty situated in England a region comprising the Park or area in which the dwelling-house is situated and, so far as not situated in the Park or area, the county in which it is situated. Special provision is made for the area designated as an area of outstanding natural beauty by the Wye Valley Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (Designation) (England) Order 1971, and for the Isles of Scilly.