Explanatory note

The right to buy is provided for in Part V of the Housing Act 1985. These Regulations make minor amendments to the form of the notice claiming to exercise the right to buy (Schedule 1 to the Housing (Right to Buy) (Prescribed Forms) Regulations 1986).

The first sentence of the form is altered by regulation 2(a) to reflect the fact that, consequent upon the coming into force of Part I of the Housing Act 1988 (c. 50), persons who become tenants of housing associations on and after 15th January 1989 will not normally enjoy the right to buy.

The form lists certain bodies as public sector landlords. Periods spent as a tenant of such a body are relevant in relation to entitlement to the right to buy and to discount. The Housing (Right to Buy) (Prescribed Persons) Order 1989 (S.I. 1989/174) makes additions to those bodies.

Regulation 2(b) adds to the list–—housing action trusts established under Part III of the 1988 Act (Section 83(7) of the 1988 Act adds such trusts to paragraph 7 of Schedule 4 to the 1985 Act)—the bodies named in the 1989 Order, and omits the footnote which makes reference to prison officers' accommodation, (in respect of which, the landlord condition will now be treated as satisfied) in consequence of the amendment made by article 2(2)(a) of the 1989 Order.

A notice claiming the right to buy served by a secure tenant before 10th June 1989 is not invalidated by these Regulations if it is in the form required by the 1986 Regulations or in a form substantially to the like effect (regulation 3).