Housing Co-operatives (Hansard, 25 November 1985)

§ Mr. John Patten

Applications for grant under section 93 of the Finance Act 1965 have been received from three tenant management co-operatives which are registered housing associations and are operating under approved agreements with local authorities.

Ewart Road Housing Co-operative Ltd. applied for grant of £4,456 in respect of the financial year 1982–83. That application was correctly rejected because the cooperative was not a registered housing association throughout the period covered by the claim, but the co-operative was incorrectly told in correspondence that its management activities would have made it ineligible for grant in any event. My Department has now written to the 385W co-operative's chartered accountants to clarify the position and invite them to consider applying for grant in respect of later years.

Islington Green Tenants Co-operative Ltd. applied for grant of £654 in respect of the financial years 1981–82 and 1982–83. These applications were rejected since the cooperative did not become a registered housing association until 26 April 1982. Subsequent applications for grants totalling £838 have been accepted.

Wellington Mills Housing Co-operative Ltd. applied for grant of £6,222 in respect of the financial year 1982–83. That application was rejected since the cooperative did not become a registered housing association until 26 April 1982. Subsequent applications, for £1,509 in respect of 1983–84 and £2,373 in respect of 1984–85, were rejected because it was not appreciated that the cooperative's tax liability arose from its operation of an agreement approved by the Secretary of State. My Department has written to the co-operative and the 1983–84 and 1984–85 applications will be settled shortly.