Mr. Gareth ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what requirements are placed on the owners of buildings of historical interest who are grant-aided by English Heritage and the Heritage Lottery Fund to refund the grant or part of the grant, if the property is sold. [68302]
§ Dr. HowellsFor grant aid administered by English Heritage under Section 3A of the Historic Buildings and Monuments Act 1953, the whole grant is usually recoverable if the property is disposed of within 10 years of the original offer. Recovery conditions may be omitted where it is considered unnecessary or unenforceable.
Grant aid administered by English Heritage under the Planning (Listed Building and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 includes the following condition:
The grant or any such part of it as the Council sees fit, may be recovered from the grant recipient under Sections 58 and 80(7) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 if:(b) during the period of 3 years beginning with the day on which the grant is made, the recipient disposes of the interest held in the property on that day (the relevant interest), or any part of that interest, by way of a sale exchange or lease for a term of not less than 21 years.When an applicant is awarded a Heritage Lottery Fund grant a contract is issued containing conditions of grant relating to the project. These include the following condition:
If you [the applicant] sell or dispose of a property we [the Heritage Lottery Fund] have funded within the period specified in our contract, we may ask you to repay our grant.These conditions of grant are detailed on pages 8 and 9 of the Heritage Grant application pack, which is available on-line at www.hlf.org.uk.