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Section 219: Directions as to certain charges by social landlords.

Housing Act 1996 · 1996 c. 52View on legislation.gov.uk

Part VIII: Miscellaneous and general provisions

The Secretary of State may give directions to social landlords about the making of service charges in respect of works of repair, maintenance or improvement—

requiring or permitting the waiver or reduction of charges where relevant assistance is given by the Secretary of State, and
permitting the waiver or reduction of charges in such other circumstances as may be specified in the directions.

A direction shall not require the waiver or reduction of charges by reference to assistance for which application was made before the date on which the direction was given, but subject to that directions may relate to past charges or works to such extent as appears to the Secretary of State to be appropriate.

Directions which require or permit the waiver or reduction of charges have corresponding effect—

in relation to charges already demanded so as to require or permit the non-enforcement of the charges, and
in relation to charges already paid so as to require or permit a refund.

For the purposes of this section "social landlord" means—

an authority or body within section 80(1) of the Housing Act 1985 (the landlord condition for secure tenancies), other than the Homes and Communities Agency, the Greater London Authority, the Welsh Ministers and a housing co-operative, ...
a private registered provider of social housing, or
a registered social landlord.

A direction may be given to a social landlord which is a profit-making private registered provider of social housing only in relation to charges relating to its social housing (within the meaning of Part 2 of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008).

In this section "assistance" means grant or other financial assistance of any kind; and directions may specify what assistance is relevant for the purposes of this section, and to what buildings or other land any assistance is to be regarded as relevant.

The provisions of section 220 supplement this section.

About this text

This legislation text comes from legislation.gov.uk. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. These source and reuse terms cover the legislation text, not Remedy's commentary.

Reuse reviewed 21 August 2026 under Open Government Licence v3.0.