The Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 (Commencement No. 3 and Transitional, Transitory and Saving Provisions) (Wales) Order 2013

Made: 12 June 2013

The Welsh Ministers, in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 322(2) and 325(3) and (4) of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008[^f00001], make the following Order.

Title and interpretation

1

• (1) The title of this Order is the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 (Commencement No. 3 and Transitional, Transitory and Saving Provisions) (Wales) Order 2013.

• (2) In this Order—

• “the 1983 Act” (“Deddf 1983”) means the Mobile Homes Act 1983[^f00002];

• “the 2008 Act” (“Deddf 2008”) means the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008;

• “appointed day” (“diwrnod penodedig”) is the day appointed by article 2;

• “existing agreement” (“cytundeb presennol”) means a local authority agreement which is made before the appointed day;

• “gypsies and travellers” (“sipsiwn a theithwyr”) means persons of nomadic habit of life, whatever their race or origin, but does not include members of an organised group of travelling showpeople, or persons engaged in travelling circuses, travelling together as such[^f00003];

• “local authority agreement” (“cytundeb awdurdod lleol”) means an agreement under which a person is entitled to station a mobile home on a local authority gypsy and traveller site in Wales;

• “local authority gypsy and traveller site” (“safle sipsiwn a theithwyr awdurdod lleol”) means any land which is occupied by a local authority as a caravan site providing accommodation for gypsies and travellers;

• “permanent pitch” (“llain barhaol”) means a pitch on which a person is entitled to station a mobile home under the terms of an agreement to which the 1983 Act applies and which is not a transit pitch;

• “pitch” (“llain”) means land, forming part of a local authority gypsy and traveller site in Wales and including any garden area, on which a person is entitled to station a mobile home; and

• “transit pitch” (“llain bontio”) means a pitch on which a person is entitled to station a mobile home, under the terms of an agreement to which the 1983 Act applies, for a fixed period of up to 3 months.

• (3) Other expressions used, but not defined, in this Order and which are used in the 1983 Act have the same meaning in this Order as they have in the 1983 Act.

Appointed day: local authority gypsy and traveller sites

2

• (1) 10 July 2013 is the appointed day for the coming into force of the following provisions so far as relating to Wales—

• (a) section 318 (protected mobile home sites to include sites for gypsies and travellers) of the 2008 Act;

• (b) section 321(1) (repeals) of, and Schedule 16 to, the 2008 Act so far as they relate to the following repeals—

• (2) Paragraph (1) is subject to articles 3 to 7.

Transit pitches: saving for certain purposes of the 1983 Act

3

The repeals made by the provisions brought into force by article 2 do not apply for thepurposes of sections 1(3), (4) and (6) and 2(2) to (4) of the 1983 Act[^f00004], in so far as they relate to a transit pitch.

Existing agreements: general transitional provision

4

The 1983 Act applies to an existing agreement as it would apply to a local authority agreement made after the coming into force of the provisions brought into force by article 2 and The Mobile Homes Act 1983 (Amendment of Schedule 1 and Consequential Amendments) (Wales) Order 2013[^f00005], but this is subject to article 5.

Existing agreements: transitional disapplication of certain terms and obligations

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• (1) Sections 1(2) to (9) and 2(2) to (4) of the 1983 Act do not apply to an existing agreement.

• (2) In relation to an existing agreement—

• (i) where proceedings are commenced before the appointed day in which termination of the agreement is at issue, paragraphs 3 and 4 (termination) of Chapter 3, or paragraphs 3 to 6 of Chapter 4, of Part 1 of Schedule 1 to the 1983 Act (whichever is applicable in the particular case) do not apply;

• (ii) paragraph 8 (re-siting of mobile home) of Chapter 4 of Part 1 of that Schedule does not apply to a requirement that the occupier’s right to station the mobile home is exercisable for any period in relation to another pitch where the requirement is made before the appointed day;

• (iii) paragraph 15(2) and (6) to (11) (pitch fee) of Chapter 4 of Part 1 of that Schedule does not apply in relation to the first pitch fee review under that agreement where the pitch fee review date for that review is within 28 days of the appointed day;

• (iv) paragraph 16 (pitch fee) of Chapter 4 of Part 1 of that Schedule does not apply where works relating to an improvement were carried out before the appointed day;

• (v) paragraph 19(c) and (d) (occupier’s obligations) of Chapter 4 of Part 1 of that Schedule may not be enforced in relation to any breach of the agreement which occurs within 3 months of the appointed day;

• (vi) paragraph 19(e) (occupier’s obligations) of Chapter 4 of Part 1 of that Schedule does not apply in relation to costs and expenses incurred before the appointed day;

• (vii) paragraph 20(f) (owner’s obligations) of Chapter 4 of Part 1 of that Schedule does not apply where works relating to the improvements start before, or within the period of 28 days beginning with, the appointed day; and

• (viii) paragraph 20(g) (owner’s obligations) of Chapter 4 of Part 1 of that Schedule does not apply in relation to any matter which arises before, or within the period of 28 days beginning with, the appointed day.

Existing agreements: local authority’s duty to provide a written statement

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• (1) In relation to an existing agreement in respect of a pitch which, by virtue of this Order, becomes a permanent pitch, the local authority must within the period of 28 days beginning with the appointed day give to the other party to the agreement a written statement which complies with the following paragraphs.

• (2) The written statement must—

• (a) specify the names and addresses of the parties;

• (b) include particulars of the pitch that are sufficient to identify it;

• (c) set out the express terms contained in the agreement;

• (d) set out the terms to be implied terms by virtue of the application of the 1983 Act to the agreement; and

• (e) be in the form set out in the Schedule to this Order or a form substantially to the same effect.

• (3) Subject to paragraph (4), any express term contained in the agreement is unenforceable by a local authority or any person within section 3(1) of the 1983 Act if it was not set out in a written statement given to the other party in accordance with paragraph (1).

• (4) Where the local authority fails to give the other party to the agreement a written statement in accordance with paragraph (1), the other party may, at any time after the 28 days mentioned in that paragraph has expired, apply to a tribunal for an order requiring the local authority—

• (a) to give the party a written statement which complies with paragraph (2)(a) to (e), and

• (b) to do so not later than such date as is specified in the order.

• (5) In paragraph (4) “tribunal” has the same meaning as in the 1983 Act and a tribunal’s jurisdiction under that paragraph is to be treated as jurisdiction under the 1983 Act.

• (6) A statement required to be given to a person under this article may be either delivered to them personally or sent by post.

• (7) A written statement under this article is not to be treated as a written statement for the purposes of section 1 or 2 of the 1983 Act.

• (8) A written statement under this article is to be treated as a written statement for the purposes of Chapter 4 of Part 1 of Schedule 1 to the 1983 Act.

Existing agreements: general saving

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The repeals made by the provisions brought into force by article 2 do not affect any right or liability which has accrued in relation to an existing agreement or any remedy in respect of any such right or liability.

SCHEDULE — Written Statement in relation to the Mobile Homes Act 1983

Signed

Huw Lewis — Minister for Minister for Communities and Tackling Poverty, one of the Welsh Ministers — 12 June 2013

Explanatory note

(This note is not part of the Order)

EXPLANATORY NOTE

Article 2 of this Order appoints 10 July 2013 as the day on which section 318 (protected mobile home sites to include sites for gypsies and travellers) of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 (“the 2008 Act”) and related repeals in Schedule 16 to that Act are brought into force in relation to Wales.

The commencement of section 318 will result in agreements in respect of pitches on local authority gypsy and traveller sites in Wales becoming subject to the Mobile Homes Act 1983 (“the 1983 Act”). This replicates what was achieved in England by the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 (Commencement No. 8 and Transitional, Transitory and Saving Provisions) Order 2011[^f00006] which commenced section 318 of the 2008 Act in relation to England on 30 April 2011.

Articles 3 to 7 are transitional, transitory and saving provisions in relation to agreements for pitches on local authority gypsy and traveller sites. Article 3 saves the disapplication of certain provisions in relation to agreements for transit pitches. Broadly these disapplications mean that the 28 day time limit for providing a written statement, the right to seek a tribunal order in relation to the giving of a written statement, and the right to apply to the tribunal to amend the terms of such an agreement, do not apply to these agreements.

Article 4 provides that the 1983 Act shall apply to all agreements to station a mobile home on a local authority gypsy and traveller site in Wales which exist on the commencement of section 318 of the 2008 Act as it would apply to any such agreement made after the commencement. As a result, the terms set out in Schedule 1 to the 1983 Act, as inserted by the Mobile Homes Act 1983 (Amendment of Schedule 1) (Wales) Order 2013 will be implied to such agreements.

Article 5 disapplies, in relation to an existing agreement, certain provisions of sections 1 and 2 of, and Schedule 1 to, the 1983 Act (inserted into that Act by the Mobile Homes Act 1983 (Amendment of Schedule 1) (Wales) Order 2013).

Article 6 is a transitory provision which requires local authorities to give a written statement to the occupiers of permanent pitches within 28 days of the appointed day and it (and the Schedule to the Order) sets out what such a statement must include.

Article 7 is a general saving provision to ensure that rights and liabilities under existing agreements are not affected by the application of the 1983 Act to existing agreements.

Footnotes

[^f00001]: 2008 c.17.

[^f00002]: 1983 c.34.

[^f00003]: Section 5 of the Mobile Homes Act 1983, before amendment by section 318 of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 (c.17), provides that the 1983 Act does not apply to land occupied by a local authority as a caravan site providing accommodation for gipsies. The definition of ‘gipsies’ which this exclusion relied upon was repealed by section 80 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 (c. 33), though it was saved for the purpose of interpreting section 5. This definition of ‘gypsies and travellers’ derives from that saved definition.

[^f00004]: 1983 c.34. In England and Wales, section 1 was substituted, and section 2 was amended, by sections 206 and 265 of, and paragraph 9 of Schedule 15 to, the Housing Act 2004 (c.34).

[^f00005]: S.I. 2012/1723. (W. 167)

[^f00006]: S.I. 2011/1002.