Deregulation of Welsh housing associations: registration requirements

13 Aug 2018 03:18 PM

On 15 August 2018, regulations relating to Welsh Registered Social Landlords will change.

Sections 13 and 14 of the Regulation of Registered Social Landlords (Wales) Act 2018 (the Act), and the Regulation of Registered Social Landlords (Wales) Act 2018 (Consequential Amendments) Regulations 2018 (the Regulations), come into force on 15 August.

The Act and the Regulations have the combined effect of removing the requirement for a consent by Welsh Ministers to disposals by a Welsh housing association made on or after 15 August 2018.

The consent of Welsh Ministers will still be required for disposals dated before 15 August 2018 where legislation currently requires this, and evidence of this consent will still have to be supplied if the application for registration is submitted to us on or after this date.

We are updating 2 guides:

Additional information about the legislative changes for legal professionals

The Act removes the requirement for consent to certain disposals by a Welsh Registered Social Landlord (RSL) under section 171D of the Housing Act 1985; sections 81 and 133 of the Housing Act 1988; and section 9 of the Housing Act 1996.

The consent requirement under section 9 of the Housing Act 1996 is being replaced by a requirement to notify the Welsh Ministers. This applies to any disposition by an RSL.

The Regulations amend the Land Registration Rules 2003 (LRR 2003) by:

  1. amending rule 95, LRR 2003, with a consequential amendment to the restriction in standard form X – this is to redefine “exempt disposals”;
  2. revoking the restriction in standard form KK – we currently enter this restriction in the tenant’s register when we register a shared ownership lease by an RSL; and
  3. amending rule 183A, LRR 2003 – we will not require a certificate that the applicant is, or holds on trust for, an RSL as we will no longer enter the following restriction when we register an RSL as proprietor of land:

We are considering what action we can take to update existing registers that contain these restrictions.

The Welsh Government has published a guide (PDF, 356KB) on the Act.