s 46 Clearance orders: temporary retention of houses let to local authorities
(1) The following provisions of this section shall have effect, in the case of a house on land in a clearance area which does not belong to the local authority, where the authority are of opinion that the house is or can be rendered capable of providing accommodation of a standard which is adequate for the time being, and that the house ought not to be demolished for the time being but ought to be retained for temporary use for housing purposes. (2) Subject to the next following subsection, the local authority may include in any clearance order made by them and applying to the house a provision that the demolition of the house in pursuance of the order is to be postponed until the authority determine that the house is no longer required for use for housing purposes ; and if such a provision is included, the order shall not fix a period for the vacation of the house as required by subsection (1) of the last foregoing section. (3) A local authority shall not include in a clearance order such a provision as is mentioned in the last foregoing subsection unless they have acquired, or are satisfied that by the time the clearance order becomes operative they will have acquired, such rights under a tenancy of the house as will enable them to retain the house for use for housing purposes until they determine that it is no longer required for such use and to deal with it in all respects as if it were a house on land in a clearance area belonging to them. (4) In relation to a house to which a clearance order applies with such a provision as is mentioned in subsection (2) of this section— (a) subsection (3) of section forty-four of this Act shall have effect with the substitution for the period therein referred to of such a period not less than six weeks as may, in a notice served by the local authority on the owner or owners of the house as soon as they determine that the house is no longer required for use for housing purposes, be specified as the period within which the authority require the house to be demolished ; and (b) the last foregoing section shall not apply until the local authority determine that the house is no longer required for such use as aforesaid and shall then have effect with the substitution for references to the date by which the order requires the house to be vacated of references to the date of the authority's notice under the foregoing paragraph. (5) In respect of any houses retained by a local authority under this section for temporary use for housing purposes, the authority shall have the like powers as they have in respect of houses provided under Part V of this Act, and section six of this Act shall not apply to a contract for the letting by a local authority of any such house.