98.— (1) This section applies to a site provided by a housing authority to a qualified purchaser at a purchase price less than the market value.

(2) Where a site to which this section applies, including a site with a dwelling thereon, is first resold before the expiration of 20 years from the date of the sale of the site to a qualified purchaser, the vendor shall pay to the housing authority an amount equal to a percentage of the market value of the site only at the date of the resale, calculated in accordance with subsection (3).

(3) The percentage referred to in subsection (2) is calculated in accordance with the following formula—

Y x 100

Z

where—

(a) Y is the difference between the market value of the site at the date of the sale to the qualified purchaser and the price actually paid, and

(b) Z is the market value of the site at the date of the sale to the qualified purchaser.

(4) The amount payable under subsection (2) shall be reduced by 10 per cent in respect of each complete year after the tenth year during which the purchaser has been in possession of the site.

(5) Where the amount payable under subsection (2) would, if subtracted from the market value of the site at the date of its resale, result in an amount that is less than the price actually paid for the site, the amount payable shall be reduced to the extent necessary to avoid that result.

(6) As soon as practicable after a site to which this section applies is sold to a qualified purchaser, the housing authority shall make an order charging the site with an amount that shall be expressed in the order in the terms set out in subsection (7).

(7) The terms referred to in subsection (6) are that the amount charged is an amount equal to the amount (if any) that may subsequently become payable under subsection (2) in respect of the site.

(8) An order under subsection (6) shall be deemed to be a mortgage made by deed within the meaning of the Conveyancing Acts 1881 to 1911 and to have been executed, at the time of the sale of the site to the qualified purchaser, in favour of the housing authority for a charge of the amount referred to in subsection (7).

(9) Accordingly, the housing authority shall, as on and from the making of such an order—

(a) be deemed to be a mortgagee of the site for the purposes of the Conveyancing Acts 1881 to 1911, and

(b) have in relation to the charge referred to in subsection (8), all the powers conferred by those Acts on mortgagees under mortgages made by deed.

(10) Where a housing authority makes an order under subsection (6), it shall, as soon as practicable thereafter, cause the order to be registered in the Registry of Deeds or the Land Registry, as appropriate, and it shall be a sufficient description of the amount in respect of which the charge to which the order relates is being registered to state that amount to be the amount referred to in section 98 (7) of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009.

(11) An order under subsection (6) affecting a site to which this section applies which is registered land within the meaning of the Registration of Title Act 1964 shall be registrable as a burden affecting such land whether the person named in the order as the owner of the land is or is not registered under the said Act as the owner of the land.

(12) A housing authority may, subject to subsection (13), enter into an agreement with a holder of a license under the Central Bank Act 1971, a building society or other financial institution that a charge proposed to be created by it by an order under subsection (6) shall have a priority, as against a mortgage or charge proposed to be created in favour of that holder, society or institution, that is different from the priority the charge would otherwise have if this subsection had not been enacted.

(13) A housing authority may only enter into an agreement referred to in subsection (12) if it considers that the agreement will—

(a) enable a qualified purchaser to whom it is proposing to sell a site to which this section applies to obtain an advance of moneys from the holder, society or institution referred to in subsection (12) for the purposes of purchasing the site, or

(b) enable a qualified purchaser who purchased a site to which this section applies—

(i) to refinance an existing advance of moneys from the holder, society or institution referred to in subsection (12), or

(ii) to obtain a further advance of moneys from the holder, society or institution referred to in subsection (12), for any purpose.

(14) Any amount that becomes payable to a housing authority under subsection (2) may, without prejudice to any other power in that behalf, be recovered by the authority from the person concerned as a simple contract debt in any court of competent jurisdiction.

(15) For the avoidance of doubt, neither an order under subsection (6) nor a charge that arises under it shall be regarded as a conveyance for the purposes of section 3 of the Family Home Protection Act 1976.

(16) For the purposes of this section, the current market value of a site to which this section applies shall be determined by the housing authority, or, where the vendor does not agree with the market value so determined, by an independent valuer nominated by the vendor from a panel of suitably qualified persons, established by the housing authority, who are of a class or description prescribed under section 49.

(17) The housing authority shall not be liable for any expenses incurred by a vendor under subsection (16).