Section 25 of the Finance Act 2002 amended the Urban Renewal Act 1998 and the Town Renewal Act 2000. This allowed the Minister for the Environment and Local Government to recommend to the Minister for Finance that certain areas be designated for the purposes of rented residential relief in relation to construction, conversion or refurbishment expenditure. The areas in question are certain areas where the Minister for the Environment and Local Government has already recommended to the Minister for Finance that they be designated for residential owner-occupier relief.
Section 25 also provided that where such a recommendation is made then the expenditure involved may be treated by the relevant local authority as consistent with the objectives of the integrated area plan or the town renewal plan concerned, even though the plan may not have contained or been accompanied by a recommendation from the local authority that designation for the appropriate rented residential relief should apply. The section applies as respects expenditure incurred on or in relation to a qualifying residential property on or after 5 December 2001 generally and in certain cases for expenditure prior to that date, subject to conditions.