26Acceptable savings of joint applicants to include certain moneys expended in purchase of certain residential land

26 Acceptable savings of joint applicants to include certain moneys expended in purchase of certain residential land

(1) For the purpose of determining the acceptable savings of joint applicants on a particular date (in this section referred to as the relevant date), where moneys, other than borrowed moneys, were expended before the relevant date by any of the joint applicants, or jointly by 2 or more of the joint applicants, in payment of the whole or a part of the purchase price in respect of the purchase by any of the joint applicants, or jointly by 2 or more of the joint applicants, of land that could, on the date on which the moneys were expended, lawfully be used for residential purposes and is not land on which there has been, is being or is to be, constructed a dwelling‑house in respect of which an application for a grant has been made by the applicants and: (a) any of the joint applicants has, or 2 or more of the joint applicants have, before the expiration of 6 months after the prescribed date, become entitled to receive a refund of the whole or a part of the moneys expended but had not, before the relevant date, received the whole of that refund; or (b) any of the joint applicants has, or 2 or more of the joint applicants have, before the expiration of 6 months after the prescribed date, entered into a contract for the sale of the land, but had not, before the relevant date, received the whole of the moneys that were payable in respect of the sale; the Secretary may, having regard to the area and the number of separate parcels of the land and the amount (if any) received by the joint applicant or joint applicants before the relevant date as a refund of the moneys expended or in respect of the sale of the land, treat the acceptable savings of the joint applicants on the relevant date as having included the whole, or such part as the Secretary considers reasonable, of the moneys expended. (2) In subsection (1): (a) the reference to moneys expended by a joint applicant before the relevant date shall be read as including a reference to one‑half of any moneys expended by that joint applicant jointly with another person (not being a joint applicant) being: (i) a person to whom the joint applicant was legally married on the prescribed date and to whom a direction under subsection 6(2) applies; (ii) a person (not being a deceased spouse of the joint applicant) who was the spouse of the joint applicant on the relevant date; or (iii) a person who, on the relevant date, was engaged to be married to the joint applicant; (b) the reference to the purchase of land by the joint applicant shall be read as including a reference to the purchase of land by the joint applicant and that other person jointly; (c) the reference to the entering into by the joint applicant of a contract for the sale of land shall be read as including a reference to the entering into of such a contract by the joint applicant and that other person jointly; and (d) the reference to moneys received by the joint applicant as a refund shall be read as including a reference to one‑half of any moneys received as a refund by the joint applicant and the other person jointly. (3) In this section, borrowed moneys means: (a) in relation to moneys expended by any joint applicant or jointly by 2 or more joint applicants—moneys borrowed by any of the joint applicants; and (b) in relation to moneys expended by a joint applicant jointly with another person as mentioned in subsection (2)—moneys borrowed by the joint applicant, by that other person or by both of them. (4) A reference in this section to the purchase or sale by a person or persons of land shall be read as a reference to the purchase or a sale, as the case may be, of an estate or interest in the land by the person or persons (otherwise than as a trustee or trustees) or by another person as trustee for the first‑mentioned person or persons.