PART 2Appointment of Scheme Administrator

Appointment of Scheme Administrator3

1

The Department may appoint a person who has applied to the Department to establish and maintain a tenancy deposit scheme of a description prescribed in Part 3 where the Department has approved that application under the Regulations.

2

The Department must not approve an application where the applicant:—

a

has been convicted of any offence involving fraud or dishonesty;

b

is a bankrupt, F1or is the subject of a bankruptcy restrictions order; or

F2ac

he is a person in relation to whom a moratorium period under a debt relief order applies or he is the subject of a debt relief restrictions order ; or

c

is disqualified from being a director of a company.

Coming into force of a scheme and amendments4

Upon application by a person approved under regulation 3 neither a tenancy deposit scheme nor any amendment to that scheme shall come into force unless approved by the Department.

Approval of a tenancy deposit scheme5

The Department shall not approve a tenancy deposit scheme where:—

a

the scheme is not of a description prescribed in Part 3 (description of schemes);

b

the scheme administrator and the scheme do not satisfy the requirements of Part 4 (financing and accountability requirements);

c

the scheme administrator does not satisfy the requirements of Part 6 (dispute resolution);

d

the scheme does not include a customer service facility which is available to users of tenancy deposit schemes for the purposes of, in particular:—

i

handling enquiries in relation to the tenancy deposit scheme whether made by telephone, letter, or electronic means; and

ii

dealing with complaints about the tenancy deposit scheme, including complaints about the service provided by the scheme administrator;

e

the tenancy deposit scheme is not available to all landlords, including those living outside of the Northern Ireland jurisdiction but operating in Northern Ireland, and their tenants.