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
F2(ac)
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.