Housing Act 1996

30 General power to obtain information

(1) The Corporation may for any purpose connected with the discharge of any of its functions in relation to registered social landlords serve a notice on a person requiring him—

(a) to give to the Corporation, at a time and place and in the form and manner specified in the notice, such information relating to the affairs of a registered social landlord as may be specified or described in the notice, or

(b) to produce to the Corporation or a person authorised by the Corporation, at a time and place specified in the notice, any documents relating to the affairs of the registered social landlord which are specified or described in the notice and are in his custody or under his control.

(2) A notice under this section may be served on—

(a) a registered social landlord,

(b) any person who is, or has been, an officer, member, employee or agent of a registered social landlord,

(c) a subsidiary or associate of a registered social landlord,

(d) any person who is, or has been, an officer, member, employee or agent of a subsidiary or associate of a registered social landlord, or

(e) any other person whom the Corporation has reason to believe is or may be in possession of relevant information.

In this section“agent” includes banker, solicitor and auditor.

(3) No notice shall be served on a person within paragraphs (b) to (e) of subsection (2) unless—

(a) a notice has been served on the registered social landlord and has not been complied with, or

(b) the Corporation believes that the information or documents in question are not in the possession of the landlord.

(4) Nothing in this section authorises the Corporation to require—

(a) the disclosure of anything which a person would be entitled to refuse to disclose on grounds of legal professional privilege in proceedings in the High Court, or

(b) the disclosure by a banker of anything in breach of any duty of confidentiality owed by him to a person other than a registered social landlord or a subsidiary or associate of a registered social landlord.

(5) A notice under this section shall be given under the seal of the Corporation.

(6) References in this section to a document are to anything in which information of any description is recorded; and in relation to a document in which information is recorded otherwise than in legible form, references to producing it are to producing it in legible form.

(7) Where by virtue of this section documents are produced to any person, he may take copies of or make extracts from them.