Housing Act 2004

[F1 4C (1) Immediately upon receipt of— E+W

(a) a duly completed application from the landlord, accompanied by a statutory declaration which appears to meet the requirements of paragraph 4A(7), or

(b) a duly completed application from the tenant, accompanied by a statutory declaration which appears to meet the requirements of paragraph 4B(6),

the scheme administrator must give to the tenant or, as the case may be, the landlord (“the other party”) a copy of the application and accompanying statutory declaration and a notice under sub-paragraph (2).

(2) A notice under this sub-paragraph is a notice—

(a) asking the other party to indicate—

(i) whether he accepts that the applicant should be paid the whole or part of the amount claimed;

(ii) if he accepts that part of the amount claimed should be paid, the amount he accepts should be paid; and

(iii) if he does not accept that the applicant should be paid the whole of the amount claimed, whether he consents to the dispute being resolved through the use of the dispute resolution service; and

(b) warning the other party that—

(i) the amount claimed will be paid to the applicant unless, within the relevant period, the other party informs the scheme administrator that he does not accept that the whole of the amount claimed should be paid to the applicant; and

(ii) if the other party responds to the scheme administrator informing him that he does not accept that the whole of the amount claimed should be paid to the applicant, but fails to respond within the relevant period to the question mentioned in paragraph (a)(iii), he will be treated as having given his consent for the dispute to be resolved through the use of the dispute resolution service.

(3) If within the relevant period the scheme administrator receives a response from the other party to the effect that he accepts that the amount claimed should be paid to the applicant—

(a) the application must be granted; and

(b) the scheme administrator must arrange for the amount claimed to be paid to the applicant within the period of 10 days beginning with the day on which the scheme administrator receives that response.

(4) If within the relevant period the scheme administrator receives a response from the other party to the effect that he does not accept that the applicant should be paid any of the amount claimed—

(a) the application must be refused;

(b) the scheme administrator must not pay the amount claimed to either party except in accordance with the relevant provisions of paragraph 4; and

(c) the scheme administrator must inform the applicant of the other party's response to the questions asked in the notice under sub-paragraph (2).

(5) If within the relevant period the scheme administrator receives a response from the other party to the effect that he accepts that part of the amount claimed should be paid to the applicant—

(a) sub-paragraph (3) applies in relation to that part of the amount claimed; and

(b) sub-paragraph (4) applies to so much of the application as relates to the rest of the amount claimed.

(6) If the scheme administrator does not, within the relevant period, receive a response from the other party indicating whether he accepts that the whole or part of the amount claimed should be paid to the applicant, the scheme administrator must arrange for the amount claimed to be paid to the applicant within the period of 10 days beginning with the day after the last day of the relevant period.

(7) If within the relevant period the scheme administrator receives a response from the other party to the effect that he does not accept that the applicant should be paid the whole of the amount claimed but the other party fails within that period to indicate whether he consents to the dispute being resolved through the use of the dispute resolution service—

(a) the other party is to be treated as having given his consent to the use of that service; and

(b) the scheme administrator must inform the applicant that such consent is treated as having been given.

(8) In this paragraph “ the relevant period ”, in relation to the application, means the period of 14 days beginning with the day on which the notice mentioned in sub-paragraph (2) is received by the other party. ]

Textual Amendments

F1 Sch. 10 para. 4A-4C and preceding cross-heading inserted (6.4.2007) by The Housing (Tenancy Deposit Schemes) Order 2007 (S.I. 2007/796), art. 3(4)