Chapter 6: Other Housing Matters
Section 180: Housing Complaints
401.Section 180 makes changes to the way in which a tenant may make a complaint about their social landlord to a housing ombudsman. A complaint must be referred to the relevant ombudsman by way of a referral from a member of the House of Commons, a councillor (a member of the local housing authority for the district in which the property concerned is located) or a designated tenant panel; unless 8 weeks have elapsed since the end of the landlord’s complaints process, or the designated person declines to refer the complaint, or agrees it may be made direct by the tenant.
402.This section also provides an order-making power to enable the Secretary of State to provide that the housing ombudsman may apply to a court or a tribunal in order that a determination it makes against a social landlord may be made enforceable.
Sections 181 and 182: Transfer of functions to the housing ombudsman
403.Sections 181 and 182 provide for the creation of a unified service for investigating complaints about the provision of social housing. Under existing arrangements tenants of a local housing authority make their complaints to the Local Government Ombudsman (Local Commissioner) and tenants of private providers of social housing make their complaints to the Independent Housing Ombudsman. These sections extend the Housing Ombudsman's remit to cover local authorities in their capacity as registered providers or managers of housing services while removing these matters from the jurisdiction of the Local Government Ombudsman.
Section 183 – Abolition of Home Information Packs
404.This section repeals Part 5 of the Housing Act 2004 which is concerned with the duty to provide a home information pack.
Section 184: Tenancy deposit schemes
405.Section 184 amends the tenancy deposit provisions in the Housing Act 2004. It amends section 213(3) and (6) of that Act to extend the time limits within which a landlord must comply with the requirement to protect a deposit taken in connection with an assured shorthold tenancy in accordance with the rules of a tenancy deposit scheme and within which a landlord must provide prescribed information to the tenant from 14 to 30 days. It amends section 214(1)(a) and (2) of the Housing Act 2004 to make clear that penalties for non-compliance will apply when the landlord has not complied within those time limits. It inserts subsections (2A) and (3A) into section 214 of the Housing Act 2004 to clarify that penalties for non-compliance will also apply when the tenancy has ended and to make clear what order the court may make as regards the deposit in those circumstances. Section 214(4) of the Housing Act 2004 is amended to give the courts discretion about the level of the penalty that may apply. Finally, in section 215 of the Housing Act 2004, subsections (1) and (2) are amended and subsection (2A) inserted to clarify that landlords are able to seek possession under section 21 of the Housing Act 1988, where the deposit is not held in a tenancy deposit scheme or the time limits have not been complied with, provided action has been taken to rectify the situation.
Section 185: Exemption from HMO licensing for buildings run by co-operatives
406.Section 185 adds houses in multiple occupation (“HMOs”) that are controlled or managed by a co-operative society to Schedule 14 to the Housing Act 2004 (buildings which are not HMOs for the purposes of that Act (excluding Part 1)), which exempts such buildings from HMO licensing.
