Notification of decision
19.—(1) The Board shall give notice in writing of its decision to grant or, as the case may be, refuse, legal aid–
(a)to the applicant and the applicant’s solicitor; and
(b)unless it has determined under regulation 7(2)(b) above that notification of the application should be dispensed with or postponed, to any opponent whose address is known to it, and to any solicitor whom it knows to be acting for an opponent.
(2) Where the Board grants the application it shall give notice to the applicant of any conditions with which, by virtue of section 14(2) of the Act, that applicant is required to comply and as to its determinations under regulation 17 above.
(3) Where the Board, in terms of regulation 29 below, suspends the availability of legal aid, it shall inform the assisted person and that person’s solicitor of the grounds of such suspension.
(4) Where the Board refuses an application it shall inform the applicant and the applicant’s solicitor that the application has been refused on one or more of the following grounds:–
(a)the Board has determined that the applicant has disposable income which makes the applicant ineligible for legal aid;
(b)the Board has determined that the applicant has disposable capital of an amount which renders the applicant liable to be refused legal aid and that it appears to the Board that the applicant can afford to proceed without legal aid;
(c)the proceedings to which the application relates are not proceedings for which legal aid may be given;
(d)it appears to the Board by virtue of the provisions of regulation 14(2), regulation 15 or, as the case may be, regulation 16 above, that legal aid should not be granted;
(e)the Board is not satisfied that the applicant has probabilis causa litigandi;
(f)it does not appear to the Board that it is reasonable in the particular circumstances of the case that the applicant should receive legal aid,
and (unless the decision follows a review of the application under section 14(3)(1) of the Act) that the applicant may apply for such a review.
(5) If no application for review is received in accordance with regulation 20 below the Board may treat the application as having been abandoned, and where it does so it shall give intimation of the abandonment to the applicant and any opponent.
Section 14(3) was amended by the Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Scotland) Act 1990 (c. 40), Schedule 8, paragraph 36(4).