(1)The local housing authority may make and submit to the Secretary of State for confirmation by him a registration scheme authorising the authority to compile and maintain a register for their district of—
(a)houses in multiple occupation, and
(b)buildings which comprise separate dwellings, two or more of which do not have a sanitary convenience and personal washing facilities accessible only to those living in the dwelling;
and the Secretary of State may if he thinks fit confirm the scheme, with or without modification.
(2)A registration scheme need not be for the whole of the authority’s district and need not be for every description of house or building falling within paragraphs (a) and (b) of subsection (1).
(3)A registration scheme may—
(a)specify the particulars to be inserted in the register,
(b)make it the duty of such persons as may be specified by the scheme to notify the authority of the fact that a house or building appears to be registrable and to give the authority as regards such a house or building all or any of the particulars specified in the scheme,
(c)make it the duty of such persons as may be specified by the scheme to notify the authority of any change which makes it necessary to alter the particulars inserted in the register as regards a house or building.
(4)A registration scheme shall not come into force before it has been confirmed but subject to that comes into force on such date as may be fixed by the scheme or, if no date is so fixed, at the expiration of one month after it is confirmed.
(5)A registration scheme may vary or revoke a previous registration scheme; and the local housing authority may at any time, with the consent of the Secretary of State, by order revoke a registration scheme.
(6)A person who contravenes or fails to comply with a provision of a registration scheme commits a summary offence and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding, except in a case within section 347(4) (which relates to the contravention of certain control provisions), level 2 on the standard scale.
(1)A registration scheme may contain control provisions, that is to say, provisions for preventing multiple occupation of a house unless—
(a)the house is registered, and
(b)the number of households or persons occupying it does not exceed the number registered for it.
(2)Control provisions may prohibit persons from permitting others to take up residence in a house or part of a house but shall not prohibit a person from taking up or remaining in residence in the house.
(3)Control provisions shall not apply—
(a)where the persons occupying the house form only two households, or
(b)where, apart from one household (if any), the house is occupied by no more than four persons;
and shall not affect the continued occupation of a house by the number of households or persons occupying it when the provisions come into force.
(4)A person convicted of an offence under section 346(6) (contravention or failure to comply with provisions of registration scheme) consisting of a contravention of so much of control provisions as relates—
(a)to occupation to a greater extent than permitted under those provisions of a house which is not registered, or
(b)to occupation of a house which is registered by more households or persons than the registration permits,
is liable to a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale.
(1)Control provisions may enable the local housing authority—
(a)to refuse to register or to vary the registration of a house on the ground that the house is unsuitable and incapable of being made suitable for such occupation as would be permitted by virtue of the registration or variation;
(b)to refuse to register a house on the ground that the person having control of the house or the person intended to be the person managing the house is not a fit and proper person;
(c)to require as a condition of registration or of varying the registration of a house that such works are executed as will make the house suitable for such occupation as will be permitted by virtue of the registration or variation.
(2)Control provisions shall provide that where the local housing authority refuse to register or vary the registration of a house, or require the execution of works as a condition of doing so, they shall give the applicant a written statement of their reasons.
(3)Where a person has applied for the registration or the variation of the registration of a house in pursuance of control provisions and the local housing authority—
(a)notify him that they refuse to register the house or to vary the registration in accordance with the application, or
(b)notify him that they require the execution of works as a condition of registering the house or varying the registration in accordance with the application, or
(c)do not within five weeks after receiving the application, or such longer period as may be agreed in writing between the authority and the applicant, register the house or vary the registration in accordance with the application,
the applicant may, within 21 days of being so notified or of the end of the period mentioned in paragraph (c), or such longer period as the authority may in writing allow, appeal to the county court.
(4)On such an appeal the court may confirm, reverse or vary the decision of the authority; and where the decision of the authority was a refusal to register or vary the registration of a house, the court may direct them to register or vary the registration either in accordance with the application as made or in accordance with that application as varied in such manner as the court may direct.
(1)The local housing authority shall publish notice of their intention to submit a registration scheme to the Secretary of State for confirmation in one or more newspapers circulating in their district at least one month before the scheme is submitted for confirmation.
(2)As soon as a registration scheme is confirmed by the Secretary of State, the local housing authority shall publish in one or more newspapers circulating in their district a notice—
(a)stating the fact that a registration scheme has been confirmed, and
(b)describing any steps which will have to be taken under the scheme by those concerned with registrable houses and buildings (other than steps which have only to be taken after a notice from the authority),and
(c)naming a place where a copy of the scheme may be seen at all reasonable hours.
(3)A copy of a registration scheme confirmed by the Secretary of State—
(a)shall be printed and deposited at the offices of the local housing authority by whom it was made, and
(b)shall at all reasonable hours be open to public inspection without payment;
and a copy of the scheme shall on application be furnished to any person on payment of such sum, not exceeding 5p for every copy, as the authority may determine.
(4)If the local housing authority revoke a registration scheme by order they shall publish notice of the order in one or more newspapers circulating in their district.
(1)The local housing authority may—
(a)for the purpose of ascertaining whether a house or building is registrable, and
(b)for the purpose of ascertaining the particulars to be entered in the register as regards a house or building,
require a person who has an estate or interest in, or who lives in, the house or building to state in writing any information in his possession which the authority may reasonably require for that purpose.
(2)A person who, having been required in pursuance of this section to give information to a local housing authority, fails to give the information, or knowingly makes a mis-statement in respect of it, commits a summary offence and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding level 2 on the standard scale.
(1)If there is produced a printed copy of a registration scheme purporting to be made by a local housing authority, upon which there is endorsed a certificate purporting to be signed by the proper officer of the authority stating—
(a)that the scheme was made by the authority,
(b)that the copy is a true copy of the scheme, and
(c)that on a specified date the scheme was confirmed by the Secretary of State,
the certificate is prima facie evidence of the facts so stated without proof of the handwriting or official position of the person by whom it purports to be signed.
(2)A document purporting to be a copy of an entry in a register kept under a registration scheme and to be certified as a true copy by the proper officer of the authority is prima facie evidence of the entry without proof of the handwriting or official position of the person by whom it purports to be signed.