Building Societies Act 1997

34 Recognised schemes for investigation of complaints. U.K.

(1) For section 83 of the 1986 Act there shall be substituted the following section—

“83 Recognised schemes for investigation of complaints.

(1) A person to whom section 83A applies shall, by virtue of and in accordance with a scheme under this section, have the right, as against a building society, to have investigated under the scheme any complaint of his about action—

(a) which has been taken by the society in relation to a relevant service provided by it; and

(b) which affects him in prescribed respects.

(2) A person to whom section 83A applies shall also, by virtue of and in accordance with a scheme under this section, have the right, as against any connected undertaking of a building society, to have investigated under the scheme any complaint of his about action—

(a) which has been taken by the undertaking in relation to a relevant service provided by it; and

(b) which affects him in prescribed respects.

(3) Every authorised building society shall be a member (or the sole member) of one or more recognised schemes which or which between them confer the rights required to be conferred by subsection (1) above in relation to every relevant service provided by the society.

(4) Every authorised building society shall secure that each of its connected undertakings is a member (or the sole member) of one or more recognised schemes which or which between them confer the rights required to be conferred by subsection (2) above in relation to every relevant service provided by the undertaking.

(5) Schedule 12 to this Act has effect for the purposes of this section and, in that Schedule—

(a) Part I prescribes the matters for which provision must be made by a scheme if it is to be a scheme which qualifies for recognition for the purposes of this section; and

(b) Part III contains other requirements to which a scheme must conform if it is to be so recognised.

(6) The Commission, with the consent of the Treasury, may by order vary Part I or Part III of Schedule 12 by adding to or deleting from it any provision or by varying any provision contained in it; and an order under this subsection may make such incidental, supplementary and transitional provision as appears to the Commission to be necessary or expedient.

(7) The Commission shall have the function, in accordance with Schedule 13 to this Act, of granting recognition of schemes and of withdrawing any recognition it has granted; but recognition does not extend to, and is not required for, provisions in a scheme which are not required to be made in pursuance of Schedule 12.

(8) The Commission shall have power to do anything which is calculated to facilitate the discharge of its functions under subsection (7) above, or is incidental or conducive to their discharge, but this does not extend to expenditure for the purpose of operating a scheme.

(9) The central office shall have the function, in accordance with Schedule 13, of recording accessions to schemes and of confirming any withdrawal from a scheme.

(10) A building society’s withdrawal from membership of a recognised scheme shall not be effective except in accordance with the applicable provisions of Schedule 13.

(11) The power to make an order under subsection (6) above is exercisable by statutory instrument which shall be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.

(12) In this section, section 84 and Schedules 12 and 13—

• “accede”, in relation to a scheme, means assume the obligations and rights of membership and “accession” has a corresponding meaning;

• “action” includes any failure to act, and so as regards “exercise” in relation to any power; and “action”, in relation to a society, includes action on its behalf by any person;

• “prescribed”, in relation to the respects in which a complainant is affected by any action, means prescribed for the time being in Part III of Schedule 12 as grounds for making action subject to investigation under the scheme;

• “recognition” means recognition of a scheme by the Commission for the purposes of this section;

• “relevant service” means a service of a kind which is provided by building societies for individuals in the ordinary course of business.”

(2) For paragraph 1 (grounds of complaint) of Part III of Schedule 12 to the 1986 Act there shall be substituted the following paragraph—

“1 (1) The grounds for making action by a building society or connected undertaking subject to investigation under the scheme must be that the action constitutes—

(a) in the case of a building society, a breach of the society’s obligations under this Act, its rules or any contract, or

(b) in the case of a connected undertaking, a breach of the undertaking’s obligations under its rules (if any) or any contract, or

(c) unfair treatment, or

(d) maladministration, or

(e) a decision to which sub-paragraph (2) below applies, or action consequential on such a decision,

in relation to the complainant and has caused him pecuniary loss or expense or inconvenience.

(2) This sub-paragraph applies to any decision in connection with the provision of a relevant service which is made otherwise than in the legitimate exercise of commercial judgment.”

(3) In paragraph 2 (permissible exclusions from investigation) of that Part of that Schedule—

(a) in paragraph (d), after the word “scheme” there shall be inserted the words “ , or in furnishing evidence in support of the complaint ”; and

(b) after the second Note there shall be inserted the following Note—

“Note:

Delay in furnishing evidence in support of the complaint is not “undue delay” unless at least six months have elapsed since the adjudicator acknowledged receipt of the complaint.”