Housing (Wales) Act 2014

32 Rent repayment orders

(1) A residential property tribunal may, in accordance with this section and section 33, make an order (a “rent repayment order”) in relation to a dwelling on an application made to it by—

(a) the licensing authority for the area in which the dwelling is located,

(b) the local housing authority for the area in which the dwelling is located, or

(c) a tenant of the dwelling.

(2) But a local housing authority may not make an application under subsection (1) without the consent of the licensing authority mentioned in paragraph (a) of that subsection (unless it is the licensing authority); and consent for that purpose may be given generally or in respect of a particular application.

(3) A “rent repayment order” is an order made in relation to a dwelling which requires the appropriate person (see subsection (9)) to pay to the applicant such amount in respect of the relevant award or awards of universal credit or the housing benefit paid as mentioned in subsection (5)(b), or (as the case may be) the periodical payments paid as mentioned in subsection (7)(b), as is specified in the order.

(4) The tribunal may make a rent repayment order only if it is satisfied—

(a) where the applicant is the licensing authority or a local housing authority (as the case may be), of the matters mentioned in subsection (5);

(b) where the applicant is a tenant, of the matters mentioned in subsection (7).

(5) The tribunal must be satisfied—

(a) that at any time within the period of 12 months ending with the date of the notice of intended proceedings required by subsection (6) an offence under section 7(5) or 13(3) has been committed in relation to the dwelling (whether or not a person has been charged or convicted for the offence);

(b) that—

(i) one or more relevant awards of universal credit have been paid (to any person), or

(ii) housing benefit has been paid (to any person) in respect of periodical payments payable in connection with a domestic tenancy of the dwelling,

during any period during which it appears to the tribunal that such an offence was being committed, and

(c) the requirements of subsection (6) have been complied with in relation to the application.

(6) Those requirements are—

(a) that the authority making the application must have given the appropriate person a notice (a “notice of intended proceedings”)—

(i) informing the person that the authority is proposing to make an application for a rent repayment order,

(ii) setting out the reasons why it proposes to do so,

(iii) stating the amount that it will seek to recover under that subsection and how that amount is calculated, and

(iv) inviting the person to make representations to the authority within a period of not less than 28 days specified in the notice;

(b) that period must have expired, and

(c) that the authority must have considered any representations made to it within that period by the appropriate person.

(7) The tribunal must be satisfied that—

(a) a person has been convicted of an offence under section 7(5) or 13(3) in relation to the dwelling, or that a rent repayment order has required a person to make a payment in respect of—

(i) one or more relevant awards of universal credit, or

(ii) housing benefit paid in connection with a tenancy of the dwelling;

(b) the tenant paid to the appropriate person (whether directly or otherwise) periodical payments in respect of the tenancy of the dwelling during any period during which it appears to the tribunal that such an offence was being committed in relation to the dwelling, and

(c) the application is made within the period of 12 months beginning with—

(i) the date of the conviction or order, or

(ii) if such a conviction was followed by such an order (or vice versa), the date of the later of them.

(8) In this section—

(a) references to an offence under section 7(5) do not include an offence committed in consequence of a contravention of subsection (3) of that section, and

(b) references to an offence committed under section 13(3) do not include an offence committed in consequence of a contravention of subsection (1) of that section.

(9) In this section—

• “appropriate person” (“person priodol”), in relation to any payment of universal credit or housing benefit or periodical payment in connection with a domestic tenancy of a dwelling, means the person who at the time of the payment was entitled to receive, on that person’s own account, periodical payments in connection with the tenancy;

• “housing benefit” (“budd-dal tai”) means housing benefit provided by virtue of a scheme under section 123 of the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992;

• “relevant award of universal credit” (“dyfarniad perthnasol o gredyd cynhwysol”) means an award of universal credit the calculation of which included an amount under section 11 of the Welfare Reform Act 2012, calculated in accordance with Schedule 4 to the Universal Credit Regulations 2013 (housing costs element for renters) (SI 2013/376) or any corresponding provision replacing that Schedule, in respect of periodical payments in connection with a domestic tenancy of the dwelling;

• “tenant” (“tenant”), in relation to any periodical payment, means a person who was a tenant at the time of the payment (and “tenancy” has a corresponding meaning).

(10) For the purposes of this section an amount which—

(a) is not actually paid by a tenant but is used to discharge the whole or part of the tenant’s liability in respect of a periodical payment (for example, by offsetting the amount against any such liability), and

(b) is not an amount of universal credit or housing benefit,

is to be regarded as an amount paid by the tenant in respect of that periodical payment.