Section 31 – Enforcement powers
88.Section 31 makes provision for requests by the Tenant Farming Commissioner for information for the purposes of applications and inquiries relating to alleged breaches of published codes of practice, and for the imposition of non-compliance penalties.
89.Subsection (1) gives the Commissioner a general power to make a request during an inquiry for any person to provide information appropriate for the purposes of that inquiry.
90.Subsection (2) provides that the Commissioner may impose a non-compliance penalty where a person has failed to provide a response to an application which meets the relevant conditions within the period specified by a request under section 30(4)(c); and where a person has failed to provide information requested under subsection (1) for the purposes of an inquiry.
91.Subsection (3) sets out that the Commissioner must set the amount of the non-compliance penalty, but this must not be set above £1000.
92.Subsection (4) provides that any non-compliance penalty imposed must be paid to the Commission.
93.Subsection (5) gives the Commission the power to recover any non-compliance penalty that is not paid as a civil debt.