Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013

84 Redress schemes: property management work

(1) The Secretary of State may by order require persons who engage in property management work to be members of a redress scheme for dealing with complaints in connection with that work which is either—

(a) a redress scheme approved by the Secretary of State, or

(b) a government administered redress scheme.

(2) “Redress scheme” and “government administered redress scheme” have the same meanings as in section 83.

(3) The order may provide for the duty mentioned in subsection (1) to apply—

(a) only to specified descriptions of persons who engage in property management work;

(b) only in relation to specified descriptions of such work.

(4) The order may also provide for the duty not to apply in relation to complaints of any specified description (which may be framed by reference to a description of person making a complaint).

(5) Before making the order, the Secretary of State must be satisfied that all persons who are to be subject to the duty will be eligible to join a redress scheme before the duty applies to them.

(6) In this section, “property management work” means things done by any person (“A”) in the course of a business in response to instructions received from another person (“C”) where—

(a) C wishes A to arrange services, repairs, maintenance, improvements or insurance or to deal with any other aspect of the management of premises in England on C’s behalf, and

(b) the premises consist of or include a dwelling-house let under a relevant tenancy.

(7) However, “property management work” does not include—

(a) things done by a person who is a social landlord for the purposes of Schedule 2 to the Housing Act 1996;

(b) things of a description, or things done by a person of a description, specified for the purposes of this section in an order made by the Secretary of State.

(8) In subsection (6), “relevant tenancy” means—

(a) a tenancy which is an assured tenancy for the purposes of the Housing Act 1988;

(b) a tenancy which is a regulated tenancy for the purposes of the Rent Act 1977;

(c) a long lease other than one to which Part 2 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 applies;

(d) a tenancy of a description specified for the purposes of this section in an order made by the Secretary of State.

(9) An order under subsection (8)(d) may not provide for a tenancy to which Part 2 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 applies to be a relevant tenancy.

(10) In subsection (8)(c), “long lease” means a lease which is a long lease for the purposes of Chapter 1 of Part 1 of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 or which, in the case of a shared ownership lease (within the meaning given by section 7(7) of that Act), would be such a lease if the tenant’s total share (within the meaning given by that section) were 100 per cent.