Prospective

154 Inspection etc. of documentsE+W

For section 22 of the 1985 Act (request to inspect documents supporting summary of relevant costs) substitute—

“22 Inspection etc. of documents

(1)A tenant may by notice in writing require the landlord—

(a)to afford him reasonable facilities for inspecting accounts, receipts or other documents relevant to the matters which must be dealt with in a statement of account required to be supplied to him under section 21 and for taking copies of or extracts from them, or

(b)to take copies of or extracts from any such accounts, receipts or other documents and either send them to him or afford him reasonable facilities for collecting them (as he specifies).

(2)If the tenant is represented by a recognised tenants’ association and he consents, the notice may be served by the secretary of the association instead of by the tenant (and in that case any requirement imposed by it is to afford reasonable facilities, or to send copies or extracts, to the secretary).

(3)A notice under this section may not be served after the end of the period of six months beginning with the date by which the tenant is required to be supplied with the statement of account under section 21.

(4)But if—

(a)the statement of account is not supplied to the tenant on or before that date, or

(b)the statement of account so supplied does not conform exactly or substantially with the requirements prescribed by regulations under section 21(4),

the six month period mentioned in subsection (3) does not begin until any later date on which the statement of account (conforming exactly or substantially with those requirements) is supplied to him.

(5)A notice under this section is duly served on the landlord if it is served on—

(a)an agent of the landlord named as such in the rent book or similar document, or

(b)the person who receives the rent on behalf of the landlord;

and a person on whom such a notice is so served must forward it as soon as may be to the landlord.

(6)The landlord must comply with a requirement imposed by a notice under this section within the period of twenty-one days beginning with the day on which he receives the notice.

(7)To the extent that a notice under this section requires the landlord to afford facilities for inspecting documents—

(a)he must do so free of charge, but

(b)he may treat as part of his costs of management any costs incurred by him in doing so.

(8)The landlord may make a reasonable charge for doing anything else in compliance with a requirement imposed by a notice under this section.”