Section 220 - Grounds for giving notice
647.This section specifies the grounds on which the regulator may give an enforcement notice. Subsection (1) specifies that the regulator must be satisfied that one of the grounds for issuing an enforcement notice applies and that an enforcement notice is the appropriate intervention power to use, whether alone or as a potential precursor to further action. As the regulator must be satisfied that there are grounds to use an enforcement notice, it will have to have established the facts to a degree that justifies it directing a registered provider to act in a specified way.
648.Subsections (2) to (11) specify the cases where an enforcement notice is applicable as required by subsection (1)(a) as follows:
that a registered provider has failed to meet a standard established by the regulator under sections 193 or 194
that the affairs of a registered provider have been mismanaged
that the registered provider has failed to comply with an earlier enforcement notice
that the registered provider has failed to publish information in accordance with a requirement under section 228(3) or 240(3)
that it is required to protect the interests of tenants,
that it is necessary to protect the assets of a registered provider,
that a registered provider has failed to comply with an undertaking that it has given to the regulator as provided for in section 125,
that the registered provider has failed to pay an annual fee under section 117(2),
that an offence under this Part has been committed by a registered provider
that a registered provider has failed to comply with an order made by an ombudsman appointed by virtue of section 124.
649.Subsection (12) provides that where the regulator is satisfied that an offence has been committed in respect of a registered provider by an individual (e.g. a member of staff), the regulator may serve an enforcement notice on the individual rather than the provider and, in such cases, references in this Part of the Act to registered provider can be read as references to that person.