“(1) An officer of a local housing authority may, at any reasonable time, enter any premises in England if—

(a) the officer reasonably believes the premises to be occupied by a relevant person for the purposes of a rental sector business, and

(b) the officer considers it necessary to enter the premises in order to exercise the powers under section (

(2) Subsection (1) does not authorise entry into premises used wholly or mainly as residential accommodation.

(3) In the case of a routine inspection, the power in subsection (1) may only be exercised if a notice has been given to an occupier of the premises in accordance with the requirements in subsection (4), unless subsection (5) applies.

(4) Those requirements are that—

(a) the notice is in writing and is given by an officer of the local housing authority,

(b) the notice sets out why the entry is necessary and indicates the nature of the offences under section (

(c) there are at least 24 hours between the giving of the notice and the entry.

(5) A notice need not be given if the occupier (or one of the occupiers if there is more than one) has waived the requirement to give notice.

(6) In this section ‘routine inspection’ means an exercise of the power in subsection (1) other than where—

(a) the power is exercised by an officer who reasonably suspects a breach of, or an offence under, the rented accommodation legislation,

(b) the officer reasonably considers that to give notice in accordance with subsection (3) would defeat the purpose of the entry, or

(c) it is not reasonably practicable in all the circumstances to give notice in accordance with that subsection.

(7) An officer entering premises under subsection (1) may be accompanied by such persons, and may take onto the premises such equipment, as the officer thinks necessary.

(8) An officer entering premises under subsection (1) may take photographs or make recordings.

(9) In this section ‘rental sector business’ means a business connected with—

(a) the letting of residential accommodation in England,

(b) the creation of licences to occupy such accommodation,

(c) the marketing of such accommodation for the purpose of creating a tenancy or licence to occupy, or

(d) the management of such accommodation when occupied under a tenancy or licence to occupy.”—

This new clause confers a power on local housing authorities to enter (without force) premises that are occupied for the purposes of a rental sector business in order to obtain documents for purposes connected with their functions under the “rented accommodation legislation” as defined in NC25.

Brought up, read the First and Second time, and added to the Bill.