Grounds for recovery of cash grant by Authority under section 19E of Act
7.—(1) If any cash grant is disbursed to any person under a notice of cash grant but a term of the public scheme for the disbursement is not satisfied, the Authority may recover the whole or a part of the cash grant from the person.
(2) If the amount of a cash grant disbursed to the owner of a prescribed property under a notice of cash grant is in excess of what may be disbursed to the owner under the terms of the public scheme, the Authority may recover the whole or a part of the excess amount from the owner.
(3) The Authority may issue a written notice requiring a person mentioned in paragraph (1) or (2) to refund the whole or a part of the cash grant to the Authority within such period as the Authority may specify in the notice.
(4) The amount mentioned in paragraph (3) is recoverable as a debt due to the Government.
(5) Where the Authority, under paragraph (1) or (2), recovers from the owner (called in this regulation the affected owner) of a prescribed property (or purported prescribed property) the whole or part of a cash grant that pertains to a PTO (or purported PTO) of that property and was disbursed under a notice of cash grant mentioned in that paragraph (called in this regulation the erroneous notice of cash grant), then sections 19H(1) and (where applicable) 19J(1) of the Act do not apply to the tenants of that property in the PTO chain (or purported PTO chain) and consequently —
(a)
every tenant (called in this regulation the affected tenant) in the PTO chain (or purported PTO chain) who, on the basis of the erroneous notice of cash grant, and in purported reliance on sections 19H(1) and (where applicable) 19J(1) of the Act, did not pay any amount of rent (including any interest or other charge on such rent) payable under the lease agreement between the affected tenant and the affected tenant’s landlord in the PTO chain (or purported PTO chain), is liable to the affected tenant’s landlord for that amount with effect from the date that amount is due under, and to the extent provided by, the lease agreement; and
(b)
any amount refunded by the affected tenant’s landlord to the affected tenant purportedly under sections 19H(2)(d) and (where applicable) 19J(2)(d) of the Act is recoverable from the affected tenant as a debt due to the affected tenant’s landlord.
(6) For the purposes of paragraph (5) —
(a)
the Authority must, within 4 working days after the date of recovery of the cash grant (or part of it) from the affected owner, issue to the affected owner a written acknowledgement of receipt;
(b)
the affected owner must, within 4 working days after the date of receipt of the written acknowledgement, serve a copy each of the Authority’s written notice under paragraph (3) and written acknowledgment under sub‑paragraph (a) on the owner’s affected tenant in the PTO chain (or purported PTO chain); and
(c)
a tenant who is served any document under sub‑paragraph (b) or this sub‑paragraph must, within 4 working days after receipt of the document, serve a further copy of the document on the tenant’s affected tenant in the PTO chain (or purported PTO chain).
(7) Regulation 8(3) applies to the Authority’s issue of the written notice under paragraph (3), or the written acknowledgment under paragraph (6)(a), to the affected owner, with the following modifications:
(a)
a reference in regulation 8(3) to a notice of cash grant is a reference to the written notice or the written acknowledgement, as the case may be;
(b)
a reference to the owner of a prescribed property in regulation 8(3) is a reference to the affected owner.
(8) Regulation 8(4) applies to the service of any document under paragraph (6)(b) or (c) on any person, with the modification that a reference to a copy of a notice of cash grant in regulation 8(4) is a reference to that document.
(9) A reference to the owner of a prescribed property (or purported prescribed property) in paragraph (5) includes a purported owner of the prescribed property (or purported prescribed property).