Housing and Regeneration Bill

moved Amendment No. 107C: 107C: Clause 121, page 51, line 26, at end insert— ““(3) The Secretary of State may by order provide for the First-tier Tribunal to have jurisdiction under this section instead of the High Court.”” The noble Lord said: This amendment is our response to an amendment tabled in another place by Lembit Opik MP, and essentially accepts that amendment. Clause 121 provides that a body may appeal to the High Court against any decision of the regulator to refuse to register it, deregister it or refuse to deregister it as a registered provider of social housing. It was suggested that appeals by registered providers and potential registered providers against decisions by the regulator in regard to registering or deregistering them should be directed at a tribunal rather than the High Court. We said that we would have a look at that proposition, as we believe that there will be a viable first-tier tribunal route in existence. There would be advantages to using that way of resolving matters, including lower costs and a lesser burden for small registered providers, but this would need to be explored in more detail. This amendment therefore permits the Secretary of State by order to transfer these functions to the first-tier tribunal. I beg to move.