198C.—(1) A designated person may, for the purposes of determining entitlement to the payment of a supplement referred to in section 198(3) towards the amount of rent payable by a person in respect of his or her residence, request the landlord of such residence to provide, within the prescribed period, to the designated person—

(a) a statement in writing—

(i) confirming that the person in respect of whom that supplement has been, or is to be, paid is a person from whom the landlord is, under a tenancy, entitled to receive rent in respect of the residence of that person,

(ii) as to whether the landlord is receiving rent solely from the person referred to in subparagraph (i) or from any other person under that tenancy in respect of that residence,

(iii) specifying the period of the tenancy of the person referred to in subparagraph (i), and

(iv) confirming that the person referred to in subparagraph (i) has resided, and, where appropriate, continues to reside, at that residence for the period for which that supplement has been, or is to be, paid,

and

(b) such other information, in writing, relating to the tenancy of the person referred to in paragraph (a)(i) as the designated person may require for the purposes of determining entitlement to that supplement.

(2) Where a request is to be made to a landlord by a designated person under subsection (1), it shall be sent to the landlord in writing and addressed to the person concerned by name and may be sent or given—

(a) by delivering it to the person,

(b) by leaving it at the address at which the person ordinarily resides or, in the case where an address for service has been furnished, at that address, or

(c) by sending it by post in a prepaid registered letter to the address at which the person ordinarily resides or, in a case where an address for service has been furnished, at that address.

(3) In this section—

‘landlord’ means the person for the time being entitled to receive (including as an agent for another person) the rent payable under a tenancy in respect of a residence, referred to in section 198(3), in respect of which a supplement referred to in that section, is paid;

‘tenancy’ has the meaning assigned to it by section 198(4D).

(4) A landlord who fails to comply with a request made by a designated person within the prescribed period in accordance with this section shall be guilty of an offence.]