Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 section 198A

Payment of rent supplement in certain circumstances

Section 198A deals with transitional arrangements for rent supplement payments from 1 January 2011, including the requirement for landlords to provide their tax reference numbers and the consequences of failing to do so.

• Rent supplement payments already in place before 1 January 2011 could continue even if the landlord had not yet provided their tax reference number.
• Landlords had to be sent a written notification requesting their tax reference number (or an explanation for not having one) by a specified deadline.
• Payments could continue until a stated cessation date, or until 31 March 2012 where stopping earlier would cause undue hardship to the tenant.
• A landlord who failed to provide the required tax information after receiving proper notification committed a criminal offence.