Housing (Regulation of Approved Housing Bodies) Act 2019

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Offences and penalties

6. (1) A person guilty of an offence under section 35 (3), 55 (3) or 65 (3) shall be liable—

(a) on summary conviction to a class A fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both,

(b) on conviction on indictment to a fine not exceeding €300,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years or to both.

(2) A person guilty of an offence under section 35 (1), 36 (6), 38 (9), 45 (6) or 51 shall be liable—

(a) on summary conviction to a class A fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both,

(b) on conviction on indictment to a fine not exceeding €100,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years or to both.

(3) Where an offence under this Act is committed by a body corporate and is proved to have been so committed with the consent or connivance of or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of a person, being a director, manager, secretary or other officer of the body corporate, or a person who was purporting to act in that capacity, that person, as well as the body corporate, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished as if he or she were guilty of the first-mentioned offence.

(4) Where the affairs of a body corporate are managed by its members, subsection (3) applies in relation to the acts and defaults of a member in connection with such member’s functions of management as if he or she were a director or manager of the body corporate.

(5) Summary proceedings for an offence under this Act may be brought and prosecuted by the Regulator.

(6) Where a person is convicted of an offence under this Act, the court shall order the person to pay to the Regulator the costs and expenses, measured by the court, incurred by the Regulator in relation to the investigation, detection and prosecution of the offence, unless the court is satisfied that there are special and substantial reasons for not so doing.