(1) The Principal Act is amended by inserting the following section after section 198B (inserted by section 7 of the Social Welfare and Pensions Act 2010):

"198C. Determination of claims for rent supplement under section 198.

(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