Section 131 creates new offences in relation to the new investigatory powers in Chapter 3 of this Act and provides the penalties for those offences.
	Subsections (1) and (2) set out the offences of obstructing an officer, failing to comply with requirements properly imposed by an officer, failing to provide other information or assistance if reasonably required by the officer for the purposes of exercising the investigatory powers in Chapter 3 and knowingly or recklessly providing false or misleading information. The offences created under subsection (1) will not apply to section 115 (power of local housing authority to require information from any person).
	Subsection (4) provides that the penalty on summary conviction for offences under subsection (1) and (2) is a fine that must not exceed £1,000 (level 3 on the standard scale).
	Subsections (3) and (5) set an offence with an unlimited fine for anyone falsely purporting to be an officer of a local housing authority under Chapter 3 (Investigatory Powers).
	Subsection (6) sets out that a person will not commit an offence if they refuse to answer any question or give any information that might incriminate them.
Part 4: Enforcement Chapter 3 – Investigatory Powers Section 131: Offences Effect