Civil penalty for Housing Act offences

Civil penalties for Housing Act Offences

We take pride in supporting good landlords who provide decent well maintained homes.

We offer guidance and support to all landlords and promote best practice to ensure the properties within our district are safe and well managed. Sadly, a small number of landlords knowingly rent out unsafe and substandard accommodation.

Where we consider there to be a serious breach, or “an offence” of a requirement within the Housing Act 2004, we can prosecute offenders in a criminal court.

This is often costly and time consuming, as well as often not acting as a deterrent to reoffending, because of this the Government introduced laws to allow Councils to issue Civil financial penalties for certain offences. These civil financial penalties are for the offences detailed in Housing Act 2004 Section 249a.

Notice of Intent

When we decide to issue a financial penalty, we must be sure that the offence took place in the same way that it must in a criminal court. To begin with, where we believe that there is sufficient evidence and a financial penalty is appropriate, a “Notice of Intent” will be issued to the responsible landlord giving details of a proposed financial penalty and they will have an opportunity to provide representations that the Council must consider.

Final Notice

If, after that process we still believe that a financial penalty is the most appropriate response, a “Final Notice” will be issued and the landlord can appeal against the decision to a Tribunal. Information on how to do this will be provided with the Final Notice.

A landlord issued with a financial penalty will not have a criminal record, but if that person or company has been issued with 2 penalties in any 12-month period may have their details added to the National Rogue Landlord Database.