Private Sector Housing Civil Financial Penalty Policy

Process for imposing a civil penalty and the right to make written representations

Notice of intent

Before imposing a civil penalty on a landlord, the Council will give the landlord a notice of intent. The notice of intent will set out:

the amount of the proposed civil penalty
the reasons for proposing to impose the civil penalty
information about their right to make written representations

Right to make written representations

A landlord who is given a notice of intent may make written representations to the Council about the proposal to impose a civil penalty. Any representations must be made within a period of 28 days beginning with the day after the date on which the notice of intent was given.

Decision after the representations period

After the end of the period for representations the Council will:

decide whether to impose a civil penalty on the landlord
if it decides to impose a civil penalty, decide the amount of the penalty
this amount can be higher or lower than the amount stated in the notice of intent.

A landlord's rectiﬁcation of the identiﬁed breach or oﬀence during the representations period will rarely, of itself, lead the Council to conclude that the imposition of a civil penalty is inappropriate. However, compliance at that stage will usually be relevant to the assessment of mitigating factors that may reduce the level of any civil penalty imposed.

Similarly, an admission of liability will rarely, of itself, lead the Council to conclude that the imposition of a civil penalty is inappropriate. An admission of liability will, however, usually be relevant to the assessment of mitigating factors that may reduce the level of any civil penalty imposed.

Final notice

If, following the receipt of written representations and/or the expiry of the time period to make written representations, the Council decides to impose a civil penalty on the landlord, it will give the landlord a ﬁnal notice imposing that penalty.

The ﬁnal notice will set out: