Civil penalty policy for private housing related offences and breaches consultation

Introduction

The council has the power to make civil penalties in relation to a number of private housing related offences and breaches. A civil penalty is a financial penalty imposed by a local authority on an individual or an organisation.

New breaches and offences were introduced by the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 of up to £7,000 for breaches and £40,000 for offences.

It also introduces new duties on the council, including enforcement of certain landlord related legislation.

New statutory guidance for councils on civil penalties was issued in mid-November 2025. There is more emphasis in the statutory guidance on formal enforcement action. The guidance sets out national starting levels for certain breaches and offences as well as setting out a number of factors Councils should and may consider when deciding on the level of penalty.

Civil penalty policy

A new civil penalty policy is required to allow council officers to make decisions on the amount of a financial penalty, relating to new and existing breaches and offences relating to private housing standards and management.

The government’s statutory guidance sets national starting levels for different breach and offence types. It also sets out a large number of factors the Council should consider.

The draft policy closely follows the government guidance in this respect and sets out how we will decide to apply those factors in each case.

There are some starting levels and factors which the Council does have discretion on.

• Starting levels for licence condition offences and electrical safety regulation breaches
• How we interpret and apply adjustments to specific aggravating and mitigating factor
• We are also proposing that breaches under the Electrical Safety regulations affecting privately rented properties will also follow this new policy

We are consulting on our proposed approach to how we apply these discretionary factors.

pdf Draft Civil Penalty Policy(235 KB)

pdf Typical Civil Penalty Notices under draft policy(137 KB)