We've adopted the provisions of the Housing and Planning Act 2016 to introduce civil penalties, which will be used as an alternative to prosecution and rent repayment orders for certain offences relating to Housing Act 2004 and Housing and Planning Act 2016.
Civil penalties
The Housing & Planning Act 2016 introduced a range of measures to crack down on rogue landlords including the introduction of civil penalties which we will consider for the following offences:
- failure to comply with an improvement notice (section 30)
- offences in relation to licensing of houses in multiple occupation (HMO) (section 72)
- offences in relation to licensing of houses under part 3 of the act (section 95)
- offences of contravention of an overcrowding notice (section 139)
- failure to comply with management regulations in respect of HMO (section 234).
The maximum penalty which can be imposed is £30,000 per offence. The failure to comply with The Management of Houses in Multiple Occupation Reguations, under section 234 of The Housing Act 2004 gives a separate offence for each regulation not complied with. The use of the civil penalty does not prevent us from undertaking the works in default of the landlord.
Rent repayment orders
The Housing Act 2004 introduced rent repayment orders to cover situations where the landlord of a property had failed to obtain a licence for a property that was required to be licensed.
These orders specifically relate to offences in relation to:
- licensing of HMO (section 72(1))
- licensing of houses under part 3 of the act (section 95(1))
The Housing & Planning Act extends rent repayment orders (introduced in the Housing Act 2004) to cover the following situations:
- failure to comply with an improvement notice under section 30 of the Housing Act 2004
- failure to comply with a prohibition order under section 32 of the Housing Act 2004
- breach of a banning order made under section 21 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016
- using violence to secure entry to a property under section 6 of the Criminal Law Act 1977
- illegal eviction or harassment of the occupiers of a property under section 1 of the Protection from Eviction Act 1977
A Rent Repayment Order can allow up to a year’s rent to be repaid by the landlord to the tenant or local authority (where rents have been paid through Housing Benefit) where these offences have been proved. The Renters Rights Act are extending this to allow up to two years’ rent to be reclaimed.
For further information read the guide to renters rights act – GOV.UK.