Private Sector Housing Civil Financial Penalty Policy

The minimum amount of a penalty charge for a first breach of the Regulations will be £2500.

The starting level of a penalty charge for a first breach of the Regulations will be £3000. The penalty charge amount will then be varied depending on aggravating and mitigating factors.

Aggravating factors include, but are not limited to:

• the number of alarms not working or missing (the Regulations state there should be one per storey)
• other fire safety concerns or defects in the property which increase the risk posed to the occupants
• the length of time the offence is believed to have been on-going
• the frequency of complaints by the occupiers to the landlord about the non-working or missing alarms
• the costs of any remedial work the Council have carried out in response to the breach
• whether the property is let as a HMO (which increases the overall risk)
• the number of occupants living in the property
• presence of vulnerable occupiers such as elderly, children or disabled people
• any history of previous enforcement or non-compliance of the landlord
• attempts to obstruct the investigation

Mitigating factors include, but are not limited to:

• the property being small and low-risk (for example a one-bedroom ground floor flat with a large number of fire escapes including large windows)
• a single occupant living in the property
• evidence that all required alarms were checked and in working order at the start of the tenancy
• written evidence that some efforts to gain access and comply with the remedial notice were made and access was prevented by the occupant

Determining the amount of the penalty charge for a subsequent breach;

• the penalty for subsequent breaches by the same landlord will be £5000.

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

• before imposing a financial penalty on a person, the Council will give the person a Notice of Intent.

A person who is given a Notice of Intent may make written representations to the Council about the proposal to impose a financial penalty. Any representations must be made within a 28-day period, this period starting the day after the date on which the Notice of Intent was given. As the burden lies with the recipient of any such notice to explain why, exceptionally, the Council should, or should not, depart from the Civil Penalties Matrix and guidance above, the Council will expect the recipient of a Notice of Intent to explain and provide fulsome and cogent evidence to support the existence of any such circumstances when they make representations in response to the notice.

In the event of two or more persons receiving separate Notices of Intent for the same matter, it should be noted that acceptance/payment of a civil penalty by one person will not negate the Council's intention to impose a civil penalty on the second or further persons. Each person served with the Notice of Intent is considered individually liable to pay the civil penalty notified to them. It is therefore important that any recipient of a Notice of Intent takes the opportunity to make representations should they consider for any reason a civil penalty should not be individually imposed upon them.

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

• decide whether to impose a financial penalty on the person, and
• if it decides to impose a financial penalty, decide the amount of the penalty

In determining whether to impose a financial penalty, and the level of any penalty, the Council will consider any written representations received in the appropriate time period and will also consider the totality principle.

Furthermore, an offender's compliance with the identified breach during the representation period would not, in itself be reason for the Council to determine that the imposition of a financial penalty was inappropriate. However, compliance at that stage may be relevant with respect to any mitigating factors that could decrease the amount of any imposed financial penalty.

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 financial penalty on the person, it will give the person a Final Notice imposing that penalty.

The Final Notice will set out and summarise:

• the amount of the financial penalty,
• the reasons for imposing the penalty,
• information about how to pay the penalty,
• the period for payment of the penalty,
• information about rights of appeal, 
• the consequences of failure to comply with the notice.