Issue - meetings

To approve the Civil Penalty Policy, Rent Repayment Order Policy and Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards in Privately Rented Homes Policy.

1.       That the three policies be ADOPTED:

·        Civil Penalty Policy.

·        Rent Repayment Order Policy.

·        Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards in Privately Rented Homes Policy.

2.       That authority be delegated to the Head of Community Services, in consultation with the Borough Solicitor, to issue financial penalties as set out within the policies.

108.1        The report of the Interim Environmental Health Manager, circulated at Pages No. 116-148, sought approval for three new policies relating to enforcement in the private rented housing sector which was undertaken by the Environmental Health team.

108.2        Members were advised that the Environmental Health team had an important role in ensuring that properties in the private rented sector were fit for purpose and that landlords adhered to the relevant legislation to ensure their properties were safe for the tenants; the majority of powers available to the team were contained in the Housing Act 2004. Changes to legislation in recent years had added a number of tools to the enforcement toolbox available to the Environmental Health team; specifically the Housing and Planning Act 2016 had introduced amendments to the Housing Act 2004 to allow local authorities to impose a financial penalty for certain offences under the Housing Act as an alternative to criminal prosecution. The same legislation had also introduced the ability for Councils to issue Rent Repayment Orders which could be used in circumstances like when a landlord had failed to comply with a legal Notice from the Council to undertake certain works or where the landlord had carried out an illegal eviction or had harassed their tenants. The third change in recent years had been the introduction of the Energy Efficiency Regulations 2015 which came into effect on 1 April 2018 and introduced minimum standards of energy efficiency for private rented properties. The report recommended the adoption of the three policies which would be incorporated within the Council’s Environmental Health Enforcement Policy 2017 and the Corporate Enforcement Policy.

108.3        It was also proposed that the Council included the option to impose financial penalties as an alternative to prosecution for the Regulation of Housing Standards and the licensing of Houses in Multiple Occupation. In that regard, it was common practice to offer discounts to encourage the prompt payment of penalties and those were set out at Paragraph 2.3 of the report. Payments by instalments of up to 10 monthly direct debits was possible and any income received from a financial penalty could be retained by the Council provided it was used to further the local housing authority’s statutory functions in relation to its enforcement activities. However, income generation would never be a driving force for the use of enforcement powers as the most important thing was to raise standards in the private rented sector.

108.3        A Member questioned why the three case reviews had been included in the Financial Penalties for Housing Offences – Civil Penalty Policy without any information about them like whether they had gone through the Courts, whether fines had been issued etc. In response, the Interim Environmental Health Manager advised that the case reviews were examples rather than being actual cases which were being taken locally.

108.4        Accordingly, it was