Agenda item

Minutes:

In May 2018 the Prosperous Communities Committee had approved a Civil Penalties Policy which had enabled powers to impose civil penalties for certain offences under the Housing Act 2004.  A summary of the civil penalties issued under the Policy to-date were included in Section 2 of the report.

 

The Policy had now been in place for around a year and as a result it was considered some minor amendments were required as a result of tribunal decisions, best practice and practical experience in dealing with matters covered by the Policy. The revised Policy was included at appendix 1 of the report.

 

Section 3 of the report detailed the proposed amendments and reasoning for each. The proposed amendments did not affect the legal status of the Policy, but sought to ensure it was fit for purpose and effective, with the main change being point 5, a reduction of the penalty for S.72 and S.95 offences.

 

The reduction of the penalty for such offences had been informed by a number of matters. The original penalty amount within the Policy was £10,000, which meant that for basic licensing offences (even those that were not deliberate) the penalty had to commence at £10,000 and the previous policy offered no discretion for this to be reduced. It was felt that this figure was not reflective of the offence.

 

The revised scoring matrix in Table 3 now made additional provision for culpability and track record, which along with the other factors included, ensured that those more severe offences could be issued with a larger penalty.

 

The lowering of the penalty for the two offences was considered less likely to lead to appeals in relation to the offence, particularly from those landlords who were at the lower end of the scoring matrix. This would therefore reduce the amount of Officer and legal time needed to deal with these matters and make the policy more effective.

 

Members commented that the fines were quite high and questioned whether this in fact could put a smaller landlord out of business.  Officers advised the policy now provided justification of why a fine may be at the lower or higher end of the scale.  These offences were breaches of legal obligations but the amended Policy now had allowance to recognise those landlords that may simply be uneducated around their responsibilities compared to those who systematically flouted the law and took advantage of vulnerable people.

 

Financial position was a mitigation considered, however, the majority of landlords did have means to pay fines due to them owning assets and receiving an income.

 

In response to Members’ comments, Officers confirmed that tribunal decisions would allow for further learning and could set future precedents.  It was therefore suggested that Members may wish to include a delegation to Officers to amend the policy in light of case law or tribunal decision, however this was not supported.

 

RESOLVED that the Revised Policy in regards to Housing Act Civil Penalties be approved to become effective from 1st April 2019.

 

 

Note:      Councillor Gillian Bardsley returned to the Chamber following consideration of the above item of business.

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