Housing Standards Civil Penalty Notice Policy

The policy sets out what actions are covered by a civil penalty notice and how we decide a penalty amount.

The legislation is set out in section 249A of the Housing Act 2004 (as implemented by section 126 and Schedule 9 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016) and section 23 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016. 

The policy allows us to impose financial penalties, up to a maximum of £40,000, instead of prosecution for the following housing offences:

• failure to comply with an improvement notice (section 30 Housing Act 2004)
• offences in relation to licensing of houses in multiple occupation, commonly referred to as HMOs (section 72 Housing Act 2004)
• offences in relation to licensing of houses under Part 3 of the Act (section 95 Housing Act 2004)
• offences of contravention of an overcrowding notice (section 139 Housing Act 2004)
• failure to comply with Management Regulations in respect of houses in multiple occupation (section 234 Housing Act 2004)
• breach of a banning order (section 21 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016)

Civil penalties can also be imposed where there are breaches or offences relating to the Renters' Rights Act 2025.

A list of breaches and offences can be found in Section 1 of policy. Breaches can be subject to fines of up to £7,000 and offences of up to £40,000.