Aim of the use of civil penalties
The aim of the service is to develop landlords to become more professional and knowledgeable in their role of protecting the health, safety, and welfare of their tenants.
Where civil penalties are used as enforcement action the aim will be to protect the health of occupiers and improve housing standards by:
- promoting professionalism and resilience with the private rented sector
- providing transparent and consistent regulation within a private market
- providing a ‘light touch’ for compliant landlords and create a level playing field by tackling non-compliant landlords within the sector
- changing behaviors, by seeking legal punishment of those who flout the law
- reduce harm resulting from non-compliance
- eliminating financial incentive or benefit from non-compliance
The statutory guidance is clear that part of the intention of a civil penalty is to act as a deterrent. The council will apply civil penalties to ensure that landlords (as defined by the Housing Act 2004 as the owner, person having control or the license holder) and HMO managers do not benefit from their failure to comply with the relevant legislation.