Landlord prosecutions

The request was successful.

Dear Colchester Borough Council,

This is a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

I would like to request the following information:

For the financial years 2018/2019, 2019/2020 and 2020/2021, please provide:

– The number of landlords prosecuted by the council
– The number of complaints the council received about private rented properties
– The number of civil penalty notices issued against a landlord or letting agent as well as the total annual sum of the fines.

I would like to receive the information in an electronic format. If you feel that a substantive response to this request is not possible within a reasonable time frame, or the request is too broad, I would be grateful if you could contact me and provide assistance as to how I could refine the request.

Yours faithfully,

Adam Bychawski

Dear Adam Bychawski,

Thank you for contacting Colchester Borough Council with your Freedom of
Information request regarding: Landlord prosecutions.

Your request has been logged under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
2000 with the reference FOI 3151.  

An officer is reviewing your request and will respond accordingly.

You can find advice and guidance about accessing information from public
bodies from the Information Commissioner’s Office at:  

[1]www.ico.org.uk/your-data-matters/official-information

Kind regards
Customer Information, Colchester Borough Council, [Colchester Borough Council request email]

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References

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Dear Adam Bychawski,

Thank you for contacting Colchester Borough Council with your Freedom of
Information request regarding: Landlord prosecutions.

We do hold the information you have requested and it has been provided in
this email. Additional comments (if any) can be found below:

The number of landlords prosecuted by the council

2018/2019 – 4 cases had initial hearings, of these 3 were sentenced in
this year.

2019/2020 – 6 cases were referred to Legal, 7 were sentenced in this year.

2020/2021 – 3 cases were referred to Legal but all 3 were withdrawn due to
delays due to Covid pandemic meaning they were no longer appropriate to
pursue.

– The number of complaints the council received about private rented
properties

This is a very broad request. We receive complaints about private rented
properties relating to a wide range of issues, including Noise, Anti
Social Behaviour, Community Safety as well as Housing Disrepair,
Overcrowding, Harassment/illegal eviction, suspect Houses in Multiple
Occupation (HMO), HMO management, HMO Amenities/Fire precautions etc.

Given the nature of the other information you have requested, I have
assumed that you are interested in Housing Disrepair complaints. Given
below is the information for that type of complaint only. If this is not
the information that you require, please do come back to us.

2018/2019 - 150

2019/2020 - 136

2020/2021 - 110

– The number of civil penalty notices issued against a landlord or letting
agent as well as the total annual sum of the fines.

2018/2019 - Nil

2019/2020 – 2 x Notice of Intent, no Final Notices.

2020/2021 – 4 x Civil Penalty Notices (3 @£20K and 1 @ £5K) Total £65K (Of
these, 3 were for offences under the Housing Act 2004 and 1 was for an
offence under the requirement to belong to a property management redress
scheme) Also 4 x Notices of Intent leading to the issue of Final Notices
in 2021/22.

 

[1]Customer data (If any)

Kind regards
Customer Information, Colchester Borough Council, [Colchester Borough Council request email]

Your right to request a review. If you are unhappy with our response to
your request for information, we have an internal review process. The
internal review will be carried out by our Monitoring Officer who will
assess how your request was handled. If you wish to request an internal
review, please send an email to the Monitoring Officer at
[Colchester Borough Council request email] or by post to: Monitoring Officer, Colchester
Borough Council, Rowan House, Colchester CO3 3WG. Your review request
should detail why you are unhappy with our response and should be made as
soon as practicable or within 2 months of our response. We will respond
when the review has been completed. If you are not satisfied with the
internal review, you may then refer to the Information Commissioner’s
Office for a decision on: · Whether we have responded to your request for
information in accordance with Part 2 of the Freedom of Information Act;
or, · Whether we are justified in refusing to give you the information
requested More detailed information on your rights to review is on the
Information Commissioner’s Office website: https://ico.org.uk

This email, and any attachment, is solely for the intended recipient(s).
If you have received it in error, you must not take any action based upon
it, or forward, copy or show it to anyone; please notify the sender, then
permanently delete it and any attachments. Any views or opinions expressed
are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of
Colchester Borough Council. Although the Council has taken reasonable
precautions to ensure there are no viruses in this email, the Council
cannot accept responsibility for any loss or damage arising from this
email or attachments. The Council takes the management of personal data
seriously and it does this in compliance with data protection legislation.
For information about how personal data is used and stored, please go to
www.colchester.gov.uk/privacy.

References

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