Housing Standards Enforcement

The Council will always aim to work with home owners, tenants and landlords to ensure that homes achieve the necessary standards of repair.  Click on the Housing Standards link to find out more.  Where the Council identifies a house that is in serious disrepair and a risk to the health and safety of the occupants, it may have a legal duty to take action.  The Council will initially attempt to resolve matters informally and in certain cases this may be achieved by offering the owner grant assistance or by identifying repairs and agreeing a timescale within which the necessary works should be completed.

Where this approach proves unsuccessful or the work poses a serious risk to the health, safety and welfare of the occupants, then the Council should determine the most appropriate course of action.  This may include the service of an improvement notice or prohibition order.  When these legal notices are used the Council may charge a reasonable administration fee.  If such notices or orders are served the recipient has a right of appeal to the Residential Property Tribunal Service.

The attached Enforcement Policy explains the general principles that the Council will follow.