In recent years, the Private Rental Sector (PRS) has become increasingly regulated for everything from EPC ratings to electrical safety, landlord and HMO licencing through to the condition of the property, how to handle deposits, regain possession and what fees can be charged. In fact, there are currently around 165 pieces of legislation and 400 regulations that apply to landlords. Many landlords, especially accidental ones, are, unsurprisingly, unaware of their full extent and so prefer to rent their properties through letting agents to ensure they are compliant.

But how much will you be fined if you inadvertently fall foul of the increasingly complex rules? Below are some of the more common infringements and their associated fines:

1) Making an illegal eviction – the fines for this are unlimited fines and include possible
imprisonment.

2) Harassment of a tenant – there are also unlimited fines for this as well as possible
imprisonment.

3) Failing to obtain the required licences and permits (HMOs and mandatory council
registrations) – unlimited fines, which are at the court’s discretion.

4) Failing to check a tenant’s right to rent – penalties of up to £3,000 per tenant and
larger fines and potential prison sentences for more serious cases.

5) Failing to get gas and electric safety certificates – fines of up to £30,000.

6) Failing to meet fitness for habitation standards – tenant compensation is at the
judge’s discretion.

7) Breaches of the Tenancy Fees Act – a £5,000 fine for the first offence and unlimited
fines thereafter.

8) Failing to protect a tenant’s deposit – fines of up to 3 times the deposit amount.
Repeat offenders can be banned from the sector.

However frightening unlimited fines and prison sentences might be, the reality is that enforcement is hugely patchy. In 2020, for example, just 23 landlords were prosecuted for unlawful evictions, only half of which were successful. The most up-to-date data, though, comes from the Mayor of London’s Rogue Landlord Database, which records details of prosecutions for all of London’s 33 LAs. 2023’s data runs up until the end of August and shows, so far this year, there have been 168 prosecutions, the majority of which were for licence infringements (52%) and unsafe premises (30%). Although it is not always stated, it appears that almost all of the fines are for Houses of Multiple Occupation (HMOs). In contrast, there was just one fine imposed for infringing EPC rules.

As you can see from the table, over half the prosecutions come from just two boroughs – Camden (30%) and Waltham Forest (21%). Of the remaining LAs only around a third have prosecuted anyone at all this year.

The fines issued ranged between £100 and £25,000, the average was £5,054. However,many landlords were given more than one fine for the same property, for example, a first fine for failing to register an HMO (average fine £6,326) and then a second for its poor condition (average fine £5,776), resulting in a total fine of £12,102. Quite a few of the prosecutions were also for repeat offenders with multiple properties – 9 of Havering’s 12 prosecutions were for just one person. Before you start thinking that the chances of being caught are not that high, you should be aware that the number of prosecutions is likely to increase exponentially over the next few years. LAs are able to keep fines from HMO and mandatory registration infringements if they are dealt with as civil offences and they are now waking up to the fact that they are a good source of additional revenue, especially since they don’t require the time and expense of court proceedings. And, with mandatory landlord registration schemes expanding, cash- strapped LAs are seeing even more opportunities for extra revenue. You should also be aware that pleading ignorance is not a legal defence, so the only practical way of ensuring you don’t end up with a big fine is to use a professional letting agent to handle your property rentals.