Six ways the Renters Rights Act will change renting: Part 4, Local Authority Fines

This is the fourth in my series of posts on the changes that will be brought about by the Renters’ Rights Act (the Act), now in force.

Yesterday I talked about the new rules which will force Local Authorities to carry out enforcement work.

Today, I want to talk about the new powers they have been given by the Act and the significantly increased fines they will be able to charge.

What is enforcement?

Local Authorities are now under a duty to enforce the landlord legislation in their area. Enforcement action means one of the following:

• Issuing a Civil Penalty Notice with a fine
• Bringing a prosecution, normally through the Magistrates’ Courts, and
• Bringing a claim in the First Tier tribunal for a Rent Repayment Order.

Civil Penalty Notices

Most Local Authorities will, for the most part, opt to issue a Civil Penalty Notice (CPN).

• They will be easier (particularly if the Local Authority uses the CPN generator software developed by Justice for Tenants)
• They will be considerably quicker – it can take up to a year or more to bring a prosecution through the court, by which time many of the witnesses may have left, and
• They (ie the Local Authority) can keep the fine money! This is a deliberate ploy by the government to make enforcement action self-financing.

So I suspect that in the vast majority of cases, CPNs will be the order of the day, unless the Local Authority is looking to impose a banning order.

New breaches and offences

• Breaches are the less serious issues which carry a fine of up to £7,000
• Offences are the more serious issues which carry a fine of up to £40,000

In addition to the existing breaches and offences, there are a number of new ones introduced by the Act.

New breaches include: 

• Attempting to give a tenant a fixed-term tenancy
• Failing to give a tenancy agreement/statement of terms
• Failing to give the information sheet to existing tenants at 1 May 2026
• Failing to provide a ‘proposed rent’ in advertisements
• Illegal discrimination against applicants on benefit or with children
• Less serious offences relating to eviction

New offences include:

• Knowingly or recklessly using an incorrect ground for possession – if this causes tenants to vacate
• Re-letting a property within 12 months of using grounds 1 (recovering possession for you or your family to live in) or ground 1A  (to sell)
• Unlawful eviction and/or harassment under the Protection from Eviction Act.

Eye-watering fines

However, landlords need to take note that the fines available for Local Authorities to impose for these are eye-watering indeed.

For the less serious issues, breaches, the fines are limited to £7,000, but this is still a significant sum. Particularly bearing in mind that if there are several breaches, they can issue a CNP fine for EACH of them.

For example, where landlords have breached several of the HMO Management rules.

More serious issues (offences), for example, landlords trying to bully tenants into leaving by issuing possession notices for grounds they know full well are not enforceable, carry a maximum fine of £40,000.

This includes situations where landlords have illegally harassed and evicted tenants in breach of the Protection from Eviction Act – something that up to now (May 2026) could only be punished via the courts.

Continuing or repeated breaches

Then there are ‘continuing or repeated breaches’. If a landlord (or an agent, or property manager) is hit with one CNP or prosecution, and they

• Commit the same breach again after 28 days, or
• Commit another breach of offence within 5 years of the initial penalty

This alone will allow the Local Authority to fine them up to £40,000 IN ADDITION to the CPN fine for the second breach or offence.

This is because, for many rogue and criminal landlords, the fines, (if they pay them) are a minor irritant, something to be treated as a ‘business expense’ and which is insignificant bearing in mind the income they get from their illegal behaviour.

These very high fines for serious matters are an attempt to make sure that illegal behaviour does not pay.

Enforcing the fines and awards

At the moment, many, or more likely most, rogue and criminal landlords just don’t pay the fines.

Research by the NRLA shows that of the almost £30 million penalties issued, around 54% was unpaid.

This may change through, with the launch of JFT Legal Limited, a specialist law firm focusing entirely on collecting Local Authority fines, which I discussed here.

Once fines are being properly enforced, things may start to change.

Rent Repayment Orders

Finally, Local Authorities can also issue applications for a Rent Repayment Order (RRO) if any of the rent was paid by benefit. These are also likely to net significant amounts of money.

The maximum awards have now gone up to 24 months’ worth of rent. Plus, if the Local Authority apply for their RRO after a successful prosecution or unchallenged CPN (or a CPN where the challenge failed) the First Tier Tribunal will have no alternative but to award the full amount possible.

It is hoped by the government (and many others) that these new powers to fine rogue and criminal landlords will discourage them and hopefully result in their exit from the Private Rented Sector.

Good landlords will not be immune, but are less likely to be targeted by Local Authorities.

However, all consumer-facing trades and professions are regulated and subject to fines for breaches of those regulations. Why should landlords be exempt?

Tomorrow I want to talk about the new rules about rent.