Decision Maker: Cabinet

Outcome: Recommendations Approved

Is Key Decision?: Yes

Is Callable In?: Yes

Date of Decision: September 3, 2025

Purpose: To approve the revised Civil Penalties & Rent Repayment Orders Policy, which was last approved by Cabinet in 2017.

Content: RESOLVED That the Cabinet: a)                approves the proposed revised Civil Penalty and Rent Repayment Order Policy as set out in Appendix A of report SHAP/096. b)                delegates authority to the Head of Strategic Housing in consultation with the Head of Governance, People and Performance to agree the sum of civil penalties to be issued on a case-by-case basis in accordance with the proposed policy. c)                delegates authority to the Head of Strategic Housing in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Public Protection to make amendments to the policy as further changes to legislation and statutory guidance are introduced or following a subsequent review. (Generic Delegation 7 will be used to enact this recommendation). Reasons for the Recommendations a)                The revised policy strengthens the council’s commitment to ensuring that private sector landlords operating unlawfully are held to account and that it is financial disadvantageous for them to do so. b)                Revised policies have been adopted by Mid Sussex District Council and Horsham District Council in very similar terms and therefore the adoption of this policy by Crawley Borough Council provides consistency across the north of the county to the imposition of civil penalties for housing offences. c)                There are two key changes between the current and revised policies. The first is in response to recent case law and replaces the banding model from which fines are determined, to the provision of starting points, from which a landlord’s circumstances are considered to identify any mitigating and aggravating factors and determine whether the fine should be adjusted accordingly. d)                The second change relates to the number of rental properties a landlord controls/owns/manages and how it impacts the level of penalty imposed. The current policy differentiates between landlords that control/own/manage one to five properties, and those that control/own/manage six or more. The revised policy differentiates between landlords that control/own/manage one or two properties, three to five properties, and six or more properties. This approach is more proportional to the scale of the landlord’s business.