FI14899
Request
A) PRIVATE RENTED HOUSING
1. How many tenants in private rented properties have approached the Council to report disrepair in their homes?
2. How many inspections have been completed on privately rented properties?
3. Following inspection, in how many cases has further contact been made with a private landlord to request that repairs are completed?
4. How many Enforcement/Improvement Notices have been served on private properties, and how many private landlords does this represent?
5. How many Prohibition Notices or Demolition Orders have been made on private rented properties?
B) SOCIAL RENTED HOUSING
6. How many tenants in social housing properties have approached the Council to report disrepair in their homes?
7. How many inspections have been completed on social housing properties?
8. Following inspection, in how many cases has further contact been made with a social landlords to request that repairs are completed?
9. How many Enforcement/Improvement Notices have been served on social housing properties, and how many social housing landlords does this represent?
10. How many Prohibition Notices or Demolition Orders have been made on social housing properties?
C) OPERATIONAL GUIDANCE
I understand that the local authority has a duty to inspect a property where an official complaint has been made about any premises in its district and the circumstances complained of indicate that any category 1 or category 2 hazard may exist on those premises (s4(2) Housing Act 2004). Similarly the power to issue improvement notices applies to any residential premises (s12 Housing Act 2004).
11. Please provide me with your policy, procedure or staff guidance in respect of how the local authority conducts its duties under s4(2) HA 2004, and powers under s12 HA 2004 for example in relation to the circumstances in which the local authority will or won’t inspect and what criteria and time-frames are involved when deciding whether enforcement action is appropriate and if so in what form. If you do not hold policies, please provide a brief explanation of the criteria, process and time-frames involved.
12. Please tell me how many staff are currently tasked with enforcement duties and how many cases are currently open to the local authority’s enforcement team.
Response
Please note that the information provided is for both private rented housing and RSLs as the Council does not distinguish between the two when recording the information. In addition, we are unable to extract a report from the system that identifies how many landlords the data relates to. To collate the information for both of these points in full, would require a search of every individual record. As this specific information is not readily available and from our preliminary assessment, we have estimated that the cost of complying in full with your request would exceed the ‘appropriate limit’. The appropriate limit has been specified in regulations and for Local Government it is set at £450. This represents the estimated cost of one person spending 2½ working days in determining whether the information is held, locating, retrieving and extracting the data. The Council has therefore provided the information that is readily available within the time limits imposed by the legislation.
- As stated above, this data is for both private rented housing and RLS. 2022/23 – 237, 2023/24 – 187, 2024/25 – 26
- As stated above, this data is for both private rented housing and RLS. 2022/23 – 232 visits – 89 HHSRS Inspections, 2023/24 – 185 visits – 51 HHSRS Inspections, 2024/25 – 15 visits – 15 HHSRS Inspections.
The difference between reports vs visits is due to cancelled complaints and/or being unable to contact complainants.
- As stated above, this data is for both private rented housing and RLS. 2022/23 – 232, 2023/24 – 185, 2024/25 – 22
- As stated above, this data is for both private rented housing and RLS. 2022/23 – 145, 2023/24 – 88, 2024/25 – 3
- As stated above, this data is for both private rented housing and RLS. 2022/23 – 1 Emergency Prohibition Order 1 Prohibition Order, 2023/24 – 1 Emergency Prohibition Order, 2024/25 – 1 Prohibition Order
- This information is included in the answer to question 1 for the reasons stated above.
- This information is included in the answer to question 2 for the reasons stated above.
- This information is included in the answer to question 3 for the reasons stated above.
- This information is included in the answer to question 4 for the reasons stated above.
- This information is included in the answer to question 5 for the reasons stated above.
- This information is available on the Council’s website at https://www.dover.gov.uk/Housing/Private-Sector-Housing/Private-Sector-Housing-Enforcement-Policy-2020.final-edits.pdf.
- 3 staff members with 96 open complaint cases.