Less than half the fines levied against rogue landlords have been collected by local authorities, a freedom of information request has revealed.
The FOI data, obtained by the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA), shows that between 2021 and 2023 £13m worth of civil penalties were issued by councils. However, just £6m has been collected.
The data also revealed that almost half of local authorities (49%) did not issue any civil penalties between 2021 and 2023, while 69% issued just five or fewer.
Ben Beadle, chief executive of the NRLA, said: ‘At a time of tight budgets, it is strange that councils are failing to collect the fines levied on those landlords failing to do the right thing. It makes a mockery of the deterrent such fines should be.’
Responding to the NRLA’s findings, a Local Government Association (LGA) spokesperson said that ‘enforcement teams do not have enough capacity or resourcing to tackle poor standards as it stands.’
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