You’ve been served an improvement notice. What to do in the first 21 days.
An improvement notice is the council’s main enforcement tool under the Housing Act 2004. It’s not a suggestion, and the clock starts the day it’s served.
Guide by Damion Robinson MCIOB MCIEH. Law and figures checked 01/10/2026. This is general information, not legal advice about your case.
What the notice is
An improvement notice is served under sections 11 or 12 of the Housing Act 2004. Section 11 is used for category 1 hazards, where the council has a duty to act. Section 12 is for category 2 hazards, where it has a choice. The notice has to tell you the hazard, the deficiency causing it, the remedial action the council wants, the date the works must start and the period for finishing them. If any of those is missing or vague, that matters.
The start date can’t be less than 28 days after service. The notice becomes operative 21 days after service unless you appeal. Those two dates are the ones to write down first.
Since 22 June 2026 there’s a third thing to watch. Where the notice deals with a category 1 hazard, the council can add a civil penalty of up to £7,000 at the same time, if it decides it was reasonably practicable for you to have removed the hazard already. It comes with its own right of appeal.
Read it the way the officer wrote it
Every notice sits on a Housing Health and Safety Rating System assessment. The officer has scored a hazard, decided it’s category 1 or 2, and picked a course of action from the options the Act gives them. Your first job is to check that chain. Is the hazard scored correctly? Does the remedial action match the deficiency, or has the officer specified a Rolls Royce fix for a bicycle problem? Is the completion period realistic for the work involved?
Councils also have to consider whether an improvement notice is the most appropriate action. If a hazard awareness notice or informal action would have done, that’s an argument.
Your options
- Do the works. Often the right answer. Tell the council in writing when you start and when you finish, and keep photographs and invoices. Ask for the notice to be revoked under section 16 once the works are done.
- Agree a variation. If the works are right but the specification or timing is wrong, the council can vary the notice. Most officers would rather agree a sensible scope than defend an appeal.
- Appeal. To the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) within 21 days of service. Grounds include that another course of action was better, that the notice is unreasonable, or that someone else should be doing the works. An appeal suspends the notice until it’s decided.
What happens if you ignore it
Failing to comply is an offence under section 30. The council can impose a civil penalty instead of prosecuting, and since 1 May 2026 the ceiling is £40,000. Tenants can apply for a rent repayment order of up to 24 months’ rent for offences committed on or after 1 May 2026, or 12 months for earlier offences. The council can also do the works itself and charge you, register a charge on the property, and record the notice on the local land charges register, which turns up on every future sale.
The council can charge you for serving the notice too, and that charge stands even if you then do the works.
The 21-day plan
- Day 1. Note the service date, the operative date, the start date and the completion date. Photograph everything the notice refers to as it is now.
- Days 1 to 5. Check the notice for defects, check the hazard scoring, and get a price for the works as specified and for any sensible alternative.
- Days 5 to 14. Write to the officer. Either confirm you’ll comply and propose dates, or propose a varied scope with reasons. Keep it factual.
- Day 21 at the latest. If the council won’t move and the notice is wrong, the appeal has to be lodged by now. Not after.
LS-01 Council enforcement response, £250
Fixed price, confirmed in writing before you commit. Council and tribunal fees at cost on top.
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