Community Protection Warnings and Notices. When the council uses anti-social behaviour law on landlords.

Guide by Damion Robinson MCIOB MCIEH. Law and figures checked 01/10/2026. This is general information, not legal advice about your case.

The sequence

Section 43 of the 2014 Act lets a council or the police serve a Community Protection Notice on anyone aged 16 or over, or on a business, whose conduct is having a detrimental effect, of a persistent or continuing nature, on the quality of life of people in the area, and is unreasonable. Before a notice can be served there has to be a written warning, and enough time for the person to deal with the problem. The warning is the stage most landlords miss, because it often arrives as a letter that doesn’t look like much.

The notice itself can require you to stop doing something, to do something, or to take reasonable steps to achieve a result. Typical landlord examples are clearing accumulated rubbish, securing a garden, dealing with fly-tipping at the front of an HMO, or managing tenants whose behaviour is causing complaints.

Why it’s used against landlords

It’s fast, it doesn’t need a Housing Act hazard, and the burden of proof is low. The council only has to be satisfied on reasonable grounds. Breach of a notice is a criminal offence without any further process, dealt with by a fixed penalty notice or by prosecution, where the fine is up to £2,500 for an individual and much higher for a business. The council can also do the works and charge you.

Responding to the warning

This is the cheap stage. Reply in writing, within the time given, saying what you’ve done and what you’ll do. If the conduct isn’t yours, for example rubbish being dumped by third parties, say so and set out what steps you’re taking. A warning answered properly very often ends there.

Appealing the notice

You have 21 days from the day the notice is issued to appeal to the magistrates’ court. That’s a court, not a tribunal, so we can’t lodge the appeal or speak for you there. We prepare the appeal pack and you lodge and present it yourself, or a solicitor does. Grounds include that the conduct didn’t happen, that it wasn’t persistent or unreasonable, that it wasn’t having a detrimental effect, that you couldn’t reasonably have been expected to control it, or that the requirements are unreasonable. Note that an appeal doesn’t automatically suspend the requirements, other than any that would need positive action such as works, so you may need to comply while you appeal.

After the 21 days you can still write to the council asking it to withdraw or change the notice if circumstances have changed. The Act doesn’t give you a formal right to that, so it depends on the council agreeing, and you can’t reopen whether the notice should have been served.

Related guides

• You’ve been served an improvement notice. What to do in the first 21 days.
• Civil penalties. What a notice of intent means and how the 28 days work.
• HMO licensing. Mandatory licences, room sizes, the management regulations and Article 4.

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