The council has served a notice. Here’s what to do with it.

The notices councils serve

Most housing enforcement in England runs through Part 1 of the Housing Act 2004 and the Housing Health and Safety Rating System, usually shortened to HHSRS. An officer inspects, scores the hazards they find, and picks an enforcement route. The paperwork you get depends on that choice.

An improvement notice sets out the hazard, the works the council wants done and the dates for starting and finishing them. A hazard awareness notice tells you about a hazard without ordering works, but it goes on the property’s record and tends to come back. A prohibition order stops a room, a floor or the whole property being used until the hazard is dealt with. Works in default means the council does the job itself and bills you. Emergency remedial action is the same thing at speed, where the officer thinks someone is at imminent risk.

Alongside those sit financial penalties. For certain offences under the Housing Act 2004, including failing to comply with an improvement notice and running an unlicensed HMO, the council can impose a civil penalty instead of prosecuting. That process starts with a notice of intent. The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 added its own set of offences and penalty routes, with the same notice of intent structure. Since 22/06/2026 a council taking enforcement action over a category 1 hazard can also impose a penalty of up to £7,000 alongside that action, if it’s satisfied you could reasonably have removed the hazard already. That penalty goes through the same notice of intent and representations process.

Then there are Community Protection Notices under sections 43 to 58 of the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014. Councils increasingly use these against landlords for things like waste, overgrown gardens and property condition, and they always start with a written warning. The warning is the moment to act, not the notice.

The first 48 hours

Read the whole thing, including the schedule at the back. Note two dates. The date it was served, and any deadline printed in it. Most notices under the 2004 Act carry a right of appeal to the First-tier Tribunal and the window is short. For an improvement notice the Act gives 21 days from service. For a notice of intent to impose a civil penalty the representations period is 28 days from the day after it was given. A Community Protection Notice can be appealed to the magistrates’ court within 21 days of issue. Miss those dates and your options narrow a lot.

Don’t ring the officer and argue. Don’t start works either, unless the notice is an emergency one, because unrecorded works make it hard to show later what the condition actually was. Photograph everything as it stands now, date stamped. Pull together the tenancy agreement, the gas and electrical certificates, the EPC and any correspondence with the tenant about the issues in the notice.

Then send it to us. We’ll tell you within one working day whether it’s a notice worth challenging, a notice worth complying with quickly, or something in between.

What we do

Our standard council enforcement response is a fixed £250 for the first notice on a property, and £125 for each further notice on the same property. For that you get the notice read properly against the HHSRS as revised in June 2026 and its operating guidance, and the council’s own enforcement policy, a written summary of what it’s asking for and whether the scope is proportionate, and contact with the case officer to agree what actually needs doing and by when. Where the notice is wrong on its facts, served on the wrong person, or asks for works out of proportion to the hazard, we say so and set out the route to challenge it.

If works are needed, Act Now Energy Ltd can survey the property and price the schedule. Act Now Energy is owned by the same person who runs Landlord Services NW. Our fee doesn’t change whether you use them or someone else, and you get the agreed scope in writing before anyone quotes. You can take that scope to any contractor you like.

For a penalty, the representations stage is the main chance to reduce the amount. Councils set penalties using a matrix in their own policy, scored on culpability, harm, track record and the like. The representations have to speak to that matrix with evidence, not just say sorry. Civil penalty representations and Renters’ Rights Act notice of intent representations are £350 each.

Where the answer from the council is no and the case is worth taking further, we prepare the tribunal appeal pack for £450. That’s the application, the grounds, the witness statement and the bundle, organised the way the tribunal expects it. If the hearing needs someone in the room, lay representation is priced on application. If it needs a solicitor or counsel, we’ll tell you that too. A Community Protection Notice appeal is different. It goes to the magistrates’ court, where only you or a lawyer can run the case, so we prepare the pack and you lodge and present it.

Prices

Service	Fixed price
Council enforcement response (improvement notice, hazard awareness notice, prohibition order, works in default, emergency remedial action)	£250
Additional notice on the same property	£125
Civil penalty representations	£350
Notice of intent representations under the Renters’ Rights Act	£350
Tribunal appeal pack against a notice or penalty	£450
Community Protection Warning or Notice response	£250
Magistrates’ court appeal pack against a Community Protection Notice, for you to lodge	£450

All prices are fixed and paid in full by bank transfer at engagement. Tribunal and court fees are charged at cost on top. The full list is on the fees page.

The works loop with Act Now Energy

Here’s the honest version. A lot of improvement notices end in a schedule of works, and the quickest way through is one team that has read the notice, surveys the property and prices the job. That’s why Act Now Energy sits alongside this consultancy.

It’s also an obvious conflict, so we’ve set it up to remove the incentive. The consultancy fee is fixed before any survey happens. The scope we agree with the council is written down and given to you before any quote. You choose the contractor. If you go elsewhere we still confirm completion to the council and ask for the notice to be revoked. Nothing about the consultancy side depends on the works side winning the job.

Landlord Services NW is not a firm of solicitors and doesn’t give legal advice. Where a matter needs a solicitor, we say so and refer you to one. Nothing on this page is a promise about the outcome of any notice, penalty or appeal.