Civil penalties. What a notice of intent means and how the 28 days work.
A notice of intent is the council telling you it’s minded to fine you, and how much. The representations you make in the next 28 days are the only ones the council has to consider.
Guide by Damion Robinson MCIOB MCIEH. Law and figures checked 01/10/2026. This is general information, not legal advice about your case.
The two-stage process
Civil penalties under section 249A of the Housing Act 2004 are an alternative to prosecution for specified offences: not complying with an improvement notice, running an HMO, or a property in a selective licensing area, without a licence, breaching licence conditions, breaching the HMO management regulations, and overcrowding. The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 added its own set of penalties for breaches of the new tenancy rules, at up to £7,000 for a first or minor breach and up to £40,000 for serious or repeat ones, and raised the Housing Act maximum to £40,000.
The council must first serve a notice of intent. It sets out the offence, the amount proposed and the reasons. You have 28 days from the day after the notice was given to make written representations. The council then decides whether to impose the penalty, at what level, and serves a final notice. You can appeal the final notice to the First-tier Tribunal within 28 days, and the tribunal hears it afresh.
The standard of proof
To impose a civil penalty the council has to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that you committed the offence. That’s the criminal standard. It’s the same standard a court would apply, and it means the council’s evidence has to be complete. If there’s a defence available, for example that a complete licence application was in and still being processed, or a reasonable excuse such as being prevented from complying with a notice by a tenant refusing access, the council has to deal with it.
Most of the £7,000 Renters’ Rights Act breach penalties, including the written statement of terms, also need the council to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt. Only the discrimination and rental bidding breaches are decided on the balance of probabilities. The £7,000 category 1 hazard penalty that came in on 22 June 2026 turns on the council’s opinion that it would have been reasonably practicable for you to have removed the hazard.
How the amount is set
Every council has a published civil penalty policy with a matrix. It scores the severity of the offence, the culpability of the landlord, the harm or risk of harm, and the landlord’s track record and means. Liverpool’s is on its website. Your representations should walk through that matrix line by line, because that’s what the officer will do. A landlord who has never been in trouble before, co-operated with the investigation and fixed the problem sits in a different box from one who didn’t, and the difference is often thousands of pounds.
Financial means matter. The council is meant to consider your ability to pay. If the penalty would be disproportionate to the rent from the property or your income from letting, say so and evidence it.
What representations should cover
- Whether the offence is made out at all, to the criminal standard.
- Any statutory defence, with the evidence for it.
- The council’s own policy matrix, applied to your facts, with the score you say is right.
- Mitigation. What you’ve done since, what you’ll do now, and any compliance record.
- Means, if the amount would be disproportionate.
Representations are written, dated and go to the officer named on the notice. Keep a copy and proof of delivery. If the final notice comes back unchanged, the tribunal appeal starts from the same 28-day clock.
LS-02 Civil penalty representations, £350, or LS-02B for a Renters’ Rights Act notice of intent, also £350
Fixed price, confirmed in writing before you commit. Council and tribunal fees at cost on top.
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