A council says it’s investigating 30 private rental sector cases within its boundaries, some involving a potential minimum £17,000 fine for landlords.

The revelation came at a Southampton council meeting where a council officer pledged the authority would be issuing “quite hefty” fines in the next three to six months under its new Renters Rights Act powers.

He told councillors: “It will be interesting to see how those are received within the landlord community and how many of those end up going to appeal and how successful we will be in our debt recovery.

“We haven’t set any targets yet around the Civil Penalty Notice usage.

“We wanted to see how the playing field kind of developed over the first year, so we haven’t set any financial forecasts against that at all.”

Local media report there are between 6,000 and 7,000 HMOs in Southampton.

Councillors have been informed that the average fine issued before the new Renters Rights Act powers was some £2,000.

But the government has now give Southampton council £610,163 of public money to clamp down on rogue landlords and conduct new duties relating to homelessness prevention.

The council says it’s enforcement team has doubled in size from one to two officers, and states that it is using data from licensing schemes, council tax, HM Land Registry and a stock condition survey to identify potential properties to probe.

Under the Renters Rights Act councils can issue civil penalties of up to £40,000, urge tenants to pursue Rent Repayment Orders, enter homes and businesses to access documents relating to certain alleged offences connected with rental properties, and request a wide range of documents from landlords and agents to support investigations.

You can see one local report of the council approach here: https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/26532692.southampton-landlords-face-17-000-fines-unlicensed-hmos/