FI15638
Request
I am writing to you under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to request data on houses of multiple occupancy (HMOs) in your jurisdiction.
Specifically, I would like to request the following information, by calendar year from 2019 to 2024.
If any individual parts of the questions are unavailable or would exceed cost exemptions, please disregard those parts.
Similarly, if your records do not extend to 2019, or doing so would exceed cost exemptions, then please start at the earliest available year.
If it is not possible for another reason to provide the information requested, please provide advice and assistance, under the Section 15 obligations of the Act, as to how I can refine my request.
1. How many reports of unlicensed HMOs were received, how many investigations of unlicensed HMOs were conducted, and how many were identified. Additionally, if recorded, please also provide the number of those investigations which were conducted jointly with police/law enforcement.
|
Year
|
Reports of unlicensed HMOs
|
All investigations of suspected unlicensed HMOs
|
Of which investigations conducted with police/law enforcement
|
Confirmed unlicensed HMOs
|
|
2019
|
|
|
|
|
|
2020
|
|
|
|
|
|
2021
|
|
|
|
|
|
2022
|
|
|
|
|
|
2023
|
|
|
|
|
|
2024
|
|
|
|
|
2. Can you provide an estimate as to how many unlicensed HMOs there are in the council area? (I understand this will be an approximate figure and not exact.)
3. Regarding enforcement action taken against unlicensed HMO landlords, please provide the number of fines/civil penalties, management orders, banning orders, rent repayment orders, and/or criminal prosecutions by year over the period. If it is difficult to access this information, then please limit it to just the number of fines and criminal investigations if more readily available.
|
Year
|
Fines/civil penalties
|
Management orders
|
Banning orders
|
Rent repayment orders
|
Criminal prosecutions
|
|
2019
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2020
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2021
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2022
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2023
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2024
|
|
|
|
|
|
4. Relating to the above number of civil penalties/fines and criminal prosecutions for unlicensed HMOs, what was the financial value of the fines ordered to be paid by year over the period, and if recorded, how many prosecutions resulted in criminal conviction?
|
Year
|
Value of fines/civil penalties
|
Number of successful criminal convictions
|
|
2019
|
|
|
|
2020
|
|
|
|
2021
|
|
|
|
2022
|
|
|
|
2023
|
|
|
|
2024
|
|
|
5. How many licensed HMOs are there in your area? Please also break this down by year, providing a snapshot of the number of HMO licenses as of 31st December each year, if this is feasible. Alternatively, please provide the number of current active HMO licenses held, and any historic snapshots that you may hold with relevant dates.
|
Year
|
Licensed HMOs
|
|
End of 2019
|
|
|
End of 2020
|
|
|
End of 2021
|
|
|
End of 2022
|
|
|
End of 2023
|
|
|
End of 2024
|
|
6. How many housing condition-related warrants have been executed in general for all types of housing? Please break this down by year and also by whether the warrant was related to overcrowding or breach of housing notices, if accessible
|
Year
|
All housing warrants issued
|
Of which for overcrowding
|
Of which for breach of housing notices
|
|
2019
|
|
|
|
|
2020
|
|
|
|
|
2021
|
|
|
|
|
2022
|
|
|
|
|
2023
|
|
|
|
|
2024
|
|
|
|
7. If recorded, please provide the same information on housing warrants for HMOs specifically.
|
Year
|
Housing warrants issued for HMOs
|
Of which for overcrowding
|
Of which for breach of housing notices
|
|
2019
|
|
|
|
|
2020
|
|
|
|
|
2021
|
|
|
|
|
2022
|
|
|
|
|
2023
|
|
|
|
|
2024
|
|
|
|
Response
Please note that the Council moved to a new software system in 2024 and it is not possible to report on data held on the previous system. We have provided the information that we hold.
1.
|
Year
|
Reports of unlicensed HMOs
|
All investigations of suspected unlicensed HMOs
|
Of which investigations conducted with police/law enforcement
|
Confirmed unlicensed HMOs
|
|
2019
|
The Council does not hold this information
|
|
2020
|
The Council does not hold this information
|
|
2021
|
The Council does not hold this information
|
|
2022
|
The Council does not hold this information
|
|
2023
|
The Council does not hold this information
|
|
2024
|
2
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
2. The Council does not hold this information.
3.
|
Year
|
Fines/civil penalties
|
Management orders
|
Banning orders
|
Rent repayment orders
|
Criminal prosecutions
|
|
2019
|
The Council does not hold this information
|
|
2020
|
The Council does not hold this information
|
|
2021
|
The Council does not hold this information
|
|
2022
|
The Council does not hold this information
|
|
2023
|
The Council does not hold this information
|
|
2024
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
4.
|
Year
|
Value of fines/civil penalties
|
Number of successful criminal convictions
|
|
2019
|
The Council does not hold this information
|
|
2020
|
The Council does not hold this information
|
|
2021
|
The Council does not hold this information
|
|
2022
|
The Council does not hold this information
|
|
2023
|
The Council does not hold this information
|
|
2024
|
Zero
|
Zero
|
5.
|
Year
|
Licensed HMOs
|
|
End of 2019
|
The Council does not hold this information
|
|
End of 2020
|
The Council does not hold this information
|
|
End of 2021
|
The Council does not hold this information
|
|
End of 2022
|
The Council does not hold this information
|
|
End of 2023
|
The Council does not hold this information
|
|
End of 2024
|
69
|
6.
|
Year
|
All housing warrants issued
|
Of which for overcrowding
|
Of which for breach of housing notices
|
|
2019
|
The Council does not hold this information
|
|
2020
|
The Council does not hold this information
|
|
2021
|
The Council does not hold this information
|
|
2022
|
The Council does not hold this information
|
|
2023
|
The Council does not hold this information
|
|
2024
|
Zero
|
Zero
|
Zero
|
7.
|
Year
|
Housing warrants issued for HMOs
|
Of which for overcrowding
|
Of which for breach of housing notices
|
|
2019
|
The Council does not hold this information
|
|
2020
|
The Council does not hold this information
|
|
2021
|
The Council does not hold this information
|
|
2022
|
The Council does not hold this information
|
|
2023
|
The Council does not hold this information
|
|
2024
|
Zero
|
Zero
|
Zero
|