Request
I am conducting research into letting agent regulation in England, and would like to request the following data relating to Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) issued to letting agents by your authority's housing enforcement and/or Trading Standards functions, for 2019, 2023, 2024 and 2025:
- The number of FPNs issued to letting agents
- The total value of FPNs issued to letting agents (£)
- The number of FPNs issued to letting agents that year which, as of today, have not yet been fully paid
- The total value of FPNs issued to letting agents that year which, as of today, have not yet been paid
To assist with analysis, I would be grateful if this data could be presented as a table with one row per year (2019, 2023, 2024 and 2025), and four columns showing, for each year: number of FPNs issued, value of FPNs issued (£), number of FPNs paid, and value of FPNs paid (£).
If your authority does not hold all of the above data, please provide whatever is available in this format. I believe this information would be of significant public interest given ongoing debates about the regulation of the private rented sector and the effectiveness of existing enforcement mechanisms.
Response
Under Section 1(1)(a) of the Freedom of Information Act, we have established that this information is not held. This is because Dover District Council has not adopted any powers to be able to issue fixed penalty notices to letting agents. Trading Standards may hold this information. Kent County Council are the trading standards authority for our District and they can be contacted at freedomofinformation@kent.gov.uk.