Enforcement Concordat

The term Enforcement includes advisory visits and assisting with compliance as well as licensing and Formal Enforcement.

Our client base is mainly individual persons in their capacity as landlords of Privately Rented Properties and small property companies with either single directors or partnerships.

Our portfolio is Housing in the private sector, our statutory duties are laid down in the Housing Acts and orders/Regulations made thereunto.

Occasionally use is made of the Building Act and The Environmental Protection Act.

As part of our business we have adopted Standards of Performance. These are available to the public.

The City Council did set up a partnership with the Private Sector Landlords, an open forum known as The Landlords Forum, this meets four times a year in the Town Hall and is supported not only by Members, Landlords, voluntary bodies and organisations but other departments of the Council.

We produce advisory leaflets on specific projects/rights eg. Improvement Grants, Energy Efficiency, etc, we also disseminate technical leaflets provided by government departments and other bodies, ie. Energy Grant leaflets, Security leaflets, Anti- condensation measures and Office of the Deputy Prime Minister Leaflets on rented accommodation per se.

Principles of Good Enforcement Policy

We have published clear standards setting out the level of service and performance the public and business people can expect to receive, the document is entitled "Standards of Performance" Chester City Council, Private Sector Housing.

As this data is not an official Performance Indicator, we do not publish our annual performance figures separately, but we intend to do so.

Helpfulness

We believe that prevention is better than cure and one of our main planks in Enforcement is Advice. This advice is given in every specific case and also through such mediums as The Landlords Forum, Renewal Area Newsletters, Parish Newsletters and Housing News plus flyers/leaflets etc on special topics.

All applications for Registration of HMOs, Accreditation of Houses being our only registration function, are dealt with promptly.

Any enforcement we take is co-ordinated with other Teams within Environmental Services and other departments within the Council to ensure duplication does not occur and that the most satisfactory course of action ethos is maintained.

Complaints about service

The Council has in place a well published corporate complaints and dispute procedure.

An offended person is informed of their rights of appeal on any Statutory Notice served.

Proportionality

All investigating enforcement officers judge each complaint, incident, occurrence on its individual merits bearing in mind that Health & Safety ranks first with reasonableness being the guidance factor.  Avoidance of unnecessary expense is vital to reasonableness.

Consistency

Whilst each Environmental Health Officer is responsible for a specific geographical area each covers for another during leave periods/sickness etc.

Panel meetings are held frequently to discuss peculiar situations; joint visits are quite often made to ensure the most satisfactory course of action is followed.

Cascading of information is continuous whilst technical meetings are held within the team at frequent intervals.

Close liaison and meetings with other bodies, eg. Fire Brigade, Police. Manufacturers and ODPM take place.

These principles are followed as a matter of course with in the team.

Enforcement Action

Normally this follows a complaint by a tenant or the owner of adjoining properties, the normal routine is:

• An Environmental Health Officer will visit the property and carry out an initial investigation.
• The Environmental Health Officer will communicate with the landlord informally either by means of a telephone call, followed by a confirming letter) or  by the sending of an informal letter drawing the Landlords attention to the cause of the complaint and requesting that he confirm in writing as to in what time scale the remedial works, if any, will be carried out.
• If the response is not acceptable to the Council or if no response is received then a "Minded to take Action Notice" will be served formally inviting representations, prior to a Repairs Notice being served under the Housing Acts.

In Chester it is very rare that a Repairs Notice has to be served.