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How will the system be used in practice?

As outlined above, local councils are obliged to deal with poor housing conditions in their areas, primarily in the rented sector but occasionally in the owner occupied sector.

Category Hazards

The hazard score does not dictate the action to be taken, but councils have a duty under the Act to take action of some kind if they discover a Category One hazard in a property, and a power to take action to deal with a Category Two hazard. The first step should be to approach the landlord informally as recommended by the Government under the Enforcement Concordat. However, the amount of leeway allowed to a landlord informally will be at the council's discretion. If the landlord does not respond, the council is most likely to move into formal action by serving an improvement notice on the owner (or agent as appropriate) requiring that the hazard(s) be removed or minimised within a set time (generally 28 days). In more serious cases, a council may serve a prohibition order prohibiting the use of all or part of a dwelling.

If a Category One hazard is so serious as to represent an 'imminent risk of serious harm' to the occupants, the council can serve an emergency notice to remove the hazard (one example of such a risk would be dangerous electrical installations or wiring). Such a notice allows a council to enter the premises and take urgent action to deal with the hazard. Councils can then charge owners for the cost of this work, but owners have a right of appeal against the notice and the costs involved. Councils can also use emergency prohibition orders to close down access to all or part of a building with immediate effect if they feel that the situation is serious enough to warrant it.

Even without using emergency powers, a council can, with or without the agreement of the owner, carry out the works required in a notice (and charge accordingly). This procedure is usually used in emergency situations or where all other negotiation has failed.

Alternatively, councils can prosecute owners for failing to comply with an improvement notice or prohibition order. Such cases are heard in magistrates' courts.

It should be remembered that serious hazards are not always expensive to remove. A Category One hazard could, for example, be removed by fitting a lock to a window or fixing a handrail to a staircase.

For minor hazards, a council could serve a hazard awareness notice provide advice and do not actually require owners to do anything (they are also not registerable as a land charge). There may occasionally be situations where a council will serve such a notice for a more serious hazard on, for example, an owner-occupier where no tenants occupy the property and the hazard presents a minimal risk to the current owner-occupier and does not affect anyone outside the property.

If a hazard is specific to a child or elderly person but no children or elderly people occupy the property, the council could decide to suspend the notice (or part of it) until such time as a child or elderly person moves in. If a notice, or part of it, is suspended the council is obliged to review the situation at least once a year to check if the suspension continues to be justified, or should be revoked so that the notice is activated.

The Act gives councils the power to charge to recover the costs of enforcement action; any such charge must be reasonable and can only cover the council's costs.