Derby City Council has prosecuted two landlords after they failed to hand over tenancy and rent records during housing standards investigations, in a reminder that paperwork failures can now become a prosecution issue as councils harden their approach under the Renters’ Rights Act era.
Derby uses Housing Act powers over missing landlord records
The cases were brought by Derby City Council’s Housing Standards Team after residents raised concerns about how two properties were being managed. In one case, Sonita Talwar was convicted after failing to provide complete tenancy agreement records and rental income details for a Pear Tree Road property. In the other, Naeem Akhtar was convicted after failing to provide rent records for a Stonehill Road property.
According to Derby City Council’s prosecution update, Talwar was fined £440 and ordered to pay £689.88 in costs plus a £176 victim surcharge. Akhtar was fined £660, ordered to pay £1,160.76 in costs and a £264 victim surcharge.
The council said both cases were pursued under powers in the Housing Act 2004, which allow local authorities to require documents to check whether rental properties are being managed in line with safety and licensing rules. Refusing to comply is a criminal offence.
Councils are moving from advice to enforcement
For landlords, the immediate point is not the size of the fines. It is the reason they were issued. These were not prosecutions for a major hazard or an unlicensed HMO. They were prosecutions for failing to produce records when the council asked for them.
That matters because the compliance burden on landlords has just gone up. Councils now know the private rented sector is under closer national scrutiny, and many will treat missing documents as a sign that wider management problems may exist. Landlords who still rely on patchy email trails, unsigned tenancy variations or incomplete rent schedules are more exposed than they were a year ago.
This follows Landlord Knowledge’s report on Slough’s plan to revive borough-wide landlord licensing, and its earlier coverage of how illegal eviction cases are still ending up in court. Together, those stories showed how local authorities are widening the net on private rented sector oversight. The Derby cases suggest the same trend is now extending to basic record production, not just licensing policy.
There is also a practical warning here for smaller landlords. A council investigation does not start with a prosecution. It usually starts with a complaint, then a request for information. If the records are organised and easy to produce, the matter may stay administrative. If they are missing or inconsistent, the landlord can quickly end up defending a criminal case instead.
Derby explicitly linked the prosecutions to the higher expectations created by the Renters’ Rights Act 2025. That does not mean every council will move at the same speed. But it does mean landlords should assume that requests for tenancy agreements, rent schedules, safety records and licensing evidence will be taken more seriously from here.
What this means for landlords
- If you’re self-managing: make sure tenancy agreements, rent statements, safety paperwork and licensing records can be produced quickly in one place.
- Watch for: complaint-led investigations where councils ask for documents before deciding whether wider breaches may exist.
- Bottom line: weak record keeping is becoming an enforcement risk in its own right, not just an admin problem.
Editor’s view
These Derby prosecutions are small in cash terms but important in signal. The old habit of treating paperwork as secondary is getting harder to defend when councils are willing to prosecute simply for not producing it.
Author: Editorial Team – UK landlord & buy-to-let news, policy, and finance
Published: 06 May 2026
Sources: Derby City Council
Related reading: Slough moves to revive borough-wide landlord licensing
