Councils in England are collecting only 24.9 percent of civil penalties issued to private landlords, according to NRLA data, even as ministers widen on-the-spot fining powers under the Housing, Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS).
The collection figures were published by the NRLA earlier this year, but the issue has sharpened again because councils can now issue fines of up to £7,000 for landlords who refuse to deal with serious hazards under the updated HHSRS regime. That leaves a basic question hanging over the tougher approach: if councils are not collecting most existing penalties, how much difference will larger powers make in practice?
For landlords, the timing matters because enforcement is getting more immediate just as the Government prepares for wider Renters’ Rights Act oversight. Good operators who already budget for repairs and licensing fees will want proof that enforcement cash is actually being used to tackle the minority of rogue landlords rather than disappearing into a weak collection system.
New HHSRS powers start with an old collection problem
In a new statement on the updated HHSRS rules, the latest Landlord Knowledge coverage of the £7,000 hazard fines noted that inspectors can now issue civil penalties directly where Category 1 hazards are not addressed. The NRLA said that tougher powers on paper are not enough if councils still fail to recover the money already levied against non-compliant landlords.
According to the association’s earlier Freedom of Information exercise, 285 English councils issued £29.7 million in civil penalties to private landlords across 2023/24 and 2024/25, but recovered only £7.39 million. Overall, councils issued 3,695 penalties over the period.
The newer NRLA figures cited in this week’s coverage also show that HHSRS inspections rose to 91,620 between 2023/24 and 2024/25 from 85,326 across the previous two-year window – an increase of just over 7 percent. That suggests councils are carrying out more checks, but it does not yet show a matching improvement in getting money out of the worst offenders.
Ben Beadle, chief executive of the National Residential Landlords Association, said increasing fines “misses the point” if councils do not have the capacity to use existing powers effectively. He argued that responsible landlords are left picking up the tab through licensing and other fees when fines issued to rogue operators go uncollected.
This follows Landlord Knowledge’s FOI findings on landlord fines and uneven enforcement disclosure, which highlighted how patchy council reporting still is even where enforcement powers already exist. The latest NRLA warning suggests the problem may be less about headline powers and more about whether councils have the staff, systems and follow-through to make those powers count.
Why collection rates matter to landlords now
The Government has already set out plans for councils in England to receive support funding as they prepare for Renters’ Rights Act enforcement, and landlords can expect tougher scrutiny of conditions, records and response times. Yet low penalty collection rates risk weakening the polluter-pays principle that ministers and councils often rely on when defending higher compliance costs for the sector.
For portfolio landlords, that matters in two ways. First, it increases the chance that licensing fees and compliance charges remain under pressure if councils do not recover enough from offenders. Second, it raises doubts about whether enforcement will hit the worst cases hard enough to improve standards and protect the reputation of compliant landlords.
The NRLA is calling for councils to publish annual reports on private rented sector enforcement activity and for government to take a harder look at local enforcement capacity. Its latest statement came alongside the updated HHSRS fines warning, while the underlying fine-collection data was set out in the association’s March release and sits against the Government’s wider Renters’ Rights Act implementation roadmap.
What this means for landlords
- If you already meet repair standards: expect more inspection activity, but watch whether councils focus action on serious non-compliance rather than blanket cost recovery.
- Watch for: more detail from councils on how enforcement income is spent as Renters’ Rights Act preparations continue.
- Bottom line: stronger fining powers are only half the story – landlords should judge the new regime by whether councils actually collect penalties from rogue operators.
Editor’s view
There is little value in announcing tougher penalties if local authorities still struggle to turn them into cash and action. For landlords, the real test is no longer whether councils have powers, but whether they can use them consistently against the people damaging the sector.
Author: Editorial Team – UK landlord & buy-to-let news, policy, and finance
Published: 17 July 2026
Sources: NRLA, GOV.UK
Related reading: Landlords face live £7,000 overheating hazard fines
