The Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (2015) Regulations 2015
Criteria for the imposition of a financial penalty
A failure to comply with the requirements of a remedial notice allows the Council to require payment of a penalty charge.
In considering the imposition of a penalty, the authority will look at the evidence concerning the breach of the requirement of the notice. This could be obtained from a property inspection, or from information provided by the tenant or agent that no remedial action had been undertaken.
For example, landlords can demonstrate compliance with the Regulations by supplying dated photographs of alarms, together with installation records or confirmation by the tenant that a system is in proper working order.
Landlords need to take steps to demonstrate that they have met the testing at the start of the tenancy requirements. Examples of how this can be achieved are by tenants signing an inventory form and that they were tested and in working order at the start of the tenancy. Tenancy agreements can specify the frequency that a tenant should test the alarm to ensure it is in proper working order.
In deciding whether it would be appropriate to impose a penalty, the authority will take full account of the particular facts and circumstances of the breach under consideration.
A financial penalty charge will be considered appropriate if the Council is satisfied, on the balance of probabilities, that the landlord who had been served with remedial notice under Regulation 5 had failed to take the remedial action specified in the notice within the time period specified.