Banning Orders

Suppose a landlord or agent is convicted of a “banning order offence”. In that case, a local authority may apply to the First-tier Tribunal for a banning order against the landlord or agent who committed the offence.

A banning order offence includes (but is not limited to):

• illegally evicting or harassing a residential occupier
• using violence to secure entry
• providing false or misleading information
• failing to comply with an improvement notice
• failure to comply with a prohibition order
• offences concerning licensing of Houses in Multiple Occupation
• offences concerning selective licensing
• violence for securing entry
• offences related to drugs
• contravention of an overcrowding notice
• fire and gas safety offences
• harassment and stalking

A banning order will ban the person from letting housing or acting as an agent (or both) in England.

A banning order must last for at least 12 months. However, there can be exceptions to allow, for example, a landlord to obtain possession orders against current tenants or to allow a letting agent to wind down their business.

Database

There is a national database of rogue landlords, and anybody with a banning order must be placed in the database.

Even without a banning order, a local authority may place a person on the database if they have been convicted of a banning order offence or have received a financial penalty regarding a banning order offence at least twice in 12 months.

Local authorities throughout England will have access to the database (and are responsible for keeping it up to date), allowing them to ensure a landlord or agent with a banning order can’t move areas within England.