Letting agents and landlords hit with record fines this year

Letting agents and landlords in London are facing a record year for fines issued by local authorities.

Already in 2023, total penalties of £909,550 have been imposed on agents and landlords by councils in the capital.

Figures from proptech data company Kamma reveal that the fines dished out since December are close to the total for the whole of 2022.

Local authorities in Greater London have issued more than £9 million in fines, since the Mayor of London’s records began in 2017.

Enforcement rise

Over 20 new licensing schemes and consultations have launched throughout the UK in 2023, five of which are in London alone. New London schemes include Ealing, Newham and Kensington and Chelsea.

Enforcement is expected to continue to rise as Redbridge, Brent, and other councils plan to launch new schemes later this year.

Now, four in five London boroughs have some form of additional or selective licensing in place.

Top of list

Camden council continues to top the council enforcement list in terms of number of cases brought forward, followed by Newham and Waltham Forest.

Together they have brought forward over 1,000 cases against landlords and agents, with the average fine issued by Waltham Forest surpassing £8,000, nearly twice that of Camden.

2023 is on track to be yet another record-breaking year for fines in the Capital.”

Orla Shields, CEO and Co-founder of Kamma, says: “2023 is on track to be yet another record-breaking year for fines in the Capital, with total fines now exceeding £9 million.

“As both the number of new schemes and enforcement rise in the capital, it is expected that fines will surpass the £9.4 million mark by the end of the year,” she says.

“Smart letting agents protect landlords, and their pockets, by ensuring that their compliance is watertight, removing the risk of both financial and reputational losses.”

Fines for letting agents and rogue landlords increase by £500,000