# Protection from Eviction Act 1977, Section 1A: Financial penalty for offence under section 1


(1) A local housing authority may impose a financial penalty on a person if satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the person has committed an offence under section 1 in relation to premises in England.
(2) No financial penalty may be imposed in respect of any conduct amounting to an offence under section 1 if—
(a) the person has been convicted of an offence under that section in respect of the conduct,
(b) criminal proceedings for an offence under that section in respect of the conduct have been instituted against the person and the proceedings have not been concluded, or
(c) criminal proceedings for an offence under that section in respect of the conduct have been concluded and the person has not been convicted of the offence.
(3) The amount of a financial penalty imposed under this section is to be determined by the authority imposing it, but must not be more than £40,000.
(4) The Secretary of State may give guidance to local housing authorities about the exercise of their functions under this section.
(5) Local housing authorities must have regard to any guidance issued under subsection (4).
(6) Schedule A1 makes provision about—
(a) the procedure for imposing financial penalties,
(b) appeals against financial penalties,
(c) enforcement of financial penalties, and
(d) how local housing authorities are to deal with the proceeds of financial penalties.
(7) The Secretary of State may by regulations amend the amount specified in subsection (3) to reflect changes in the value of money.
(8) Regulations under this section are to be made by statutory instrument.
(9) A statutory instrument containing regulations under this section is subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament.
(10) In this section and Schedule A1, “local housing authority” means a district council, a county council in England for an area for which there is no district council, a London borough council, the Common Council of the City of London or the Council of the Isles of Scilly.

---
Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1977/43/section/1A (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/protection-from-eviction-act-1977/section-1A
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.