Bradford Council is preparing to issue its first-ever landlord banning order after a council report concluded that fines alone are failing to control repeat rogue landlords.
The report, which was compiled by its Regeneration and Environment Scrutiny Committee, reveals that since 2018, more than £2m in civil penalties have been issued to landlords who breached housing standards.
Fines are not seen as always being effective in preventing further breaches”.
So far, however, only around £400,000 of that money has been collected, prompting officers to warn that fines are “not seen as always being effective in preventing further breaches”.
While civil penalties of up to £30,000 per offence are intended to avoid lengthy court proceedings, officers say recovery is often slow and resource-intensive, with appeals delaying cases and £90,000 of penalties written off to date.
The fines’ failure to curb repeat offending has been highlighted by a recent case involving an unnamed Bradford landlord with a large HMO portfolio in the city, who has continued to breach housing standards despite fines approaching £40,000, including penalties imposed as recently as this spring.
Enforcement escalated
As a result, the council was forced to escalate its enforcement actions. In November 2025, it applied to the First-tier Tribunal for a banning order that would prevent the landlord from letting or managing any residential property.
The report also reveals the high numbers of complaints it receives and the pressure that puts on enforcement resources. There are around 1,500 HMOs across the Bradford district, which, in 2024-25, generated 1,823 requests from tenants for intervention by Bradford’s housing and HMO team.
The report therefore concludes that for repeat offenders, prosecution, banning orders and entry onto the national Rogue Landlords Register may be the only effective deterrent.
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