Q. The Local Authority has contacted me asking me for details of who is living in my rented property. Is this something I can refuse to answer on the basis of the tenants’ data protection rights?

A. No. Local Authorities have a duty to investigate rented properties in their area, and you have a duty to help them. If you refuse to provide the information they request, you may be committing an offence yourself.

Q. I have received a Notice of Intent from my local authority who say that they are proposing to issue a Civil Penalty Notice. What should I do about this? Can I ignore it?

A. No, you must never ignore this sort of thing. Local Authorities may take a long time to deal with things, but they generally get there in the end.

The notice of intent is to give you an opportunity to make representations to the Council if you think they are being unfair or to provide explanations and sort out the issue in question. However, it is not a good idea to make those representations yourself. You may inadvertently make things worse for yourself. Your best course of action is to take legal advice from a specialist firm.

For example, the firm Landlord Licensing and Defence specialises in this area of law. Or any of the firms on our Landlord Law solicitors telephone advice panel (landlordlaw.co.uk/telephone) will be able to advise you and represent you in discussions with the Council.