Houses in Multiple Occupation Act (Northern Ireland) 2016

Offences

60.—(1) A person commits an offence if the person—

(a) contravenes a requirement in an overcrowding notice, and

(b) does not have a reasonable excuse for doing so.

(2) A person commits an offence if the person—

(a) contravenes a general occupancy requirement or a new residents’ occupancy requirement in a suitability notice, and

(b) does not have a reasonable excuse for doing so.

(3) A person guilty of an offence under subsection (1) or (2) is liable on summary conviction—

(a) to a fine not exceeding £20,000, and

(b) to a further fine not exceeding £50 for every day or part of a day after conviction on which the person contravenes the requirement in question.

(4) A person commits an offence if the person—

(a) knows that a hazard notice has become operative in relation to any specified premises,

(b) uses the premises, or permits the premises to be used, in contravention of the notice, and

(c) does not have a reasonable excuse for so using the premises or (as the case may be) permitting them to be so used.

(5) A person guilty of an offence under subsection (4) is liable on summary conviction—

(a) to a fine not exceeding £20,000, and

(b) to a further fine not exceeding £50 for every day or part of a day after conviction on which the person so uses the premises or permits them to be so used.

(6) If the owner of an HMO fails to carry out work specified in a works requirement in a hazard notice by the date specified in relation to that work, the owner commits an offence.

(7) A person guilty of an offence under subsection (6) is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale.