A council improvement notice for excess cold orders you to carry out the remedial action listed in the notice, so the heating hazard is no longer a Category 1 hazard. In England that power sits in section 11 of the Housing Act 2004, and the notice must state the hazard, the works, the start date and your appeal rights. The work almost always centres on heating that is missing, not properly installed or not in working order. You have 21 days from service to appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber), and the council cannot require the works to begin earlier than 28 days after service.
What does a council improvement notice for excess cold require you to do?
A council improvement notice for excess cold requires the person named in it to take the remedial action listed, so that the hazard is at least no longer a Category 1 hazard. Section 11 of the Housing Act 2004 sets that minimum in England. One notice can cover more than one hazard at the same premises.
Remedial action means the works written into the notice, not an alternative you judge reasonable. The notice must describe the hazard and its category, the action to be taken, the date the action must start and the period allowed for completion. It must also set out your appeal rights and the time limit for using them.
Excess cold is one of the hazards scored under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System, the method used to assess housing conditions in England. Scores fall into Category 1 or Category 2. Heating that cannot warm the home sits behind most excess cold findings, which is why the works usually touch the boiler, controls or radiators. Our guide on heating in every room explains what a let home is expected to provide.
An improvement notice is not advice. Ignoring one that has become operative is an offence under section 30 of the Housing Act 2004 in England. If you disagree with the works or the dates, the route is an appeal within 21 days of service, not silence.
What heating standard does the council measure excess cold against?
The heating indicator in the gov.uk landlord and agent guide to the Housing Health and Safety Rating System is the benchmark for excess cold in England. The system should be able to heat the main living room to 21°C and the other habitable rooms to 18°C when it is minus 1°C outside.
The same guide states that each dwelling should have a properly installed heating system in good and safe working order. It should be able to heat all habitable rooms, bathrooms and WCs adequately.
An excess cold hazard can therefore rest on heating that is missing, not properly installed, or not in working order. A boiler that fires but leaves bedrooms cold still falls inside the indicator. Undersized radiators, a dead zone valve or a system choked with sludge produce the same result as no heating at all. Read the officer's findings carefully, because they tell you which of these the council has recorded.
Improvement notice or emergency remedial action: which has the council taken on the excess cold hazard?
A local housing authority in England has several options under section 5 of the Housing Act 2004 when it finds a Category 1 hazard such as excess cold. Two of them change your position completely: an improvement notice puts the works in your hands, while emergency remedial action lets the council act first.
| Criterion | Improvement notice (section 11) | Emergency remedial action (section 40) |
|---|---|---|
| Trigger | A hazard the council decides to deal with by ordering works, with the remedial action named in the notice | A Category 1 hazard that involves an imminent risk of serious harm to occupiers |
| Who carries out the work | You, or a contractor you instruct, following the action set out in the notice | The council can take the remedial action itself without waiting for you |
| Timing | Action cannot be required to begin earlier than 28 days after the notice is served | The council acts straight away and serves notice of what it did within seven days of starting |
| Where that leaves you | Works, dates and an appeal right are on paper before anything is spent | Work is already under way on a hazard the council judged to be an imminent risk |
When must the heating work start, and how long do you have to appeal the notice?
Remedial action under an improvement notice cannot be required to start earlier than 28 days after the notice is served, under the improvement notice provisions of the Housing Act 2004 in England. The notice itself names the start date and the period allowed for completion. Those two dates are the ones to work back from when you book a survey and order parts or an appliance.
You have 21 days from service to appeal to the appropriate tribunal, the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber), under Schedule 1 Part 3 of the Housing Act 2004. The tribunal may confirm, quash or vary the notice. The appeal is a re-hearing, not only a review of how the council reached its decision.
One ground of appeal is that another person, such as a different owner, should do the work or meet some of the cost. That matters in a block where a freeholder controls the structure or a communal system. A fee applies to tribunal applications under the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) Fees Order 2013.
What happens if you do not comply with an excess cold improvement notice?
Failing to comply with an improvement notice that has become operative is an offence under section 30 of the Housing Act 2004 in England. Conviction is summary and carries a fine up to level 5 on the standard scale. A reasonable excuse is a defence. The duty to carry out the remedial action continues even after the completion date has passed.
The local housing authority can impose a financial penalty under section 249A instead of prosecuting. It must serve a notice of intent first, and you may make written representations within 28 days of that notice. Where a penalty is imposed for the conduct, you cannot also be convicted under section 30 for the same conduct.
Telling the council what you have booked, and when, is worth doing in writing. The notice names an officer, and that officer decides whether enforcement goes further.
What can a tenant safely check on the heating while the notice works are arranged?
Four checks are safe for a tenant or for you to make on a heating system while an improvement notice is live. Everything else on a gas appliance belongs to a Gas Safe registered engineer, meaning an engineer on the official register of gas businesses.
- Boiler pressure: read the gauge and repressurise using the filling loop or filling key exactly as the appliance manual describes. If the pressure will not hold, close the loop and call a Gas Safe registered engineer. Our guide on low boiler pressure explains the gauge.
- Thermostat and programmer: check the room temperature setting, the timer and whether heating is actually scheduled to come on.
- Reset button: press it once if a fault code is showing. Repeated lockouts point to a fault, so stop resetting and get an engineer out.
- Bleeding radiators: cold at the top and warm at the bottom usually means trapped air. Turn the heating off, let radiators cool, open the bleed valve until water appears, close it, then check system pressure again.
Gas pipework, the flue, seals, condensate inside the appliance and anything behind the case are not householder tasks. Under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 as amended, that work is for a Gas Safe registered engineer.
Which records show the council that the heating has been put right?
Ask the officer named on the improvement notice which documents they want to see, then collect the records that match the works. For heating in a let home in England, three papers usually carry the weight: the gas safety record, the commissioning record for a new appliance, and any service record.
Regulation 36 of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 as amended requires each gas appliance and flue in a let property to be checked for safety within 12 months of installation, then at intervals of no more than 12 months. The check must be done by a person approved by the HSE, that is a Gas Safe registered engineer. You must keep the record and give it to the occupiers on request. That duty runs separately from the improvement notice, so it does not pause while works are outstanding. Our guide to landlord gas safety in England sets out the full duty.
A new boiler also leaves you with a manufacturer commissioning record, such as a Benchmark entry, which shows the appliance was installed and commissioned properly. Keep it with the notice correspondence. If the notice names boiler or heating work, you can arrange a free home survey and a written fixed price, and book a landlord gas safety certificate (CP12) at the same time.
Sources
- Landlord and agent guide to the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) – GOV.UK
- Housing Act 2004, section 11 – Improvement notices relating to category 1 hazards
- Housing Act 2004, Part 1 Chapter 2 – Improvement notices
- Housing Act 2004, Schedule 1 Part 3 – Appeal against improvement notice
- Housing Act 2004, section 30 – Offence of failing to comply with improvement notice
- Housing Act 2004, section 249A – Financial penalties for certain housing offences
- Housing Act 2004, section 40 – Emergency remedial action
- The Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, regulation 36
- Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, section 11 – Repairing obligations in short leases