Explanatory Notes

Housing Act 2004

2004 CHAPTER 34

Thursday 18 November 2004

Commentary on Sections

Part 1 - Housing Conditions

Chapter 2 – Improvement Notices, Prohibition Orders and Hazard Awareness Notices
Section 28: Hazard awareness notices relating to category 1 hazards: duty of authority to serve notice

128.Subsection (1) provides that, if a category 1 hazard exists on any residential premises, serving a hazard awareness notice is one of the courses of action available to an LHA in discharging its general duty under section 5, so long as the premises in respect of which the notice is to be served are not the subject of a management order under Part 4.

129.Subsection (2) defines a hazard awareness notice under this section as a notice advising the person on whom it is served that a category 1 hazard exists on the residential premises concerned.

130.Subsection (3) sets out the premises and common parts in respect of which a hazard awareness notice may be served. Subsection (4) enables notice to be served in respect of non-residential premises, but only if the deficiency giving rise to the hazard is located there, and it is desirable for the notice to be served in the interests of the health or safety of actual or potential residential occupiers.

131.Subsection (6) sets out the mandatory contents of hazard awareness notices under this section, which include the details of the hazard and the category into which it falls, the reasons for serving the notice and the details of any remedial action which the LHA consider it would be practicable and appropriate to take in relation to the hazard.

132.Subsection (7) provides that the requirements for the service of improvement notices, and copies of such notices, also apply to the service of hazard awareness notices under this section.