Agenda and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Louise Bown, Alex Fuhrmann, Ryan Holloway, Stella Jones, Steve Murcer and Jon Orrell.

To disclose any pecuniary, other registrable or non-registrable interest as set out in the adopted Code of Conduct. In making their disclosure councillors are asked to state the agenda item, the nature of the interest and any action they propose to take as part of their declaration.

If required, further advice should be sought from the Monitoring Officer in advance of the meeting.

Cllr Mike Parkes declared a pecuniary interest in Item 7- Housing Standards and Tenants Rights Enforcement Policy (Minute 48) as he was a landlord of a residential property in Dorset. He would not participate in the debate and would leave the meeting room for the duration of the item.

To confirm and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 2 February 2026.

The minutes of the meeting held on 2 February 2026 were confirmed and signed.

Representatives of town or parish councils and members of the public who live, work, or represent an organisation within the Dorset Council area are welcome to submit either 1 question or 1 statement for each meeting.  You are welcome to attend the meeting in person or via Microsoft Teams to read out your question and to receive the response.   If you submit a statement for the committee this will be circulated to all members of the committee in advance of the meeting as a supplement to the agenda and appended to the minutes for the formal record but will not be read out at the meeting. The first 8 questions and the first 8 statements received from members of the public or organisations for each meeting will be accepted on a first come first served basis in accordance with the deadline set out below.  For further information read Public Participation - Dorset Council

All submissions must be emailed in full to [email protected] by 8.30am on Wednesday, 11 March 2026.

When submitting your question or statement please note that: 

·         You can submit 1 question or 1 statement.

·         a question may include a short pre-amble to set the context.

·         It must be a single question and any sub-divided questions will not be permitted.

·         Each question will consist of no more than 450 words, and you will be given up to 3 minutes to present your question.

·         when submitting a question please indicate who the question is for (e.g., the name of the committee or Portfolio Holder) 

·         Include your name, address, and contact details.  Only your name will be published but we may need your other details to contact you about your question or statement in advance of the meeting. 

·         questions and statements received in line with the council’s rules for public participation will be published as a supplement to the agenda. 

·         all questions, statements and responses will be published in full within the minutes of the meeting.   

There was no public participation.

To receive questions submitted by councillors.  

Councillors can submit up to two valid questions at each meeting and sub divided questions count towards this total.   Questions and statements received will be published as a supplement to the agenda and all questions, statements and responses will be published in full within the minutes of the meeting. 

The submissions must be emailed in full to [email protected] by 8.30am on Wednesday, 11 March 2026. 

Dorset Council Constitution – Procedure Rule 13

There were no questions from councillors.

To consider any items of business which the Chairman has had prior notification and considers to be urgent pursuant to section 100B (4)b) of the Local Government Act 1972.  The reason for the urgency shall be recorded in the minutes.

There were no urgent items.

To consider a report by the Service Manager for Housing Standards.

Cllr Mike Parkes left the meeting due to his pecuniary interest.

The Service Manager for Housing Standards introduced the report and gave a presentation, which is attached to these minutes. The presentation included the background to the new policy, new duties for the council and new breaches and criminal offences, the likely impact of the Renters Rights Act and the new policy, and Dorset Council’s response to how it would be implementing it.

Committee Members discussed the report, and the following points were discussed:

·         Confidence levels in staff capacity to be able to deal with the expansion of enforcement.

·         The need for additional funding from the council to support the service, because government funding is not likely to be sufficient.

·         How the financial position would be monitored to ensure the service was sufficiently funded.

·         How the changes to tenants’ rights were being communicated with landlords and tenants, and the requirement for existing tenancies to receive information from landlords on their new rights.

·         The requirement for landlords to register on a landlord database, which would raise funding for the council.

During the discussion, the committee made the following recommendation to Cabinet.

Proposed by Cllr Quayle, seconded by Cllr Ezzard.

Recommendation: That the financial arrangements are reviewed on a monthly basis, and that this is reported to the committee Chair and Vice-Chair, to ensure that the service is sufficiently funded, and that this reported back to the committee in 6 months from implementation.

Following this recommendation to Cabinet, the committee considered the recommendations set out in the report and made the following decision.

Proposed by Cllr Ezzard, seconded by Cllr Atwal.

Decision:

To recommend to Cabinet that:

1.    The Housing Standards and Tenants Rights Enforcement Policy 2026 be approved and adopted.

2.    Delegated authority be given to the Cabinet Member for Health and Housing, in consultation with the Interim/Corporate Director for Housing and Community Safety, to make minor changes to the Housing Standards and Tenants Rights Enforcement Policy 2026 including:

a.    the need to amend the policy to account for known future enactments which form part of the Phase 1 and Phase 2 implementation of the Renters Rights Act 2025; and,

b.    approval of operational procedure notes including but not limited to a methodology for determining the amount of Civil Financial Penalties under this policy for breaches of up to £7,000 and offences of up to £40,000.

To consider the Committee's Work Programme and the Cabinet Forward Plan.

The committee noted its work programme and the Executive Forward Plans.

To move the exclusion of the press and the public for the following item in view of the likely disclosure of exempt information within the meaning of paragraph x of schedule 12 A to the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended). The public and the press will be asked to leave the meeting whilst the item of business is considered.  

There are no exempt items scheduled for this meeting.

There was no exempt business.