Our Work & News Blog
**NEWS** Brighton & Hove Council to fine and prosecute commercial property owners for not removing graffiti & tags from property they own
Brighton and Hove City Council is cracking down on graffiti/tagging vandalism in the city, working alongside others including the police to introduce a range of measures as part of a "graffiti reduction strategy".
From 7th February 2022, the council are issuing community protection warnings and notices to tackle graffiti/tags on street furniture and commercially owned buildings and imposing timescales on owners to ensure graffiti/tags are removed quickly. Ultimately, commercial property owners will be prosecuted for non-compliance.
Brighton and Hove City Council now have the following powers:
1. Commercial property owners will receive a community protection warning and a timescale for when any graffiti/tags must be removed. Call or email DETAG to remove your graffiti/tags within this timescale to avoid being issued with a community protection notice for non-compliance.
2. If no action is taken, a community protection notice will be served on the property owner, with a specific date that they are legally obliged to remove the graffiti/tags. Ignore this deadline at your peril as it gives Brighton and Hove City Council the power to issue a fixed penalty notice and prosecute the commercial property owner beyond this date. Call or email DETAG to remove your graffiti/tags before the situation escalates to this.
3. If the graffiti/tags are still not removed, the council now has the power to impose a fixed penalty notice and prosecute property and street furniture owners who ignore the warnings and notices. Based on what we have observed happening in other towns & cities, the council may in future remove the graffiti/tags and recharge the owner for the full cost of doing so. They are legally allowed to do this under the powers of the Anti Social Behaviour Act 2003. So not only are you paying the cost of having it removed anyway but a fixed penalty notice and possible prosecution could have been avoided by calling DETAG out earlier.
Timescales for removal will range from seven to 14 or 28 days to ensure graffiti is removed swiftly, dependent on the extent of the graffiti/tags, as well as the size, height and whether specialist equipment is required for its removal.
Our thoughts on this. Whilst we support any new initiatives by Brighton and Hove City Council to help clean up the city, we don’t believe that commercial property owners should be penalised and prosecuted for something that is out of their control. We are offering very competitive pricing to commercial property owners across the city to remove graffiti/tags from their properties, thus avoiding the issue of community protection notices and fixed penalty notices or the risk of being prosecuted for non-compliance.
DETAG can operate our cleaning systems stand-alone as we are self-sufficient for power and water when required, and at any time of the day or night. We are also IPAF and PASMA certified for working at height. No graffiti/tagging can escape our reach.