Introduction
1.In this decision I will refer to the appellant as “the Landlord” and the respondents as “the Tenants”. The decision is made on the Tenants’ cross-appeal against a decision of the First-tier Tribunal, Property Chamber (the FTT) ordering the Landlord to repay 65% of the rent it had received from the Tenants in the year to 31 August 2021. 2.The FTT’s decision was made under section 40 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016 which allows a rent repayment order to be made if it is established, beyond reasonable doubt, that a landlord has committed an offence to which Chapter 4 of Part 2 of the 2016 Act applies. The relevant offence in this case was that the Landlord had had control or management of an unlicensed HMO, contrary to section 72(1) of the Housing Act 2004. The Landlord’s defence was that it had a reasonable excuse for that state of affairs, because the managing agents it had instructed to manage the building on its behalf had failed to inform it (as they were contractually bound to do) that the property was subject to an additional licensing scheme introduced by the local housing authority shortly after the original letting to the Tenants commenced. 3.The FTT rejected the Landlord’s defence but granted it permission to appeal on the issue of reasonable excuse, and on the quantum of the rent repayment order. 4.The Tenants did not initially seek to challenge the FTT’s decision, but once permission was given to the Landlord to appeal, they sought and obtained permission to cross-appeal on the grounds that the FTT’s decision to award repayment of only 65% of the rent they had paid during the relevant period failed to take into account five of the six conduct issues which they had relied on as justifying a much higher award.5.A few weeks before the hearing and without any explanation being given the Landlord withdrew its appeal. It subsequently chose not to be represented at the hearing of the Tenants’ cross-appeal. 6.At the hearing of the cross-appeal the Tenants were represented by Mr Michael Sprack, as they had been before the FTT. I am grateful to him for his helpful submissions.