Case No. UKUT-179-(LC)-UTLC-Case-Number:-LC-2022-146

1.This is an appeal about the selective licensing regime in Part 3 of the Housing Act 2004. Northumberland Mews Limited appeals the decision of the First-tier Tribunal to uphold five financial penalties imposed upon it by the respondent local housing authority, Thanet District Council, in respect of five flats in a building of which it owned the freehold, which it was managing when they should have been licensed and were not. The penalties were of £10,000 for each flat. The appellant says that it was not lawful to impose five separate penalties and that it committed only one offence under Part 3, because the only “Part 3 house” was the whole building. The maximum penalty for such an offence is £30,000, and of course as things stand the appellant has to pay £50,000.2.The appellant was represented by Mr Tom Morris, and the respondent housing authority by Mr Ranjit Bhose QC, and I am grateful to them both.