[2025] UKUT 157 (LC)

Smoke House and Curing House are two blocks or wings of a single mixed use residential and commercial building, purpose-built between 2016 and 2018. There are 20 flats in Smoke House and 25 in Curing House; the building is a quadrangle enclosing a courtyard, laid out as a shared garden with planting in large wooden planters. The building obviously has two sets of external walls. Those facing the street are of brick; many of the flats have balconies on the street-facing walls, some protruding and some recessed. The courtyard walls on the other hand were constructed with timber cladding and combustible insulation. The courtyard is quite a striking feature with communal walkways and external staircases leading down to the garden and up to the roof terrace. There are bin stores on the street sides of the building, with louvred metal doors.

MRL holds the freehold of the building. The 29 leaseholders each hold a long lease of one of the flats. It is not in dispute that the building is a relevant building and that MRL is a relevant landlord as defined by the 2022 Act.