[2025] UKUT 265 (LC)

The Housing and Planning Act 2016 makes provision for the First-tier Tribunal to make a rent repayment order on the applicant of a tenant if it is satisfied, to the criminal standard of proof, that a landlord has committed one of the housing offences listed in section 40. Among them are the offences of managing or being in control of a house required to be licensed under the Housing Act 2004 when it is not so licensed; licensing is required for some houses in multiple occupation, and also for rented property in an area designated by the local housing authority as an area of selective licensing under section 80 of the 2004 Act. The relevant offence is set out in section 95 of the 2004 Act.

Section 41(2) of the 2016 Act provides:

“A tenant may apply for a rent repayment order only if —

(a)

the offence relates to housing that, at the time of the offence, was let to the tenant, and

(b)

the offence was committed in the period of 12 months ending with the day on which the application is made.”

In Moh v Rimal Properties Ltd [2024] UKUT 324 (LC) the Tribunal held that the "12 months ending with the day on which the application is made" is a period which ends with, and includes the whole of, the day on which the application for a rent repayment order is made to the FTT; the “corresponding date rule” does not apply. So if the last day on which the offence was committed was 1 January 2020 the application must be made before the end of 31 December 2020.

In Jevan v Athansiadi [2024] UKUT 358 the Tribunal decided that an application is made to the FTT on the day on which it is filed on-line by being sent in an email, even though (in accordance with the FTT’s requirements) the fee was paid later; the Tribunal followed a dictum of Eveleigh LJ in Aly v Aly [1984] 1 WLR 936 that making an application is a unilateral act which does not depend on steps taken by someone else such as the FTT sending details of how to pay the fee. Crucially for this appeal, after the date of the FTT’s decision, in June 2025 the Tribunal in Gorgievski v Griffiths and others [2025] UKUT161 (LC) held that an application is made on the date on which it is sent to the FTT by email, even if it is sent outside office hours.