Flat 2, Grosvenor Lodge, 980 High Road, London N20 0QG .
LON/00AC/HMF/2023/0128 · Barnet · decided 8 Dec 2023 · rent repayment order
old rulesDismissed: the tribunal did not make a rent repayment order in this decision. See the original for its reasons.
| Offence | Unlicensed HMO |
|---|---|
| Landlord | Company: Ismanate Investments Limited |
| Applicants | 1 tenant |
| Rent | £600 per month |
| Period the order relates to | 24 Aug 2022 to 3 Apr 2023 |
| Rules | Old rules (offence before 1 May 2026): maximum 12 months' rent. |
Read from the PDF automatically. Amounts are totals for the decision, across all its applicants.
From the tribunal's reasons on the amount
In effect, in this case the Respondent claims to have held a mistaken belief about the law as a result of advice given to it by a council employee. Ignorance of the law can amount to a reasonable excuse in certain circumstances. … In other words, ignorance of the law can be a reasonable excuse, but not by itself. There needs to be evidence of the circumstances and reasonableness of the ignorance. … The Upper Tribunal decided that this constituted a reasonable excuse. The quoted words are important because they removed the obligation from the landlord to take reasonable steps to keep informed. … Taking all of this into account, we find that the Respondent had a reasonable excuse, which covers the whole of the period for which the claim is made. … It follows that we find that the Respondent has not committed the offence as alleged under section 72 of the Housing Act 2004, because it had a reasonable excuse for continuing to manage the Property without a licence. … We therefore cannot and do not make a rent repayment order in this case. Dated this 8th day of December 2023
An extract from the part of the decision that sets the amount. To keep people's names out, any sentence that might contain one is left out (marked …). The full reasons are in the original decision.
The original
Other rent repayment orders near N20 0QG · Licensing schemes and register for N20 0QG
Past decisions are not a prediction. The tribunal decides each case on its facts, including the landlord's and tenant's conduct.