Appeal Against Financial Penalty Struck Out Due to Late Submission

OUTCOME: Struck Out

In the FIRST-TIER TRIBUNAL [NAME] (RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY) Tribunal Case reference : LON/00AJ/HNA/2025/0724 Property : 142 [ADDRESS] [POSTCODE] Applicant: [redacted] Respondent : [redacted] Type of application : Appeal against Financial Penalty Paragraph 10 Schedule 13A Housing Act 2004 Tribunal : Judge J P Donegan Mr [NAME] (Valuer Member) Date of decision : 19 January 2026

JURISDICTION DECISION

Decisions of the Tribunal (a) The applicant’s appeal against the Financial Penalty Notice (‘the FPN’) dated 10 March 2025 was submitted out of time. (b) The Tribunal is unwilling to retrospectively extend the deadline for submission of the appeal. (c) The Tribunal has no jurisdiction to decide the appeal. (d) The appeal is struck out pursuant to rule 9(2)9a) of the Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) ([NAME]) Rules 2013 (‘the 2013 Rules’).

Background (1) The applicant is the freeholder of 142 [ADDRESS] [POSTCODE] (‘the Property’), which he lets to tenants. On 10 March 2025, the respondent sent him the FPN, alleging an offence under section 95(1) of the Housing Act 2004 (‘the 2004 Act’) and imposing a financial penalty of £11,500. The respondent contends the Property required a selective licence but was not so licensed. (2) The applicant seeks to appeal the FPN. The Tribunal received his application on 07 July 2025. The application form was not signed or dated so the Tribunal asked that it be resubmitted. A signed and dated application was received, via email, on 24 October 2025. (3) The Tribunal issued preliminary directions on 01 December 2025, explaining the application appeared to be out of time. Any appeal against a financial penalty must be received by the Tribunal within 28 days after the date the final notice is sent (rule 27(2) of the 2013 Rules). (4) The directions explained the Tribunal can extend time for compliance with rule 27, pursuant to rule 6(3)(a), if this accords with the overriding objective at rule 3. The application was listed for a preliminary hearing to determine if the late application should be accepted. (5) Paragraph 1 of the directions required the applicant to file an explanation why he did not appeal in time, with any supporting evidence, by 15 December 2025. Paragraph 2 required the respondent to file any submissions, with any supporting evidence, by 31 December. (6) The applicant filed a written response to the directions, slightly late, on 16 December. His covering email explained that his father passed away on 07 December, and he had been grieving. (7) The respondent filed submissions and a witness statement from their Property Licensing Investigation Team Leader, [NAME] [NAME] [NAME], on 29 December 2025. (8) The relevant legal provisions are set out in the appendix to this decision. The preliminary hearing (9) The hearing took place by video on 14 January 2026. At 08:59am that day, the Tribunal received an email from [NAME] [APPELLANT] [NAME] of [NAME] explaining the applicant intended to formally instruct that firm but had been unable to do so whilst observing a 40-day mourning period following the death of his father. The email also requested an adjournment of the hearing, so the applicant could provide instructions and obtain legal advice. (10) The request was received only an hour before the hearing was due to commence (at 10:00am). The case officer sent an email to [NAME] [NAME], at my direction, explaining the request would be considered at the start of the hearing. (11) Due to technical problems the hearing started slightly late. [NAME] [APPELLANT] appeared on her own, without the applicant. At my request, the applicant

joined the hearing following the short adjournment (see paragraph (14), below). Mr [COUNSEL] (in-house solicitor) appeared for the respondent. (12) [NAME] [COUNSEL] repeated her request for an adjournment (technically a postponement), explaining the applicant had been unable to provide instructions due to the 40-day mourning period, He was flying to India later that day to inter his father’s ashes, returning in early February. She requested a short postponement, suggesting this would be in the interests of fairness and justice. (13) Mr [NAME] opposed a postponement on the basis the applicant had already had sufficient time to provide instructions, having notified the respondent that [NAME] [RESPONDENT] would attend the hearing on 12 January 2025. (14) Following a short adjournment, I informed the parties the Tribunal was unwilling to grant a postponement and would proceed with the hearing. Whilst we were sympathetic to the applicant’s position, he had filed a response to the directions on 16 December and could have instructed [NAME] [NAME] earlier. Further, the postponement request was made extremely late and should have been made earlier. (15) [NAME] [APPELLANT], with assistance from the applicant, then made oral submissions seeking a retrospective extension to the appeal deadline. She summarised the applicant’s response, in which he stated the appeal was made late as he had not received earlier notices or correspondence from the respondent. He only became aware of the licensing issue when he received the FPN. The respondent should reasonably have been aware the earlier documents had not been received, given his lack of response. He relied on this lack of response, the respondent’s acknowledgement that correspondence had been not been delivered and the fact he acted promptly once the FPN was received. (16) Whether earlier notice or correspondence had been received, does not explain the applicant’s delay following service of the FPN. He clearly received this timeously, as he referred to the notice in an email to the respondent’s unlicensed property team dated 20 March 2025. He then exchanged emails with this team over the next three months. A bundle containing copies of these emails accompanied his appeal. (17) When I raised this with [NAME] [NAME], she referred to an email from the [NAME] [RESPONDENT], the respondent’s property licensing manager, dated 10 June 2025. The second paragraph ends “You are entitled to appeal to the First Tier Tribunal and details on how to do this are in the notes attached to the Penalty Notice.” The respondent’s understanding was he had 28 days from that email to submit his appeal. At my request, [NAME] [NAME] supplied a copy of the email shortly after the hearing. (18) [NAME] [APPELLANT] also stated she met with the applicant in May 2025 but was not formally instructed at that time. (19) In response, Mr [RESPONDENT] summarised the respondent’s written submissions. [NAME] [RESPONDENT] did not attend the hearing to verify her witness statement, so the Tribunal attached little weight to this statement

(20) In brief, the respondent’s case is (a) the notice of intention to issue a FPN and final notice were validly served, (b) the applicant clearly received the FPN and has not explained the three-month delay in submitting the appeal and (c) the applicant obtained legal advice on 03 April 2025 before the appeal deadline. Only one of the respondent’s letters, being a 7-day reminder dated 12 December 2025, was returned via the post and only one email, which was incorrectly addressed, could not be delivered. The applicant acknowledged the FPN in his email dated 20 March and, in an email, dated 03 April stated “I have today sought legal advice and I will be pursuing this matter via litigation now. I have been asked by the advisor to send you this email as of urgency and request for the proof of postage of the letters claimed.” (21) Following disclosure of [NAME] [NAME] email of 10 June, Mr [NAME] sent an email to the Tribunal suggesting the relevant paragraph referred to a 28-day period for an early payment discount, rather than the period for any appeal. This is incorrect. Mr [NAME] referred to a passage in the third paragraph, whereas the applicant relies on the second paragraph of the 10 June email. The Tribunal’s decision (22) The Tribunal is unwilling to retrospectively extend the 28-day deadline for the appeal and strikes out the appeal. Reasons for the Tribunal’s decision (23) The FPN is dated 10 March 2025. We accept it was sent to the applicant on this date. He had clearly received the notice by 20 March 2025, as he referred to it in his email of that date. (24) The FPN stated “The period for entering an appeal is 28 days starting from the day after the date of this Notice of Decision.” This period expired on 08 April 2025. The appeal was not submitted until 07 July 2025 and was almost three months out of time. (25) The applicant’s written explanation largely focused on the period before the FPN was issued. He claims he did not receive earlier correspondence or notices from the respondent but this not relevant to issue we must decide, which is whether to extend the appeal deadline. The applicant received the FPN, which informed him of the appeal deadline, timeously. He obtained legal advice on 03 April 2025, as evidenced by his email of that date, but did not submit his appeal until 07 July. This delay has not been satisfactorily explained. (26) The applicant relies on the second paragraph of [NAME] [APPELLANT] of 10 June. We accept this was confusing, as the words “You are entitled to appeal…” (emphasis added) gave the impression he could still appeal. However, the appeal deadline had long passed by this date and he should have been well aware of this, given the information in the FPN and the fact he obtained legal advice on 03 April and consulted [NAME] [NAME] in May 2025. (27) The delay in submitting the appeal was substantial and has not been satisfactorily explained. Having regard to these factors and all the

circumstances of the case, including the overriding objective at rule 3, we are unwilling to extend the appeal deadline. (28) Given this decision, the Tribunal has no jurisdiction to decide the appeal and must strike it out pursuant to rule 9(2)(a).

Name:

Judge J P Donegan

Date:

19 January 2026

Rights of appeal 1. By rule 36(2) of the Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) ([NAME]) Rules 2013, the Tribunal is required to notify the parties about any right of appeal they may have.

2. If a party wishes to appeal this decision to the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber), then a written application for permission must be made to the First- tier Tribunal at the regional office which has been dealing with the case.

3. The application for permission to appeal must arrive at the regional office within 28 days after the Tribunal sends written reasons for the decision to the person making the application.

4. If the application is not made within the 28-day time limit, such application must include a request for an extension of time and the reason for not complying with the 28-day time limit; the Tribunal will then look at such reason(s) and decide whether to allow the application for permission to appeal to proceed, despite not being within the time limit.

5. The application for permission to appeal must identify the decision of the Tribunal to which it relates (i.e. give the date, the property and the case number), state the grounds of appeal and state the result the party making the application is seeking.

6. If the Tribunal refuses to grant permission to appeal, a further application for permission may be made to the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber).

Appendix of relevant legislation Housing Act 2004 249A Financial penalties for certain housing offences in England (1) The local housing authority may impose a financial penalty on a person if satisfied, beyond reasonable doubt, that the person’s conduct amounts to a relevant housing offence in respect of premises in England. (2) In this section “relevant housing offence” means an offence under –

(a) section 30 (failure to comply with improvement notice),

(b) section 72 (licensing of HMOs),

(c) section 95 (licensing of houses under Part 3) (d) section 139(7) (failure to comply with overcrowding notice), or (e) section 224 (management regulations in respect of HMOs). (3) Only one financial penalty under this section may be imposed on a person in respect of the same conduct. (4) The amount of a financial penalty imposed under this section is to be determined by the local housing authority, but must not be more than £30,000. (5) The local housing authority may not impose a financial penalty in respect of any conduct amounting to a relevant housing offence if (a) the person has been convicted of the offence in respect of that conduct, or (b) criminal proceedings for the offence have been instituted against the person in respect of the conduct and the proceedings have not been concluded. (6) Schedule 13A deals with –

(a) the procedure for imposing financial penalties,

(b) appeals against financial penalties,

(c) enforcement of financial penalties, and (d) guidance in respect of financial penalties. (7) The Secretary of State may by regulation make provision about how [NAME] are to deal with financial penalties recovered. (8) The Secretary of State may by regulations amend the amount specified in subsection (4) to reflect changes in the value of money. (9) For the purposes of this section a person’s conduct includes a failure to act.

SCHEDULE 13A FINANCIAL PENALTIES UNDER SECTION 249A Notice of intent 1 Before imposing a financial penalty on a person under section 249A, the local housing authority must give the person notice of the authority’s proposal to do so (a “notice of intent”). 2 (1) The notice of intent must be given before the end of the period of 6 months beginning with the day on which the authority has sufficient evidence of the conduct to which the financial penalty relates. (2) But if the person is continuing to engage in the conduct on that day, and the conduct continues beyond the end of that day, the notice of intent may be given –

(a) at any time when the conduct is continuing, or (b) within the period of 6 months beginning with the last day on which the conduct occurs. (3) For the purposes of this paragraph a person’s conduct includes a failure to act. 3 The notice of intent must set out –

(a) the amount of the proposed financial penalty,

(b) the reasons for proposing to impose the financial penalty, and (c) information about the right to make representations under paragraph 4. Right to make representations 4 (1) A person who is given a notice of intent may make written representations to the local housing authority about the proposal to impose a financial penalty. (2) Any representations must be made within the period of 28 days beginning with the day after that on which the notice was given (“the period for representations”). Final notice 5 After the end of the period for representations the local housing authority must –

(a) decide whether to impose a financial penalty on the person, and (b) if it decides to impose a financial penalty, decide the amount of the penalty. 6 If the authority decides to impose a financial penalty on the person, it must give the person a notice (a “final notice”) imposing that penalty. 7 The final notice must require the penalty to be paid within the period of 28 days beginning with the day after that on which the notice was given. 8 The final notice must set out –

(a) the amount of the financial penalty, (b) the reason for imposing the penalty, (c) information about how to pay the penalty,

(d) the period for payment of the penalty, (e) information about rights of appeal, and (f) the consequences of failure to comply with the notice. Withdrawal or amendment of notice 9 (1) A local housing authority may at any time – (a) withdraw a notice of intent or final notice, or (b) reduce the amount specified a notice of intent or final notice. (2) The power in sub-paragraph (1) is to be exercised by giving notice in writing to the person to whom the notice was given. Appeals 10 (1) A person to whom a final notice is given may appeal to the First-tier Tribunal against – (a) the decision to impose the penalty, or (b) the amount of the penalty. (2) If a person appeals under this paragraph, the final notice is suspended until the appeal is finally determined or withdrawn. (3) An appeal under this paragraph –

(a) is to be a re-hearing of the local housing authority’s decision, but (b) may be determined having regard to matters of which the authority was unaware. (4) On an appeal under this paragraph the First-tier Tribunal may confirm, vary or cancel the final notice. (5) The final notice may not be varied under sub-paragraph (4) so as to make it impose a financial penalty of more than the local authority could have imposed. Recovery of financial penalty 11 (1) This paragraph applies if a person fails to pay the whole or any part of a financial penalty which, in accordance with this Schedule, the person is liable to pay. (2) The local housing authority which imposed the financial penalty may recover the penalty or part on the order of the county court as if it were payable under an order of that court. (3) In proceedings before the county court for recovery of a financial penalty or part of a financial penalty, a certificate which is – (a) signed by the chief [NAME] officer of the local housing authority which imposed the penalty, and (b) states that the amount due has not been received by a date specified in the certificate, is conclusive evidence of that fact. (4) A certificate to that effect and purporting to be so signed is to be treated as being so signed unless the contrary is proved.

(5) In this paragraph “chief [NAME] officer” has the same meaning as in section 5 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989. Guidance 12 A local housing authority must have regard to any guidance given by the Secretary of State about the exercise of its function under this Schedule or section 249A.

The Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) ([NAME]) Rules 2013 Overriding objective and parties’ obligation to co-operate with the Tribunal 3. - (1) The overriding objective of these Rules is to enable the Tribunal to deal with cases fairly and justly. (2) Dealing with a case fairly and justly includes – (a) dealing with the case in ways which are proportionate to the importance of the case, the complexity of the issues, the anticipated costs and the resources of the parties and of the Tribunal; (b) avoiding unnecessary formality and seeking flexibility in the proceedings; (c) ensuring, so far as practicable, that the parties are able to participate fully in the proceedings; (d) using any special expertise of the Tribunal effectively; and (e) avoiding delay, so far as compatible with proper consideration of the issues. (3) The Tribunal must seek to give effect to the overriding objective when it –

(a) exercises any power under these Rules; or

(b) interprets any rule or practice direction. (4) Parties must –

(a) help the Tribunal to further the overriding objective; and

(b) co-operate with the Tribunal generally. …

Case management powers 6. - (1) Subject to the provisions of the 2007 Act and any other enactment, the Tribunal may regulate its own procedure. (2) The Tribunal may give a direction in relation to the conduct or disposal of proceedings at any time, including a direction amending, suspending or setting aside an earlier direction.

(3) In particular, and without restricting the general powers in paragraphs (1) and (2), the Tribunal may – (a) extend or shorten the time for complying with any rule, practice direction or direction even if the application for an extension is not made until after the time limit has expired. ….

Striking out a party’s case 9. - (1) The proceedings or case, or the appropriate part of them, will automatically be struck out if the applicant has failed to comply with a direction that stated that failure by the applicant to comply with the direction by a stated date would lead to the striking out of the proceedings or that part of them. (2) The Tribunal must strike out the whole or a part of the proceedings or case if the Tribunal – (a) does not have jurisdiction in relation to the proceedings or case or that part of them; and (b) does not exercise any power under rule 6(3)(n)(i) (transfer to another court or tribunal) in relation to the proceedings or case or that part of them. (3) The Tribunal must strike out the whole or part of the proceedings or case if - a) the applicant has failed to comply with a direction which stated that failure by the applicant to comply with the direction could lead to the striking out of the proceedings or case or that part of it; (b) the applicant has failed to co-operate with the Tribunal such that the Tribunal cannot deal with the proceedings fairly and justly; (c) the proceedings or case are between the same parties and arise out of facts which are similar or substantially the same as those contained in a proceedings or case which has been decided by the Tribunal; (d) the Tribunal considers the proceedings or case (or part of them), or the manner in which they are being conducted, to be frivolous or vexatious or otherwise an abuse of the process of the Tribunal; or (e) the Tribunal considers there is no reasonable prospect of the applicant’s proceedings or case, or part of it, succeeding.

(4) The Tribunal may not strike out the whole or a part of the proceedings or case under paragraph (2) or paragraph 3(b) to (e) without first giving the parties an opportunity to make representations in relation to the proposed striking out. (5) If the proceedings or case, or part of them, have been struck out under paragraph (1) or (3)(a), the applicant may apply for the proceedings or case, or part of it, to be reinstated. (6)

An application under paragraph (5) must be made in writing and received by the Tribunal within 28 days after the date on which the Tribunal sent notification of the striking out to that party. (7) This rule applies to a respondent as it applies to an applicant except that – (a) a reference to the striking out of the proceedings or case or part of them is to be read as a reference to the barring of the respondent from taking further part in the proceedings or part of them; and (b) a reference to an application for the reinstatement of proceedings or case or part of them which have been struck out is to be read as a reference to an application for the lifting of the bar on the respondent from taking further part in the proceedings; or part of them. (8) If a respondent has been barred from taking further part in proceedings under this rule and that bar has not been lifted, the Tribunal need not consider any response or other submission made by that respondent, and may summarily determine any or all issues against that respondent. …

Time limits 27. – (1) This rule applies where no time limit for starting proceedings is described by or under another enactment. (2) Where the notice of application relates to a right to appeal from any decision (including any notice, order or licence), the applicant must provide the notice of application to the Tribunal within 28 days after the date on which notice of the decision to which the appeal relates was sent to the applicant. …