Tenant's Rent Repayment Order Application Struck Out for Lack of Jurisdiction

OUTCOME: Struck Out

© CROWN COPYRIGHT

FIRST-TIER TRIBUNAL PROPERTY CHAMBER (RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY)

Case Reference(s) : BIR/00CN/HMK/2024/0007

Property : Unit 1118 The Mercian 218 [RESPONDENT] [POSTCODE]

Applicant: [redacted] Respondent: [redacted]

Respondent’s Representative

:

[COMPANY] of Application : An application for a Rent Repayment Order by a Tenant.

Sections 40, 41, 43, & 44 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016 Tribunal Members : V Ward BSc Hons FRICS - Regional Surveyor Judge M K Gandham

Date of Decision

:

8 May 2024

__________________________________________________________

DECISION _____________________________________________________

2

BACKGROUND

1. The Applicant applied to the Tribunal for a Rent Repayment Order under section 41 of Chapter 4 of Part 2 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016.

2. A Procedural Judge noted there was an issue with the application.

3. The Tribunal can only make a rent repayment order where a landlord has committed an offence falling within section 40 (3) of the Housing and Planning Act 2016 set out below:

Act section general description of offence 1 Criminal Law Act 1977 section 6(1) violence for securing entry 2 Protection from Eviction Act 1977 section 1(2), (3) or (3A) eviction or harassment of occupiers 3 Housing Act 2004 section 30(1) failure to comply with improvement notice 4 section 32(1) failure to comply with prohibition order etc 5 section 72(1) control or management of unlicensed HMO 6 section 95(1) control or management of unlicensed house 7 Housing and Planning Act 2016 section 21 breach of banning order

4. From the information provided, the Respondent did not appear to have committed an offence falling within section 40 (3).

5.

Accordingly, the Tribunal considered that it might not have jurisdiction and proposed to strike the application out for a lack of jurisdiction under rule 9 (2) (a) of the Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) (Property Chamber) Rules 2013. However, before striking out the application, by way of Directions dated 4 March 2024, both parties were invited to make written submissions to the Tribunal within 14 days.

3

The Submissions of the Parties

6. The Tribunal did not receive any submissions from the Applicant but received a letter from [APPELLANT], on 14 March 2024, confirming that they were acting on behalf of the Respondent and providing a copy of the Respondent’s submissions.

7. The Respondent, in those submissions, agreed with the Tribunal’s observation – that the Respondent had not been accused of any offence falling within section 40 (3) of the Housing and Planning Act 2016 – and supported the Tribunal’s proposal for the application to be stuck out.

Decision

8. The Applicant has not provided any evidence of any grounds by which the Tribunal could make a Rent Repayment Order. Accordingly, the application is struck out for a lack of jurisdiction under rule 9 (2) (a) of the Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) (Property Chamber) Rules 2013.

Appeal

9. A party seeking permission to appeal this decision must make a written application to the Tribunal for permission to appeal. This application must be received by the Tribunal no later than 28 days after this decision is sent to the parties. Further information is contained within Part 6 of The Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) (Property Chamber) Rules 2013 (S.I. 2013 No. 1169).