Landlord fails in appeal over penalty imposed by council for energy efficiency breach

Nottingham City Council has successfully defended an appeal by a local landlord against a penalty imposed over a breach of regulations on energy efficiency.

The First-tier Tribunal General Regulatory Chamber [Professional Regulation] heard the council had imposed a £3,600 penalty - later reduced to £3,420 - on Cavendish Lettings under regulation 38 of the Energy Efficiency (Private Rented Property) Regulations 2015.

Cavendish asked for this to be quashed on grounds that a penalty notice was inappropriate and unfair since it had shown willingness to comply with the regulations and undertaken improvement works.

The landlord apologised for not updating the council sufficiently and did not dispute that the specified breaches occurred.

Nottingham said it had taken account of the improvement works in calculating the penalty, but the property was let while it had a sub-standard energy performance certificate and Cavendish’s submissions did not justify quashing of the penalty.

In Cavendish Lettings Ltd v Nottingham City Council [2023] UKFTT 850 (GRC) Tribunal Judge Alison McKenna said that Cavendish’s case relied on an argument that the penalty was not fair in all the circumstances but “I am not persuaded that the appellant has shown this to be the case. 

“The facts are admitted, and they include a lengthy period of non-compliance plus the failure to provide the information required by the compliance notice.”

Judge McKenna said the subsequent improvements were reflected on the reduction of the original penalty and Cavendish “has not persuaded me that the penalty should be quashed in its entirety”.

Mark Smulian