A landlord has successfully fought a licensing fine after an Upper Tribunal judge ruled it couldn’t be proved that a fifth tenant was living permanently in his HMO.

Cornwall Council had fined landlord Richard O’Halloran £15,000 after it inspected the five-bedroom property in Trevail Way, St Austell, in October 2022.

He appealed to the First Tier Property Tribunal on the grounds that on the inspection day on 7th July 2022 there were only four people living at the property, as one of the residents, Doris Anyanwu, did not live there as her sole or main residence.

However, the tribunal rejected his defence of reasonable excuse and amended the fine to £7,500.

The Upper Tribunal heard that a council housing officer visited in January and was told that five people were living there but Doris Anyanwu was not one of them.

Door knock

During her visit in July, she spoke to three tenants and was told there were two others, one being Steven Lewis and the other known as Doris. Although there was no answer when the officer knocked at Doris’ door, a radio or TV could be heard.

One tenant mentioned that Doris “lived in room three” while another - Steven Lewis - said there were four other people in the property, one of whom was Doris whom he sometimes met in the kitchen.

The judge said even less information was available about Doris Anyanwu in this appeal as the council officers had not seen her, nor had they seen her room. “Nothing is known about her beyond the trivial details mentioned by Mr Lewis,” he explained. “There was no evidence as to when she arrived or left. The person who said most about her, Mr Lewis, barely lived at the property for a month.”

He ruled that it could not be proved that Doris Anyanwu occupied the property as her only or main residence on 7th July 2022 and set aside the financial penalty.

Read the judgement in full.