House for Homes Limited v London Borough of Waltham Forest

Facts

The appellant, House for Homes Limited, owned a property at 11A Winchester Road, London E17, which the London Borough of Waltham Forest maintained was required to be licensed. The company's director, Mr Marjan Keqaj, said that he received a letter dated 19 November 2024 informing him that the property required a licence, earlier communications having been sent to the wrong address, and that he applied for a licence on 21 November 2025. He heard nothing further until 25 March 2025, when he received a Final Notice imposing a financial penalty of £15,600 for operating a house without the licence required under Part 3 of the Housing Act 2004. The notice told the appellant it could appeal to the First-tier Tribunal within 28 days, but Mr Keqaj wrote to Waltham Forest instead on 26 March 2025, not appreciating that the appeal lay to the FTT; the authority acknowledged his representation the same day and responded on 8 May 2025 under the heading "Notice of Intent to Issue a Financial Penalty". He emailed the FTT on 8 May 2025 and submitted the appeal on 22 May 2025, 30 days late. The FTT refused to extend time and struck out the appeal for want of jurisdiction. Permission to appeal was granted by the Upper Tribunal.