Manaquel Company Limited v London Borough of Lambeth

Facts

Manaquel Company Ltd is the registered freehold owner of Dorchester Court in Herne Hill, an Art Deco estate of eight blocks containing 96 flats. Following inspections between March and June 2021, the London Borough of Lambeth, as local housing authority, served an improvement notice on Manaquel on 20 October 2021 under sections 11 and 12 of the Housing Act 2004, identifying category 1 and category 2 hazards of excess cold from defective windows, excess cold and excess heat from the heating and hot water system, and hot surfaces and materials from water at 69.5°C, together with a schedule of remedial works and timescales. Manaquel appealed to the First-tier Tribunal under paragraph 10 of Schedule 1 to the Housing Act 2004. At the hearing in October 2023, both parties proceeded on the footing that the notice fell to be assessed as at the date of the hearing, and the FTT quashed the notice in its entirety as too vague and unsupported by evidence. Manaquel's application for costs of over £145,000 under rule 13(1)(b) of the Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) (Property Chamber) Rules 2013 was refused. On appeal, the Upper Tribunal held the FTT had applied the wrong date but declined to set aside the costs decision. Manaquel appealed to the Court of Appeal.