UNITE Group plc Commits Another Criminal Offence
In another licensing failure, Unite neglected to license both of its properties in Coventry at the start of the Additional licensing scheme there on 4th May 2020. Indeed, it took them nearly three years to license both Raglan House and Queens Park House: blocks housing hundreds of students where vital safety checks had failed.
This decision was handed down on 11th June 2024: nearly six months after it was heard. In our experience, a record delay.
Flat Justice assisted Applicants from flat A501 at Queens Park House (QPH) who stayed there Sep-21 to Jul-22.
As mentioned on our website, Unite had not only failed to license both these properties for so long but they had also not carried out work for one of the most basic safety checks that every landlord in England must have: an Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR). At the time of application, Unite submitted an EICR that was marked “unsatisfactory”, requiring remedial work to make the electrical installation safe for the 464 students that lived there:
The fact that it took NINE MONTHS (!), so from Jun-22 until Mar-23, for an application to be submitted (§32 of the decision), indicates how few safety checks were in place at the time of application.
Apart from the missing EICR:
Why did it take so long to produce an EMERGENCY LIGHTING TEST CERTIFICATE?
Why did it take so long to produce a FIRE DETECTION SYSTEM TEST CERTIFICATE?
Were none of these available…and why not?
All of these should have been in place and ready to hand.
Once again licensing proves how effective it is in ensuring that even the largest and most ‘professional’ landlords cannot get away with missing vital checks on their property’s safety.
Poor electrical installations are a leading cause of fire in England, hence the need for the EICR. The government’s “Detailed analysis of fires attended by fire and rescue services, England, April 2022 to March 2023” shows that shoddy electrical installations were the second most important cause of accidental fires:
In a rather bizarre attempt to save a few quid, Unite had attempted to claim that the ‘bridging tenancies’, covering a slightly earlier arrival for some Applicants, could not be part of a RRO award, being beyond the 12 month deadline. Of course the RRO is made for a period of continuous occupancy, not per tenancy agreement and the tribunal was right to dismiss this plea (§62).
Despite the fact that the property was not in a licensable state on application for a licence, the tribunal in this case made an award of less than that made in the North Lodge cases (50%)- where checks had been completed on application. Flat Justice had argued that case law demanded a much higher award for the failings in Coventry:
Williams v Parmar & Ors [2021] UKUT 244 (LC) at §55, justified an increase in awards there to 80 & 90%:
“Where the unlicensed house has serious deficiencies and the landlord is a professional landlord, more substantial reductions [from 100%] would be inappropriate, even for a first-time offender.”
Nor is Unite a “first-time offender” and the judgment in this case even refers to the appeal dismissal in the earlier North Lodge cases (e.g. §67). Yet the award did not reflect this repeated offence either.
In another miss in this decision, the Tribunal decided to deduct a higher figure for the utilities paid by the Applicants than even Unite had requested in its unevidenced submission.
Conclusion
The Applicants have decided to appeal this judgment and Flat Justice will continue to assist them. Watch this space.
FLAT JUSTICE
15/06/2024