Leicester City Council v Nikita Morjaria

Decision date: 7 June 2023

Neutral citation: [2023] UKUT 129 (LC)

Overall AI summary confidence: high

AI Notice: Any short overview, ratio decidendi summary or obiter dicta summary shown on this page is AI-generated, provided only to help users assess potential relevance more quickly, and may be wholly inaccurate. No liability is accepted for the accuracy of any such summary, regardless of any AI confidence rating shown. Users should check the underlying decision and obtain appropriate legal advice rather than relying on any summary.

Short overview

This short overview is intended to summarise the case, issues and outcome so far as they are supported by the judgment.

AI confidence in this short overview: high

Leicester City Council appealed the FTT's reduction of a £29,817 civil penalty imposed on Ms Morjaria for controlling an unlicensed HMO at 100 Bluegates Road. The Upper Tribunal held the FTT had erred by assessing a key witness's evidence in isolation and failing to consider the evidence as a whole on duration, substituted a penalty of £18,000, and upheld the FTT's discretion to depart from the Council's penalty policy and to refuse a discrete investigative-cost addition.

Ratio decidendi

This summary is intended to identify the ratio decidendi, meaning the legal reasons for deciding and the binding part of the decision.

AI confidence in this ratio decidendi summary: medium

An appellate tribunal may only overturn a first-instance finding that evidence does not meet the criminal standard where there is a fundamental error of principle or reasoning that undermines the decision and where the decision is contrary to the only reasonable conclusion on the evidence. Local authority penalty policies merit substantial weight but tribunals may lawfully depart from policy where its application would produce disproportionate or unjust results.

Obiter dicta

This summary is intended to identify obiter dicta, meaning observations made by the way that were not necessary to deciding the case and are not binding.

AI confidence in this obiter dicta summary: medium

Comments in the judgment suggested it is unhelpful for a penalty policy to conflate seriousness and level of harm; better practice is to set a starting level or range for seriousness and then adjust for harm and culpability. The tribunal also observed that adding a distinct investigative-cost surcharge risks double counting because penalties can be used to meet enforcement costs.

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