David, thank you for this, I didnt know the NRLA existed. I cant contact them today (New Year of course) but I will be asap.Even if they say, sorry, youve no chance, at least Ill know!
Regards
Bill
Your faith in the fairness of the legal system is misplaced. The courts are there to apply the law, not judge what’s fair. Claiming that the licensing scheme is illegitimate is not mitigation. The court would simply tell you that not believing in the scheme is not a defence and that you should have dealt with your concerns about its validity separately. Getting a licence at that point wouldn’t save you. Your tenants could easily bring a Rent Repayment Order against you, which is essentially strict liability. They would simply have to show the court that a licence was required and wasnt obtained and the court would order them a rent refund for any period where the property was unlicensed. Likewise for a Council penalty.
Anyway, I’ve made the point, which hopefully will be useful to someone. Good luck to you.
Your answer is very strong and thoughtful, so I do want to enlarge on my other email. The courts are there to apply the law, thats all I want. Im not looking for ‘mitigation’ Im looking to demonstrate that Southend Council are either malign or incompetent (I suspect the latter) The Court, I hope, will look at the evidence and decide accordingly. I have dealt with ‘my concerns about its validity seperately’ as you can see, this in fact is what Im looking for, someone to tell me where Im going wrong scientifically, considering the evidence.
But the case brought by the Council or your tenant won’t be about the competence of the Council, it will be about why you don’t have a licence. The judge won’t allow irrelevant evidence.
Eh? Im sorry, I dont understand, the law requires for example hat the area is, or is likely to become, an area of low housing demand, I quote the specific sales figures for the area, very high demand, and thats ‘irrelevant evidence’? Wow.
Its irrelevant because its not a mitigation for why you don’t have a licence. The Council has the authority to introduce a licence regime whether they’re acting competently or not. The only question the court will consider is why you don’t have a licence when one is in place. Not agreeing with the licensing regime will not be a defence.
Thanks for all your advice and attention, It is appreciated, but… this morning I examined Southend Council website and discovered the ‘exemptions’ page. I spotted that if the property was occupied by a family member then it is exempt. I phoned the Council Officer and he immediately agreed that it was. I still believe that the whole deal is not legal, but the relief of not having unlimited fined hanging over me is palpable. At the moment, Im tending to ‘leave well alone’, but I thought this bit of information might help others on the site. Thanks again.
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Ive just written to ‘David122’ to tell him that Ive discovered that if the property is occupied by a family member then it is exempt. A terrific relief. Thanks for your advice etc.!
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Why don’t you contact the n r l a and put your case forward
It may help you and others in the future
Well, I have communicated and the ‘chatline’ told me they were not interested. I think I may phone them, see if thats different… 
That’s their go to for everything
If you write to them they have a department for this type of issue
I can’t remember what is called
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