Manchester Selective Licensing Appeal: Taking Your Case to the Tribunal

When Can You Appeal?

Manchester City Council can make several decisions that a landlord may want to challenge:

• Refusing a licence application — the council decides you are not a fit and proper person, or the property is unsuitable
• Granting a licence with restrictive conditions — shorter term than expected, lower occupancy limit, or conditions you consider unreasonable
• Revoking an existing licence — for serious or repeated breaches of conditions, or because you are no longer fit and proper
• Issuing a Financial Penalty Notice — a civil penalty of up to £40,000 for operating an unlicensed property or breaching licence conditions

The council must normally give you an opportunity to make written representations before deciding. For a licence decision, the 28-day appeal period begins on the date specified in the council's written decision notice. For a financial penalty, follow the appeal deadline stated in the Final Notice; the tribunal procedure generally requires an appeal within 28 days after the decision notice was sent.

The 28-Day Deadline

The normal appeal period is 28 days. Informal discussions with council officers — phone calls, emails, meetings — do not pause or extend it. The tribunal may allow an out-of-time appeal in circumstances permitted by law, but you should not assume it will.

If you spend 25 days negotiating informally with the council's licensing team, the time spent does not stop the appeal period. If you miss the normal deadline, you can ask the tribunal to extend it; for licence decisions, it may allow a late appeal if there was a good reason for the delay. A late appeal is not guaranteed.

Where to File

The relevant tribunal for Manchester is:

First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber — Northern Region) 1st Floor, Piccadilly Exchange, Piccadilly Plaza, Manchester M1 4AH

You file using the standard HMCTS (Her Majesty's Courts and Tribunals Service) forms available through the GOV.UK portal. The tribunal charges a fee for the application, though fee remission may be available depending on your financial circumstances.

Grounds for Appeal

The tribunal conducts a fresh hearing — it is not limited to reviewing whether the council followed correct procedure. You can argue:

• Fit and proper refusal was wrong — the convictions or contraventions cited do not meet the statutory threshold, or the council failed to consider your representations properly
• Conditions are unreasonable — an occupancy limit that does not reflect the property's actual capacity, or conditions that go beyond what the Housing Act 2004 permits
• Penalty is disproportionate — the civil penalty amount does not reflect the severity of the offence, your compliance history, or your financial circumstances
• The property was not licensable — it falls outside the designated area, qualifies for a statutory exemption, or does not meet the occupancy threshold for mandatory HMO licensing

What to Expect

Tribunal hearings are relatively informal compared to court proceedings. You can represent yourself or use a solicitor. The council sends a representative (usually from the licensing enforcement team) who presents their case file. Both sides can submit written evidence and call witnesses.

The tribunal has the power to confirm, vary, or reverse the council's decision. For civil penalties, the tribunal can increase or decrease the amount — there is no guarantee that appealing will reduce your fine.

Costs are not automatically awarded in the Property Chamber, but the tribunal can make a costs order if it considers that one party has acted unreasonably in bringing or defending the proceedings.

Before You Appeal

Consider whether a formal appeal is the right route. If the issue is a misunderstanding about your compliance (missing document, administrative error), resolving it directly with the Private Sector Housing team at [email protected] is faster and cheaper. Appeals are most appropriate when the council's decision is genuinely wrong on the law or the facts, and informal resolution has failed.

The Landlord Licensing in Manchester guide covers the full enforcement framework, including how to respond to Notices of Intent and when a tribunal appeal is the appropriate next step.

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