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Housing Multiple occupation
[2014] EWHC 869
(Adrninl_
[2014) PLSCS107
Administrative Court
Burnett J
27 March 2014
House in multiple occupation - Licensing of Houses in Multiple Occupation (Prescribed Descriptions) (England) Order 2006 - Defendant company owning maisonette in five-floor building - Claimant local authority introducing mandatory licensing scheme for qualifying homes in multiple occupation - Whether maisonette falling into categories of property requiring licence - Summons against defendant dismissed - Appeal dismissed
The defendant company owned a maisonette arranged over the second and third floors of a substantial house in Bristol that comprised five floors in all. There was another maisonette on the ground and first floors. Access to the maisonettes was through the front door of the house at street level, where there was a shared hallway or lobby on the ground fl(x>r. The private front doors to the maisonettes led off that hallway. Beyond the front door for the defendant's maisonette, there was a private hallway from which the stairs went up two floors to reach the maisonette itself. There was a first floor landing on the way up. The stairs and the small areas on the ground floor and first floor formed part of the premises leased to the occupiers of the maisonette.
The claimant local authority considered that the defendant s maisonette...