Fined for not obtaining the property letting licence.

Please Help. I had rented the part of my own residential house to a family. There is compulsory requirement for obtaining the Renting License to let property by the local council in my area. Not being a conventional landlord, I was not aware of that. After few months the tenant falsely lodged a complaint to local council about disrepair for his portion of the property. He was advised by someone to do so in order to get the council house. Soon after the council came to know about this rental, they wrote to me about the letting licensing requirement and then imposed a fixed fined on me for £1000. I appealed against it on the grounds of unawareness of that law and they cancelled the penalty with warning and strictly instructed me not to do that again otherwise I would be fined £30,000 if let the property in future without licensing. Please help me if that could come under good character category and my naturalisation application may be refused.
Many thanks

It should not have any effect

Zimba wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 07, 2019 7:04 pm

It should not have any effect

Thanks
Finger crossed )

Just to update, The council has re-imposed the £1000 fine as the manager has just looked into the case again and she is not satisfied about my explanation. They had just sent an email previously for cancelling the fine but now sent another email to re-impose the £1000 for not having the property licence while letting it out. My Naturalisation application is in process for last 3 months and I am so much concerned what to do. One of the external checks Home office does includes checking applicants history with local council I believe. I do not know what to do please help!!!

You should update the HO. They will decide how to proceed

Zimba wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 05, 2019 12:58 pm

You should update the HO. They will decide how to proceed

Thanks for your response but Do you think it can be a problem? It’s not a criminal offence on me but just a fine on a civil matter dealt by local council and not by court or anything?

They will decide how to proceed

Zimba wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 05, 2019 1:25 pm

They will decide how to proceed

Sorry to say Zimba but that’s very funny response! Whatever they have to decide they will obviously! But the purpose to come and get advices from experts on this website is to know how do they decide and what is their criteria about a specific situations like that under the light of immigration rules and regulations !

What’s the point to ask any question on this website if experts start replying with “home office will decide how to proceed” !

xarlats wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 05, 2019 1:54 pm

Zimba wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 05, 2019 1:25 pm

They will decide how to proceed

Sorry to say Zimba but that’s very funny response! Whatever they have to decide they will obviously! But the purpose to come and get advices from experts on this website is to know how do they decide and what is their criteria about a specific situations like that under the light of immigration rules and regulations !

What’s the point to ask any question on this website if experts start replying with “home office will decide how to proceed” !

Citizenship does not fall under the 'immigration rules and regulation'.

Zimba has responded how many of us would have because we cannot possibly guess how HO would treat this issue.

Unreasonable also to expect moderators or members to have indepth knowledge of every possible scenario and circumstance when we are all in fact simply unpaid volunteers on the forum.

If you are that concerned, then I suggest you seek legal advice.

CR001 wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 05, 2019 2:09 pm

xarlats wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 05, 2019 1:54 pm

Zimba wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 05, 2019 1:25 pm

They will decide how to proceed

Sorry to say Zimba but that’s very funny response! Whatever they have to decide they will obviously! But the purpose to come and get advices from experts on this website is to know how do they decide and what is their criteria about a specific situations like that under the light of immigration rules and regulations !

What’s the point to ask any question on this website if experts start replying with “home office will decide how to proceed” !

Citizenship does not fall under the 'immigration rules and regulation'.

Zimba has responded how many of us would have because we cannot possibly guess how HO would treat this issue.

Unreasonable also to expect moderators or members to have indepth knowledge of every possible scenario and circumstance when we are all in fact simply unpaid volunteers on the forum.

If you are that concerned, then I suggest you seek legal advice.

Thanks Char and I really appreciate that you guys are helping people voluntarily. I will be thankful if you could help me with the same query whose details are mentioned above under the Home-office naturalisation application guideline please ?
Will be many thankful.

I completely understand that you are extremely anxious and you’re going through a lot of scenarios and what ifs but the moderators have only limited legal knowledge and cannot and should not give advice if they are not confident or knowledgeable about. If I were in your shoes, I would seek advice from an immigration lawyer. I took the advice of a couple of lawyers with a limited budget before, this will give you some peace of mind.
Wish you all luck!
Regards

xarlats wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 05, 2019 8:27 pm

CR001 wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 05, 2019 2:09 pm

xarlats wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 05, 2019 1:54 pm

Zimba wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 05, 2019 1:25 pm

They will decide how to proceed

Sorry to say Zimba but that’s very funny response! Whatever they have to decide they will obviously! But the purpose to come and get advices from experts on this website is to know how do they decide and what is their criteria about a specific situations like that under the light of immigration rules and regulations !

What’s the point to ask any question on this website if experts start replying with “home office will decide how to proceed” !

Citizenship does not fall under the 'immigration rules and regulation'.

Zimba has responded how many of us would have because we cannot possibly guess how HO would treat this issue.

Unreasonable also to expect moderators or members to have indepth knowledge of every possible scenario and circumstance when we are all in fact simply unpaid volunteers on the forum.

If you are that concerned, then I suggest you seek legal advice.

Thanks Char and I really appreciate that you guys are helping people voluntarily. I will be thankful if you could help me with the same query whose details are mentioned above under the Home-office naturalisation application guideline please ?
Will be many thankful.

xarlats wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 07, 2019 4:47 pm

Please Help. I had rented the part of my own residential house to a family. There is compulsory requirement for obtaining the Renting License to let property by the local council in my area. Not being a conventional landlord, I was not aware of that. After few months the tenant falsely lodged a complaint to local council about disrepair for his portion of the property. He was advised by someone to do so in order to get the council house. Soon after the council came to know about this rental, they wrote to me about the letting licensing requirement and then imposed a fixed fined on me for £1000. I appealed against it on the grounds of unawareness of that law and they cancelled the penalty with warning and strictly instructed me not to do that again otherwise I would be fined £30,000 if let the property in future without licensing. Please help me if that could come under good character category and my naturalisation application may be refused.
Many thanks

Naturalisation applications are not dealt under immigration laws. Citizenship is not a right but a privilege. A citizenship application can be refused for any reason or without one and there is no appeal against the decision. But there is “General Guidance” for case workers and over 99% cases are dealt according to that.

Under good character category followings are the main aspects to be considered and worried about:

* Road traffic offences
* Fixed penalty notices (such as speeding tickets)
* Drink driving offences
* Civil judgments which have resulted in a court order being made against you
* Civil penalties under the UK Immigration Acts
* Details of the bankruptcy proceedings
* Cautions (simple or conditional)
* Warnings or reprimands received in the UK or any other country.
* Notification order
* Sexual offences prevention order
* Foreign travel order
* Risk of sexual harm order
* Offences relate to Immigration/bad immigration history

I don’t see the financial penalty by your local council comes under any category mentioned above.
Be reminded that good character is not defined under immigration act and it’s solely on case workers discretion what to consider and what not to. But according to the general guidance and personal experience I strongly suggest you not to be worried in your case. You should be all ok without any issue. I wish you all the best with your application

Respected Moderators please comment and enlighten me with your knowledge if I am wrong here in anything. Many thanks

My response is based on the fact that citizenship by naturalization is purely by discretion under the nationality law. That means HO will decide to grant or refuse a nationality application as they see fit. As others have accurately pointed out, the guidelines tell you what to expect but there are no rules to follow or appeal process.

I have now received my approval letter without having any issue in regards to the property license or £1000 fine imposed on me. I think it’s mainly because the penalty fine was not imposed by Court neither have I got any criminal conviction, caution or warning. I believe the issues like mine only create problems for the Naturalisation purposes if they occur more than once.
Thanks everyone for trying helping me and I hope this post will help people, in similar concerning position, to feel relaxed