x
By using this website, you agree to our use of cookies to enhance your experience.
Graham Awards

TODAY'S OTHER NEWS

 Rent Repayment Order threat for landlord already fined thousands

A landlord has been fined £5,000 for letting an unlicensed HMO in London.

The fine was issued by Haringey council after the landlord ignored repeated warnings to obtain a license to continue letting the property. 

The landlord appealed the fine to the First-Tier Tribunal, which upheld the decision in a virtual hearing.

Advertisement

Haringey’s HMO licensing scheme, which requires landlords to obtain a license to let a property which meets the definition of an HMO, has been in operation since May 2019.

In addition to a fine, landlords who fail to comply with the scheme can be issued with a Rent Repayment Order, requiring them to return rent paid by tenants while the property was unlicensed. 

 

In this case the council has referred the tenants to a tenancy advocacy organisation, which is supporting them to apply for a Rent Repayment Order.

A council spokesman says: “Our HMO licensing scheme is in place to improve conditions in the private rented sector, and to protect tenants from exploitation. 

“It is an important part of our work to make sure that residents have access to homes that are decent, safe and compliant with regulations.

“As this case shows, we are enforcing the scheme diligently and will take action against landlords who refuse comply, while also supporting renters to uphold their rights.”

Want to comment on this story? If so...if any post is considered to victimise, harass, degrade or intimidate an individual or group of individuals on any basis, then the post may be deleted and the individual immediately banned from posting in future.

  • icon

    Haringey Council supporting Tenants to engage the Advocacy Organisation to get rent back they paid for the use of a property they lived in as well as using all the facilities, the Council wants Tenants to have free renting at Landlords expense. I don’t know really what I am allowed to say about this total injustice making a mockery of fairness, are Haringey the proper Authority to be involved with this, they brought to case in the first place now further backing the Tenants on the back of the decision of the First Tier Tribunal, some panel members spent years previously working for Haringey …

  • Suzy OShea

    If you break the law the punishments are draconian. They could even effectively confiscate the house and run it as an HMO themselves and provide the landlord with whatever is left of the rent once all the maintenance costs have been deducted. You can be guaranteed that this council would not be asking for the full market rents obtainable so the landlord could be left with very little.

icon

Please login to comment

MovePal MovePal MovePal
sign up