Shocking £84k Rent Repayment Order imposed on HMO la...

A tribunal has ordered a student accommodation management company to refund more than £84,000 in rent after it ran an unlicensed HMO.

Student Castle in Oxford’s Osney Lane is purpose-built student accommodation which opened in September 2020 and is managed by landlord SC Osney Lane Management Ltd. It includes 242 rooms in 41 so-called ‘cluster flats’.

Oxford council’s additional HMO licensing scheme requires landlords and managers of all shared rented houses and flats to have a licence.

A council officer inspected Student Castle in September 2021 and advised the management company that the cluster flats required an HMO licence.

SC Osney Lane Management Ltd applied for an HMO licence on September 15 2021. This was issued on December 9 after a further inspection in October.

However, the students living in the accommodation were entitled to apply to a First Tier Tribunal for a Rent Repayment Order. A total of 44 tenants subsequently made a group claim to the tribunal.

While the tribunal accepted that the failure to obtain a licence was “by omission rather than deliberate” it found that the cluster flats needed a licence and were therefore in breach of Oxford’s additional HMO licensing scheme.

Therefore the tribunal decided that each claimant should receive a 35 per cent refund of rent paid while Student Castle was unlicensed. The total amount of rent to be repaid to the 44 claimants is £84,877.

The launch of a new city-wide selective licensing scheme in Oxford on September 1 this year means that all private rented homes in Oxford now need a licence – not just HMOs.

“While this was not a typical case, it does demonstrate the importance of landlords and agents obtaining licences for their accommodation and the potential consequences if they do not” says Councillor Linda Smith, the council cabinet member for housing.

“Our new selective licensing scheme means that all private rented homes in Oxford now need a licence, not just HMOs. Everyone deserves a decent home and our licensing schemes are vital in helping to ensure that private rented homes are safe, well maintained and well managed.”

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