197A Lewisham Way, London SE4 1UY - Ref;
LON/00AZ/HMF/2020/0112 · Lewisham · decided 19 Mar 2021 · rent repayment order
old rules| Offence | Unlicensed HMO |
|---|---|
| Landlord | Individual |
| Applicants | 2 tenants |
| Rent | £700 per month |
| Maximum the tribunal could award | not stated as one figure (or not yet checked); £40 then deducted for utilities |
| Amount the tribunal ordered | £3,680 per applicant on average; £7,360 in total for 2 applicants |
| Share of the maximum | not stated |
| Tribunal fees to be reimbursed | £300 |
| Rules | Old rules (offence before 1 May 2026): maximum 12 months' rent. |
Read from the PDF automatically. Amounts are totals for the decision, across all its applicants; the maximum is left out of the statistics until it has been checked.
From the tribunal's reasons on the amount
repayment order should cease. … Section 249A of the 2016 Act enables the local housing authority to impose a financial penalty for a number of offences including the HMO licence offence, as an alternative to prosecution. A landlord may therefore suffer either a criminal or a civil penalty in addition to a rent repayment order. … 18. … The only basis for deduction is section 44 itself and there will certainly be cases where the landlord’s good conduct, or financial hardship, will justify an order less than the maximum. But the arithmetical approach of adding up the landlord’s expenses and deducting them from the rent, with a view to ensuring that he repay only his profit, is not appropriate and not in accordance with the law. … The provisions of the 2016 Act are rather more hard-edged than those of the 2004 Act. … The landlord has to repay the rent, subject to considerations of conduct and his financial circumstances. … But there is no justification for deducting other expenditure. … 22. … However, he said that this issue is a matter for a later appeal. … Moreover, in the light of the matters considered below, the Tribunal doubts that any change in approach could have resulted in a different outcome in the circumstances of this particular case. … The Respondent’s submissions appeared to have been compiled on the basis of the old law or a misunderstanding of it. …
An extract from the part of the decision that sets the amount. To keep people's names out, any sentence that might contain one is left out (marked …). The full reasons are in the original decision.
The original
Other rent repayment orders near SE4 1UY · Licensing schemes and register for SE4 1UY
Past decisions are not a prediction. The tribunal decides each case on its facts, including the landlord's and tenant's conduct.