Tenants told how to challenge rent repayment orders

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Property118

Tenants told how to challenge rent repayment orders

The government has released guidance for tenants on challenging landlords through rent repayment orders.

Under the Renters’ Rights Act, landlords face tougher penalties, with the maximum amount of rent they can be ordered to repay doubling from 12 to 24 months.

The government has also published separate guidance for tenants on the court eviction process under the Act.

Tenants can prove an offence has been committed

The government says the guidance is “primarily intended for tenants in the private rented sector, but councils may also find it useful when applying for Rent Repayment Orders.”

The government guidance explains that tenants can challenge their landlord by proving an offence has been committed, such as operating an unlicensed HMO or failing to obtain a selective licence.

According to the government guidance, tenants can check whether a landlord has committed an offence by:

• Typing the name of their council followed by “landlord licensing scheme” into a search engine to find details of any schemes in place.
• Searching for the council’s “landlord licensing register”. The guidance notes that some councils publish a public register of licensed properties, while others do not. If a property does not appear, this does not necessarily mean it is unlicensed, as registers may not always be up to date.
• Contacting the council directly if the property cannot be found on the register.

The government guidance advises tenants to also include the address, the dates they lived at the property and the number of unrelated people they shared the home with

It also says tenants should ask the council:

• whether the property is licensable
• if so, whether it currently holds a licence under any local scheme
• whether a valid licence application or Temporary Exemption Notice (TEN) has been submitted
• and, if applicable, the effective date of that application or TEN

Selective licence offence

The government guidance says that to prove a landlord has committed an offence by failing to hold a selective licence, tenants must show:

• the council had a selective licensing scheme covering the property
• the property was privately rented
• the landlord did not hold a licence

It explains that tenants should include evidence in their application bundle such as:

• a copy of the council’s licensing scheme and confirmation it covered their postcode
• proof the property was privately rented, including witness statements, tenancy agreements and deposit documents
• confirmation from the council that the property was not licensed

The guidance also advises including supporting material such as communications with the landlord or letting agent.

Elsewhere in the guidance, it gives a list of the defences landlords may use such as reasonable excuse. The guidance says: “To argue this successfully, the First Tier Tribunal needs to be satisfied that the landlord has a valid reason for not meeting the legal requirement.”

Severe consequences for landlords

As previously reported by Property118, Landlord Licensing & Defence expert Des Taylor warns rent repayment orders are a serious offence with potentially severe consequences for landlords.

He said: “Rent repayment orders are strict liability offences. If a property was unlicensed when the law required one, the landlord is guilty regardless of whether the agent failed them or they were unaware of the requirement.”

The only defence, Mr Taylor says, is to have the evidence that proves the landlord’s case.

This means time-stamped proof of a licence application, payment receipts, bank statements, council acknowledgements and detailed phone call records. Without this, the tribunal will take the council’s word that no valid licence existed.

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RICS survey shows housing slowdown and rising rents

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Property118

RICS survey shows housing slowdown and rising rents

Tenant demand rose again in March even as the housing market lost momentum, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) says.

Its member survey for March shows that lettings demand edged up to 10%, but landlord instructions stayed at -25%.

Members are also highlighting that rents will continue rising over the short term.

Buyer enquiries fall

The monthly survey also shows that new home buyer enquiries fell to a net balance of -39%, from -29% in February, in the weakest reading since August 2023.

It adds that the weaker sales activity is down to rising borrowing costs and Middle East tensions.

Agreed sales, meanwhile, dropped to -34% from -13% a month earlier.

Short-term sales expectations fell sharply to -33%, compared with -4% in February.

House prices to soften

The 12-month outlook also slipped to -1%, losing the modest positive position seen previously.

Prices showed further softening through March as the headline price balance came in at -23%, down from -14% and -10% in the two months before.

Expectations over the next three months weakened to -43%, while the 12-month view edged to +2%.

Across the regions, London, East Anglia, the South East and the South West all recorded readings below the national average.

Scotland and Northern Ireland continued to report positive price balances.

New instructions remained subdued at -6%, and unsold stock rose to an average of 47 properties, up from roughly 45 at the start of the year.

Conflict brings housing market issues

Tarrant Parsons, RICS’ head of market research and analysis, said: “The mood across the UK housing market has shifted markedly over the past couple of months.

“What had been a cautiously improving picture for activity has been knocked off course by the wider macro fallout from the Middle East conflict, as the renewed deterioration in the mortgage rate outlook has proved particularly challenging.”

He added: “Indeed, with average fixed rates climbing back above 5% according to some sources, it is unsurprising that buyer demand has softened.

“The path ahead hinges on whether or not recent surges in oil and energy costs begin to reverse in what remains a highly uncertain geopolitical environment.”

Tom Bill, the head of UK residential research at Knight Frank, said: “Sentiment in the UK housing market will improve if the two-week ceasefire in the Middle East holds, supporting transaction levels as the spring market gets underway.

“However, mortgage rates won’t snap back to where they were in February due to the longer-term inflationary impact of the war and the associated vulnerability of the government’s financial position, which will keep house prices in check.”

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UK rental market dominated by landlords aged over 55

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Property118

UK rental market dominated by landlords aged over 55

A striking demographic pattern has emerged from the latest UK landlord data, and it raises important questions about the future of the private rented sector. According to the Property118 Landlord Sentiment Survey Q1 2026, the overwhelming majority of landlords are now aged 56 and above, with very limited representation from younger investors.

Based on 2,380 completed responses, 76.8% of landlords fall into the 56+ age bracket, while fewer than 3% are under the age of 40. You can explore the full survey findings here.

The implication is immediate: the UK rental market is increasingly reliant on an ageing landlord base.

A generational imbalance

At a glance, the data highlights a widening gap between those currently operating in the sector and those entering it. Older landlords dominate the landscape, while younger participation remains extremely limited. This is not simply a reflection of experience or time in the market, it points towards a deeper structural issue: fewer new entrants mean fewer replacements.

As existing landlords begin to reduce portfolios or exit entirely, the absence of a younger pipeline becomes more significant.

Barriers to entry are becoming more visible

The survey results do not explicitly ask why younger landlords are underrepresented, but the broader context offers some clues. Higher entry costs, tighter lending criteria and increased regulatory complexity all contribute to a more challenging environment for new investors. In addition, the shift in tax treatment over recent years has made it more difficult for individuals to build portfolios in the same way previous generations did. The result is a market that is not naturally replenishing itself.

Experience concentrated at the top end

The age profile of landlords also aligns with the size and maturity of their portfolios.

As highlighted in the Property118 dataset, the average respondent owns 9.7 rental properties, suggesting that much of the sector is controlled by experienced, long-term investors. This concentration of experience brings stability, but it also introduces a dependency. When a large proportion of housing supply is managed by landlords approaching or already in later life, future supply becomes increasingly tied to their personal decisions.

What happens next?

The demographic imbalance would be less significant if younger landlords were entering the market at a similar pace, but the survey data suggests that this is not currently the case. At the same time, as explored in the wider survey findings, a meaningful proportion of existing landlords are already considering reducing their portfolios or exiting altogether. This creates a simple but important question; if older landlords begin to step back, who replaces them?

A structural issue in the making

Demographic trends tend to move slowly, but their impact can be long-lasting.

An ageing landlord base, combined with limited new entrants, points towards a gradual tightening of supply over time, particularly if exit intentions translate into completed sales.

This is not an immediate shock to the system, but it is a clear directional signal.

For now, one conclusion stands out: the future of the rental market is increasingly shaped by landlords nearing the end of their investment journey, not those just beginning it.

A conversation worth having?

If you are weighing up your own strategy, whether that’s to sell, expand, or restructure to improve profitibility, it is worth having a discussion with a Property118 consultant to take a closer look at how your portfolio is structured as a whole now, and to forecast the outcomes based on multiple scenario’s.

These conversations are typically most useful for landlords with established portfolios and relatively modest borrowing who are beginning to reflect on how their assets could work more effectively in the years ahead.

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Firm warns of council bureaucracy as landlord fined £5,000 over minor mistake

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Firm warns of council bureaucracy as landlord fined £5,000 over minor mistake

A legal expert has accused councils of using “bureaucracy as a weapon to generate enforcement revenue” after a landlord was fined £5,000 for ticking the wrong box on a Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) form.

Phil Turtle from Landlord Licensing & Defence is warning landlords that minor application errors could cost them thousands of pounds in fines.

The firm helped one landlord after a council in the Midlands penalised them for inadvertently ticking the wrong box on HMO application forms.

The landlord only became exposed to enforcement because the council chose to refund their licence fee on the basis that they had applied for the wrong type of HMO licence.

Unregulated, unaccountable and landlord-hating

Landlord Licensing & Defence warns other councils are rejecting HMO applications where a landlord inadvertently uses an ‘additional’ licensing form instead of a ‘mandatory’ form, or vice versa.

Even though the schemes require the same physical licences and identical conditions.

The firm explains by rejecting the application and refunding the fee, which is often done without notifying the landlord, the council effectively removes the landlord’s statutory protection of having an ‘application duly made’ under the Housing Act 2004.

Once that protection is gone, councils are promptly issuing Civil Penalty Fines for the operation of an unlicensed HMO.

Phil Turtle, the compliance director at Landlord Licensing & Defence, said: “Whilst we achieved a reduction in this case, the council refused to accept they had created the situation.

“They have no right in law to refuse an HMO licence application simply because it was the ‘wrong sort’ of HMO application, but they are unregulated, unaccountable and frankly, landlord-hating.

“It is the classic equivalent of British Rail blaming ‘the wrong sort of snow’ on the line!”

He continued: “Sadly, the landlord was not prepared to take this to the First-tier Tribunal because of the severe reputational damage that a public airing would inflict on their business, which would have carried a far greater impact than the fine itself.

“Effectively, a landlord was bullied into accepting the council’s unlawful action as their own guilt!”

Councils are acting unlawfully

Mr Turtle adds that under the Housing Act 2004, there is no legal justification for a local authority to refuse or refund an HMO licence application that has otherwise been duly made just because the landlord did not understand the difference between two identical schemes or ticked the wrong box.

He said: “It’s obviously morally repugnant. The licences for most councils are exactly the same and rarely state whether they are mandatory or additional on the final document.

“By acting in this manner, councils are acting unlawfully and, as will surprise no-one, immorally. They are using pure bureaucracy as a weapon to generate enforcement revenue rather than to improve housing standards.”

Landlord Licensing & Defence are urging landlords to check their local council’s licensing criteria or seek professional representation when submitting HMO applications to avoid falling victim to these traps.

Landlords can book a no-charge, no-commitment 10-minute diagnostic call with an expert on HMO and selective licensing or other compliance matters by clicking here or by calling 0208 088 8393.

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