Landlords in ‘lucky escape’ avoid £12K rent repayment order

A landlord duo have escaped paying a Rent Repayment Order (RRO) of more than £12,000 by a single day, following a tribunal ruling.

The residential property tribunal said an application for a RRO was submitted a day too late to qualify and had to be dismissed.

But the tribunal still considered the case because if the tenants appeal to an upper tribunal then the ruling could be considered.

Rent repaid

The case brought by campaign group Justice for Tenants, which claims a 98% success rate in RRO cases, was that three tenants of the flat, which is in The Music Box block (main picture) in Union Street, Southwark, were entitled to more than £30,000 via a RRO.

They said landlords Christian Stewart and Ms Wan Yee Wong (also known as Ms Deon Wong), who live in Hong Kong, and the agent Circa, had failed to apply for a HMO licence from Southwark Council for the three-bedroom flat between 1 March 2022 and 1 February 2023 inclusive.

A RRO application has to be made within a year, and case law has established when one-year expires.

The appeal was issued one day late.”

“In this case the application sent to the Tribunal on 1 February 2024 will only have been made in time if the offence was being committed on 2 February 2023,” tribunal judge O’Brien said.

“The last day upon which the Applicants could have applied to the Tribunal for a Rent Repayment Order was 31 January 2024. The appeal was issued one day late.”

The tribunal decided that if an application had been made in time, then it would have awarded 40% of £30,148, which would be £12,059.

Read the full judgement here

Supreme Court rules on landlord’s landmark rent repayment order case