A pair of Greenwich landlords are to repay their five of their tenants £5,300 after the renters were forced to urinate into a bathtub or use the lavatories at a nearby IKEA store for almost two months because the only toilet in their unlicensed HMO was broken.

The four-bed maisonette at 195 Woolwich Road (pictured) had required a mandatory HMO licence since 13 September 2023, but no application was made until April 2025.

The tribunal said professional portfolio landlords Lisa Jane Goobey and Jon Bruns showed “no real understanding of the nature of mandatory licensing”, despite owning other shared properties.

Shared toilet

The toilet, which was used by all the tenants, remained unusable for 58 days, which the tribunal described as “inconvenient and undignified”, and it accepted evidence that tenants had to leave the property to find alternative facilities.

The tenants also complained about a number of other issues, including mould and noise caused by a faulty ventilation system.

A specialist inspection found it was operating at only 50% efficiency, with several vent outlets “seriously affected by mould” and the tribunal concluded the system had not been properly maintained “for over a year”.

Letter mislaid

In their defence, Goobey told the hearing she had mislaid a Greenwich Council letter about licensing changes and said delays were linked to Bruns’ long-term brain injury and memory loss.

Although the tribunal accepted the medical circumstances, it ruled that the duty to license and maintain the property remained and set the rent repayment order at 40% of the maximum recoverable sum (£13,229) at £5,300.

According to a report in MyLondon, the Greenwich branch of IKEA was “not aware’ of the issue.

You can read the full judgment here.