LATEST: New ruling to see ‘good’ landlords given lower rent repayment orders

Forgetful landlords who don’t licence their property and those with good records may be let off more lightly in future following an Upper Tribunal ruling.

Judges usually look at the conduct of the landlord and tenant, the landlord’s financial circumstances and any relevant convictions when awarding a Rent Repayment Order. However, tenants are often awarded 100% of the rent – regardless of the type of offence and where it sits on the seriousness scale.

A judge has now given First Tier Property Tribunals new guidance for dealing with future cases, ruling that they should not take the whole rent (less any payment for utilities) as the starting point.

Offence seriousness

Instead, they’ve been instructed to ascertain the whole of the rent for the relevant period, subtract utilities, consider the offence’s seriousness compared to similar offences and then ask what proportion of the rent would be a fair reflection of this.

The figure is then the starting point, with possible deductions or additions made, based on bad conduct by the tenant or other bad conduct by the landlord such as not protecting a tenant’s deposit.

“It is an examination of the conduct of the landlord within the context of the actual offence and involves looking at all the circumstances of the offence: how serious is it, how culpable is the landlord, what harm has been caused?” says senior associate at Anthony Gold, Sarah Cummins (pictured).

She adds that while the comments are helpful, whether it will lead to more consistent RRO awards is another matter.

“The tribunal will need to evaluate the factors in the individual case and reach a conclusion on where on the scale of seriousness the offence lies. No doubt there will be differing views on this, and future appeals may revolve around whether the tribunal has carried out that assessment correctly.

Read more about RRO rulings.