How to apply for a rent repayment order: step by step

A rent repayment order, an RRO, is a legal order from the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber). It makes a landlord pay back up to 12 months of rent where they broke housing law. Here is which offences count, how to apply, and what to expect.

What offences can lead to a rent repayment order?

An RRO can follow any of these:

• Unlicensed letting: renting out a home that needs a licence, without one. That takes in an HMO, or a home in a selective licensing area
• Illegal eviction: evicting a tenant, or trying to, without a court order
• Harassment: behaviour meant to push the tenant out, or stop them using their rights
• Ignoring an improvement notice: skipping work environmental health ordered
• Ignoring a prohibition order: letting people live where an order bars it
• Ignoring emergency work orders: sitting on emergency work the council ordered
• Breaking a banning order: letting while banned under the Housing and Planning Act 2016

No criminal conviction is needed. The tribunal decides on the balance of odds, the civil standard of proof.

Who can apply?

Any tenant, or former tenant, who paid rent while one of these offences ran can apply. Councils can too, but often do not. So tenants frequently bring their own cases.

How much can you get back?

Up to 12 months of rent can come back. The amount follows how serious the offence ran, how the landlord behaved, and anything else the tribunal weighs. Proving you lost money is not required. An RRO partly punishes the landlord. It is not just compensation.

An order can come even where rent is still owed. The RRO need not be set off against arrears.

How to apply: step by step

Step one: gather the evidence

You must show the landlord broke one of these rules during your tenancy. Evidence may include:

• Your tenancy agreement, showing you rented and paid
• Proof of the offence itself: a council notice saying the home was unlicensed, or police records and witness statements for an illegal eviction
• Proof the rent was paid: bank statements, receipts, rent books

Step two: apply to the First-tier Tribunal

Apply on Form RRO1, from GOV.UK. It asks you to:

• Name yourself and the landlord
• Describe the offence
• State the rent paid during the relevant period
• Say what you seek

A fee applies, currently £100. Means-tested benefits can cut or waive it.

Step three: serve the application

A copy of the application must reach the landlord. The tribunal says how.

Step four: the hearing

The tribunal lists a hearing, usually within a few months. Both sides attend and put their case. No lawyer is needed, though one helps. The tribunal runs less formal than a court.

Step five: the order

Once satisfied the offence happened, the tribunal orders back the amount it thinks right. The landlord then must pay.

Time limits

Applications must land within 12 months of the offence period ending. Never delay.

Can I combine an RRO with a disrepair claim?

They run as separate cases, but can grow from the same landlord failure. A landlord letting a home rot may also be letting it unlicensed. Both can run. Take advice on running them side by side.

Sources

• Housing and Planning Act 2016 (rent repayment orders) (legislation.gov.uk)

Related articles

• What is a rent repayment order?
• First-tier Tribunal, Property Chamber explained
• Landlord harassment and illegal eviction