How the New Law Changed Rent Repayment Orders for Landlords in England

Can tenants get their rent back if landlords break the law? Yes. Letting a property means you have some legal responsibilities, and your property occupiers have rights if those responsibilities are not met. In England, eligible tenants and other qualifying applicants can recover rent through a Rent Repayment Order.

However, an RRO does not apply to every housing law breach. There are specific qualifying offences and eligibility rules, which have also changed following the implementation of the Renters’ Rights Act 2025. Anyone considering an RRO claim or letting property in England needs to understand these latest requirements.

In this guide, we explain who can apply for a Rent Repayment Order, which offences qualify and how the rent repayment process works.

What Are Rent Repayment Orders and Their New Rules

If a landlord commits at least one of 13 specific housing offences, the First-tier Tribunal issues an order, called a Rent Repayment Order in England, requiring the landlord to repay rent to a tenant or repay housing benefits to a local authority. You don’t need a criminal conviction against the landlord first. The tribunal just needs to be pretty sure, beyond reasonable doubt, that the offence happened.

RROs are not a new part of the rental rules; they were first introduced under the Housing Act 2004. The Housing and Planning Act 2016 later extended the rules to cover more offences. Now, from 1 May 2026, the rules are updated again.

What changed on 1 May 2026 for RROs

Following the implementation of the Renters’ Rights Act 2025, the RRO rules have been updated to strengthen tenant protections and significantly increase penalties for those who break housing law. Both the maximum RRO amount and the time limit for applying have doubled from 12 to 24 months.

• For offences committed on or after 1 May 2026, you can claim up to 24 months of rent and apply within 2 years of the offence. 
• For offences before that date, the limit is 12 months of rent and a 1-year application window. 
• If an offence spans both periods, the Tribunal will apply the old rules to the pre-May period and the new rules to everything after 1 May 2026.

At Real Estate Agents London, we help landlords understand their property responsibilities and keep up with changes in the private rented sector.

What is the Purpose of a Rent Repayment Order?

RROs are designed to improve compliance in the private rented sector by giving tenants and local authorities a way to recover rent when certain housing laws are broken. These initiatives also reduce landlord-tenant disputes that are mostly caused by rent arrears. 

The government guidance sets out four main reasons for RROs:

1. Punishment: An RRO is meant to have a real financial impact and show that breaking housing laws has consequences.
2. Deter the same landlord from offending again: A high enough repayment discourages the landlord from repeating the offence.
3. Deterring other landlords: RROs are decided by the First-tier Tribunal and become part of the public record, which can discourage others from committing similar offences.
4. Remove the financial benefit: If a landlord has gained financially by not following the law, repaying the rent can remove some or all of that benefit.

Which offences can lead to an RRO?

The law provides 13 offences that can lead to a Rent Repayment Order. However, only 10 of these offences are currently active. The remaining three will apply once the relevant provisions for the Private Rented Sector Database and Landlord Ombudsman come into force. 

Under the Housing and Planning Act 2016, as updated by Section 98 of the Renters’ Rights Act, here’s the list of these offences.

Remaining 3 Offences

These provisions are not yet in force for RRO purposes. 

The government has announced that the “Register your rental property” service will open on 15 December 2026, starting in the West Midlands. For London Landlords, registration will open on 15 July 2027, with a deadline of 14 October 2027. Before the registration starts in your region, make sure you have all the documentation organised in one place and up to date. 

Who can be held liable under an RRO? (Respondent)

RROs could be made against immediate landlords only earlier, as confirmed by the Supreme Court in Rakusen v Jepsen in 2023. However, this has changed now; under Section 103 of the Renters’ Rights Act, it can be made against:

• Immediate landlord: The person or company the tenant rents the property from
• Superior landlord: A landlord higher up the chain, such as the property owner in some rent-to-rent arrangements
• Company landlord: A company that owns or lets the property
• Director, manager or officer: Can be personally liable where the offence happened with their consent, connivance or neglect
• Licensor: A person who gives another person permission to occupy the property

The person or organisation named in the application is called the respondent. If the tribunal finds that more than one respondent committed the offence, they can be jointly and severally liable for the RRO.

Who cannot be held responsible for RRO?

Letting and managing agents cannot be ordered to pay an RRO. GOV.UK guidance says tenants should not name an agent as the respondent because an RRO cannot be made against them. 

However, if you use an agent, your responsibility as a landlord doesn’t end. If they made the mistake, you can raise this as mitigation. The Tribunal may take this into account and reduce the amount you have to repay, but it does not remove the offence completely.

Who can apply for an RRO

• Any tenant or occupier who actually paid the rent themselves, and who was living there at the time of the offence. So if you lived there and paid for it, you’re in.
• You can still apply after leaving the property, as long as you are within the relevant time limit. For some offences, such as misuse of a possession ground or re-letting too soon, you can apply even if the offence happened after you moved out.
• Joint tenants can apply too, but only for their own share of the rent. You cannot claim the rent paid by another tenant. If three of you paid rent, only those three can claim, not the whole household.
• Licensees count as well, not just people with a proper tenancy agreement.
• The council can apply if they were paying part or all of your rent through Housing Benefit or Universal Credit. That part’s theirs to claim; you cannot claim. You can claim for the amount you paid. 
• Tenants can apply after moving out, within two years of the offence, and GOV.UK says the landlord cannot evict a tenant just because they are applying for an RRO. 

What the tribunal looks at

Instead of just considering rent paid and giving landlords a fixed amount to repay, the tribunal looks at multiple factors to decide the appropriate amount. The approach from Acheampong v Roman gives the tribunal four main steps:

• They look at the total rent paid during the relevant period.
• If the rent included utilities that only benefited the tenant, such as gas, electricity or internet, that amount can be deducted.
• They consider how serious the offence was and how it compares with other RRO offences.
• They can adjust the amount based on the landlord’s conduct, financial circumstances, previous convictions or penalties, and the tenant’s conduct.

Your conduct can affect the final amount. They see how you managed the property and how you dealt with the tenant. Before deciding, they check facts and evidence. That means two cases of the same type of offence can have different final outcomes.

What To Do If You Receive An RRO Claim

Read the tribunal’s directions first

The directions explain what you need to provide and when you need to provide it. Make a note of each deadline and make sure your evidence is submitted on time.

Check the claim

Go through the claim and check the details. Depending on your case, you may need to check whether:

• The applicant is entitled to make the claim
• The claim has been made within the relevant time limit
• The alleged offence applies to the tenancy
• The dates and rent figures are correct
• The relevant Housing Benefit or Universal Credit amounts have been excluded from the calculation

Burden of proof

The applicant must prove the alleged offence beyond reasonable doubt. As the landlord, you do not have to prove your case to the same standard. If your evidence raises reasonable doubt about an element of the claim, this can be important to your defence.

Gather your evidence

Put together all the documents that may support your case. These could include:

• Licence applications and correspondence with the council
• Rent records and payment history
• Repair and maintenance records
• Gas safety, electrical and EPC documents
• Agreements with agents or other providers
• Emails, messages and other communications with the tenant

Build your respondent bundle

Organise your documents into a respondent’s bundle and follow the tribunal’s directions about what should be included and how it should be presented.

Defences 

The defence you can use depends on the offence and what happened. For licensing offences, some possible defences include:

1. You applied for a licence: If you applied for a licence, this can be a complete defence from the date you applied. However, the tenant may still claim for the period before you applied.
2. You had a Temporary Exemption Notice: If the notice covered the whole period when the property was unlicensed, there may be no RRO for that period.
3. You had a reasonable excuse: You may have a defence if you had a valid reason for the breach. The tribunal will decide whether your reason was reasonable.
4. You are a superior landlord: You may have a defence if you did not know, and could not reasonably have known, that the property needed a licence.
5. Newer offences: For some newer offences, what you knew or should have known at the time can matter. For example, this could relate to what you knew when serving a notice or re-letting the property.

Settlement 

You may be able to settle the dispute before the hearing. The tribunal may also offer mediation. If you are considering making an offer, get legal advice first so you understand the terms and potential consequences.

Prepare for the hearing

Review your evidence and make sure you understand the main points of your response. RRO hearings can take several hours, so keep your documents organised and easy to refer to. Follow the tribunal’s directions and take the documents you need with you.

Appealing an RRO decision

If the tribunal makes an RRO against you, you may be able to appeal to the Upper Tribunal. But an appeal needs to be based on a point of law rather than a simple disagreement with the facts. 

You have to apply to the First-tier Tribunal for permission within 28 days of its written reasons. If the FTT refuses permission, the landlord has 14 days to apply to the Upper Tribunal directly. You can’t ask the Upper Tribunal to re-hear the facts. Because appeal deadlines are strict, get legal advice quickly and check the applicable time limit.

The application fee for permission to appeal to the UT is currently £242. There is also a lodging fee for the appeal of £313, and the hearing fee is 2% of the amount determined (minimum £275, maximum £16,500).

How Landlords Can Avoid RROs or Reduce Their Risk

You cannot always stop a tenant from making an RRO application, but you can minimise the chances by keeping your property and paperwork in order throughout the tenancy. Start by asking yourself a few simple questions:

1. Is the property properly licensed?
2. Are all your safety checks and certificates up to date?
3. Are you following the correct process when dealing with tenants?
4. Are you giving tenants the required tenancy information?
5. Are you dealing with council notices within the deadline?
6. Are you keeping clear records of rent, repairs and tenant communications?
7. Are you using the correct process when serving notices or ending a tenancy?

Want to see if you have covered the main areas? Use the checklist below. Go through each point, tick it off and see if there is anything you still need to sort out.

Licensing

• Check with your council if your property needs a mandatory, additional or selective licence.
• Check again if the number of people sharing the property changes.
• Keep the council’s written response.
• Note down your licence expiry date and renew it on time.
• If you find out the property is unlicensed, apply for the licence straight away.

Notices and safety

• Deal with improvement or prohibition notices before the deadline.
• If you cannot meet the deadline, contact the council in writing before it passes.
• Keep gas safety certificates up to date.
• Keep electrical safety records up to date.
• Make sure your EPC is valid and keep the paperwork somewhere easy to find.

Ending tenancies

• Do not change the locks or remove a tenant’s belongings.
• Do not cut off utilities to force a tenant to leave.
• Follow the correct rules before entering the property.
• Only use a possession ground that you can genuinely prove.
• Keep evidence to support the ground you are relying on.
• If you use Ground 1 or Ground 1A, do not re-let or market the property for one year.

Tenancy paperwork

• Give the tenant the required written statement of terms.
• Do not try to create a fixed-term tenancy; rules don’t allow it. 
• Do not serve a notice to quit if it is not legally permitted.
• If the council identifies a breach, fix it within 28 days.

Agents and providers

• Put in writing who is responsible for licensing, safety certificates and repairs.
• Ask agents and providers for proof, not just reassurance.
• Remember that using an agent or provider does not automatically remove your liability.
• If using a rent-to-rent or guaranteed rent provider, check their licence directly with the council.
• Do not rely on a framed certificate as proof of a valid licence.
• Check who actually holds the licence.
• Include clear compliance responsibilities in your contract.

Records and companies

• Keep a rent ledger.
• Keep a record of repairs and maintenance.
• Keep records of communications with tenants.
• If the property is owned through a company, make sure the directors understand the potential personal risks. 

How Real Estate Agents London can help Landlords with Rent Repayment Orders

Worried about an RRO claim? 

An RRO can impact your rental income, especially if the claim relates to a compliance issue that could have been avoided. That’s why the best time to review your property is before a problem arises. Check your licensing, safety documents, tenancy procedures and records regularly, and deal with issues as soon as you find them. 

Reduce RRO risks with better property management

If you want help managing these areas, Real Estate Agents London provides property management services for landlords in London. We can help with the practical side of letting, so you have less to deal with day-to-day.

Ready to make your rental easier to manage? Speak to our Property Management team

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