A landlord has been ordered to pay six tenants a whopping £44,358 after failing to provide an excuse for operating an unlicensed HMO.

Although the tenants told a First Tier Property Tribunal that Acquire Estate Agents Ltd was responsible for the nine-bedroom property in Granard Road, London, as well as being the receivers of the rack-rent, a judge ruled that a Rent Repayment Order could only be made against Kswailem Ltd, registered by the owner, Bandar Khaled A Aslwailem.

The tenants, who claimed back their rent for living in the property between January 2022 and September 2023, also complained that the fire alarm in the kitchen was sometimes not working, there was no fire-fighting equipment, no fire safety information or signage, and no gas or electrical safety certificate as well as mould and damp issues. An application for a licence was made in October 2023.

Health and safety

The judge said: “Failure to license leads – or can lead – to significant health and safety risks for often vulnerable tenants, and sanctions for failure to license have an important deterrent effect on future offending as well as encouraging law-abiding landlords to continue to take the licensing system seriously and inspiring general public confidence in the licensing system.”

He said the starting point for the offence should be 70% of the maximum amount of rent payable and that £708 would be subtracted from each award for the landlord’s expenditure on utilities.

As Kswailem Ltd did not appear at the tribunal, the judge added: “The second respondent hid its identity by not being a party to the tenancy agreements and then did not engage with these proceedings. This in our view increases the starting point from 70% to 80%.”

The tenants won between £5,673 and £8,313 each as well as £820 in costs. Read the decision in full.