A landlord couple who blamed Lambeth Council’s maladministration of its online application system for their unlicensed HMO have been told to pay £8,748 back to five tenants.

At a First Tier Property Tribunal, Robert and Jane Hadfield argued they had first tried to apply for a licence under the authority’s new additional licensing scheme in November 2021.

It heard that online applications required a fire risk assessment and an emergency lighting certificate, which Lambeth, as the freeholder of the property in Aveline Street, London,had not supplied.

The landlords periodically chased up - and failed to receive - the missing documents and tried to submit a licence application using an expired fire risk assessment before a licence was finally granted in May 2024.

On each occasion, Lambeth’s health and safety team had been contacted, but not its HMO licensing team, the judge said. “As a professional landlord who has instructed a managing agent, having regard to all the circumstances, we do not consider that this sporadic contact with Lambeth amounts to a reasonable excuse when the respondents were aware that the property required a licence but did not have one.”

However, he added: “We take into account that the respondents had endeavoured to apply for the HMO licence before the applicants’ original tenancy start date. And while we consider those efforts by the respondents could have been more concerted, we also take into account that Lambeth’s significant delay in providing the necessary documentation was a relevant factor.”

The tenants also complained about a lack of central heating for seven weeks but which the judge said the Hadfields had tried to remedy, while their managing agent had agreed to pay the tenants’ electricity bills for that time.

The judge took into account the fact both husband and wife had been diagnosed with cancer and had undergone treatment within a year of each other and awarded the tenants 33% of the £26,511 rent claimed.