Four tenants have won £21,076 from their landlord who failed to explain why she hadn’t licensed her damp and cold HMO.

A First Tier Property Tribunal heard that one of the tenants endured poor heating in her bedroom at the five-bedroom HMO in Hearnville Road, Wandsworth, for more than two years, where she could see her breath in winter and was forced to sleep wearing many sweaters. Despite repeatedly reporting the problem, it was never satisfactorily addressed.

The tribunal heard that many rooms suffered from damp and black mould and, despite the agent promising that ventilation would be installed to address matters, this did not happen.

Deposits unprotected

The property did not have fire doors, while landlord Nneka Obianyo failed to protect several of the tenants’ deposits. It was unknown whether a gas safety certificate or electrical safety certificate was in place.

A rear wall partially collapsed and was then demolished; however, it took five months to repair, during which time the tenants - all young women - were subject to unwanted attention from customers using the off-licence opposite, causing them an “understandable degree of concern for their privacy”.

Obianyo emailed the court blaming health issues for her failure to provide a statement of case, written evidence and supporting documents, and did not attend the hearing.

The judge ruled that she had no reasonable excuse for not obtaining a license. He added: “While the significant delay in repairing the external wall was not an internal feature of the property, we find this to be symptomatic of the approach of the respondent via her son and agent, who while responsive in the sense of acknowledging complaints from tenants, was extremely tardy in instructing contractors or otherwise taking steps actually to seek to resolve matters.”

He ruled that the Rent Repayment Order should be for 70% of the maximum amount of rent payable.

Read the judgement in full.