How Far Back Can Rent Be Claimed?

Two years’ rent is the ceiling, not the expectation. This guide explains which period you can claim for, what comes off the top, and how the tribunal gets from your total rent to the figure in the order.

The relevant period

You can claim rent paid during a period in which the offence was being committed, up to the statutory maximum:

• 2 years for offences committed on or after 1 May 2026;
• 12 months for offences committed before that date.

For the licensing offences — rows 5 and 6 of the section 40 table — you can claim for a period, of up to 2 years, during which the offence was being committed. The offence continues for as long as the property is unlicensed, so that period typically ends on whichever came first: your tenancy ending, the landlord obtaining or duly applying for a licence, the property ceasing to need one, or the landlord selling it.

You then count backwards from that point — up to two years, or as far back as your tenancy began, whichever is shorter.

What comes off before anything else

Housing benefit and universal credit

Rent met by housing benefit or the housing element of universal credit is excluded from your claim. The local authority can recover that element itself. If your rent was part-funded, you claim your own contribution — so be ready to show which part you paid.

Anything that was not rent

An RRO repays rent. A tenancy deposit is not rent — it is your money held on trust and recoverable by other routes. Nor are one-off charges such as referencing or renewal fees, most of which are in any event prohibited under the Tenant Fees Act 2019.

How the tribunal calculates the award

The Upper Tribunal set out the method in Acheampong v Roman [2022] UKUT 239 (LC). Four steps, in order:

Step 1 — the whole rent for the relevant period

The starting point is everything you paid, not the landlord’s profit. Vadamalayan v Stewart [2020] UKUT 183 (LC) settled that: mortgage interest, letting agent fees, insurance, repairs and general running costs are not deductible. A landlord who says “but I only cleared £200 a month” is making an argument the Upper Tribunal has already rejected.

Step 2 — deduct landlord-paid utilities that benefited only you

If your rent genuinely included gas, electricity, water or broadband that the landlord paid for and only you used, that element can come out. This is a narrow deduction, not a general allowance for the landlord’s outgoings.

In one of the decisions we have written up, the tribunal allowed a 10% reduction for utilities included in the rent. In another, on different facts, it refused any deduction at all for utilities or services, following Vadamalayan and Ficcara v James [2021] UKUT 38 (LC).

Step 3 — how serious was the offence?

The tribunal weighs this offence against other offence types, and against other examples of the same offence. A landlord who deliberately avoided licensing a hazardous property sits at one end; a small landlord who let a designation lapse by a few weeks in an otherwise well-run house sits at the other.

Step 4 — the section 44(4) factors

Finally, the tribunal adjusts for the matters listed in section 44(4), which the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 expanded:

• the conduct of the landlord and the tenant — disrepair, harassment and previous enforcement on one side; arrears, damage and anti-social behaviour on the other;
• the amount of any rent received by the tenant in respect of the period;
• the landlord’s financial circumstances;
• whether the landlord has been convicted of, or received a financial penalty for, a listed offence; and
• whether a rent repayment order has previously been made against the landlord.

A real calculation

In the London State Ltd case the tribunal worked it through like this:

• Rent of £866.67 per month × 12 months
• × 90% — a 10% reduction for utilities included in the rent
• = £9,360
• less a further 25%, reflecting the landlord’s lack of previous convictions and the small scale of the business
• = an order for £7,020, plus reimbursement of the £300 in tribunal fees, payable within 28 days.

Read the full decision →

When the maximum is compulsory

Section 46 requires the tribunal to award the maximum where the landlord has been convicted of the offence or has received a financial penalty for it, and also where they are a repeat offender — previously convicted or penalised for the same offence, or previously the subject of a rent repayment order for it. Steps 3 and 4 fall away. This is a good reason to report the matter to the council as well as bringing your own claim.

What actually increases your award

• Documented disrepair during the tenancy — photographs and reports.
• Evidence the landlord knew a licence was needed and did nothing. In the Rothberg case the tribunal found the landlords had been aware since May 2019, and refused any reduction.
• Previous enforcement against the landlord, or a portfolio suggesting they knew the rules.
• Your own clean record — rent paid on time, property looked after.

This article is general information about the law in England and is not legal advice about your own circumstances. Every award turns on its own facts, and the figures above are examples rather than a guide to what you would receive. The rules differ in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.