Applications to the First-tier Tribunal are made on form RRO1. It is not a complicated form, but a handful of boxes decide how well your claim starts — and a couple of them are where most applications go wrong.
Where to get it
Download the current version from the residential property tribunal forms collection on GOV.UK. Always take a fresh copy rather than an old download — the form was revised on 1 May 2026 to reflect the Renters’ Rights Act changes, and an out-of-date version will not have the right questions on it.
Section by section
The applicants
Every tenant who wants to claim must be named. If four of you shared, list all four — you are four applicants on one form, each claiming your own rent, not four people sharing one award.
Give an address the tribunal can reach you at now, which for most former tenants is not the property in question. Add an email address; almost all tribunal correspondence goes by email.
The respondent
This is the box that most often causes trouble. Name the person or company who had control of or managed the property.
- If it is a company, use the exact registered name and company number from Companies House — not the trading name on the tenancy agreement.
- If the property was jointly owned, name all the owners. In the Rothberg case three joint landlords were named and ordered to pay jointly.
- If there was a rent-to-rent arrangement, you may now name the superior landlord as well as the immediate one — a change introduced on 1 May 2026.
- If you only ever dealt with an agent, the landlord is usually still the correct respondent. Check the tenancy agreement and any deposit protection certificate for the landlord’s name.
The property
Give the full address exactly as the council’s register would record it, including the flat or room designation. If you rented a room in a shared house, the property is the house.
The offence
Identify which offence from the section 40 list you are relying on. For most claims that is section 72(1) of the Housing Act 2004 (unlicensed HMO) or section 95(1) (unlicensed house under selective licensing). Say which, and give the dates between which you say it was committed.
The amount claimed
Show the arithmetic rather than just a total:
Rent of £750 per calendar month, paid from 1 September 2025 to 31 August 2027 = 24 months × £750 = £18,000. No housing benefit or universal credit was received.
If part of your rent was met by benefits, deduct it here and say so. Overstating the claim is the quickest way to lose the tribunal’s confidence in the rest of your evidence.
Conviction or financial penalty
Say if you know the landlord has been convicted or fined for the offence. It matters: under section 46 a conviction obliges the tribunal to award the maximum.
Hearing or paper determination
Ask for a hearing. A paper determination is quicker, but you will not get to answer whatever your landlord says in their statement, and you will not be able to respond to questions from the panel. The hearing is usually remote and takes a couple of hours at most.
What to send with the form
- Tenancy agreement, all versions
- Bank statements or a rent book proving every payment claimed
- Evidence of who lived there and when — establishing it was an HMO
- A dated printout of the council’s licensing register entry, or a letter from the council
- Relevant correspondence with the landlord or agent
You do not have to send everything at this stage — the tribunal’s directions will set a timetable for evidence — but a well-documented application is taken more seriously from the start.
The fee
There is a fee to issue the application and a further fee if there is a hearing. Check the current fee in the form guidance on GOV.UK before you apply — the Property Chamber’s fees were restructured during 2026 and figures quoted elsewhere online are out of date.
Help with Fees is available on a low income or certain benefits — apply for it at the same time rather than paying and hoping to recover it. A successful applicant can also ask for the fees to be reimbursed by the landlord, which tribunals routinely order.
The five mistakes worth avoiding
- Wrong respondent. Check Companies House and the tenancy agreement before you write a name.
- Vague dates. “Around September” is not good enough. Everything is calculated from the dates.
- No proof of payment. The single most common gap. Download the statements before you apply.
- Claiming benefit-funded rent. It is not recoverable by you, and claiming it undermines your credibility.
- Choosing a paper determination to save time, then having no way to answer the landlord’s account.
If you realise you have made a mistake after filing, write to the tribunal promptly and explain. Applications can be amended, and an early correction is treated very differently from one that emerges at the hearing.
We complete and run the application for you on a no win no fee basis — including establishing the licensing position and putting the quantum argument. If you would rather do it yourself, that is entirely doable too. Either way, start with the free check so you know whether the claim is there.
This article is general information about the law in England and is not legal advice about your own circumstances. Tribunal forms, fees and procedure change — always use the current form from GOV.UK. The rules differ in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Think this applies to you? Checking whether your landlord needed a licence is free and takes about two minutes. Check whether your landlord needed a licence.