Rent Repayment Order for Tenants: Your Rights Explained

Most people who could bring a Rent Repayment Order claim never do, usually because they assume they are not eligible or they worry about the consequences. This guide is about eligibility and protection: whether the right is yours, and what your landlord can and cannot do once you use it.

Do you have the right to claim?

Four things need to be true. Take them in order — if any one fails, the answer is no.

1. You were a private tenant

The right belongs to tenants of private landlords. It is not available to tenants of housing associations, council tenants, or tenants of arms-length management organisations. If your landlord is a private individual or a private company, you are in scope.

It is broader than many people expect. The Upper Tribunal has confirmed that the power extends beyond assured shorthold tenancies — a licence to occupy can count too, which matters for lodgers and for people on non-standard agreements. Do not rule yourself out because your paperwork was informal or because you never signed anything.

2. You actually paid rent during the offence

An RRO repays rent. If you paid nothing in the relevant period there is nothing to repay. If someone else paid on your behalf — a parent, an employer — that can still count, but you need to be able to trace it.

Rent covered by housing benefit or universal credit is excluded from your claim. The council can recover that part itself. If your rent was partly benefit-funded, you claim your own share.

3. Your landlord committed a listed offence

Only the offences in section 40 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016 count — most commonly letting an unlicensed HMO or an unlicensed property under selective licensing, or illegal eviction and harassment. A landlord being difficult, slow or unpleasant is not an offence.

4. You are inside the time limit

Since 1 May 2026 you have 2 years from the date of the offence. For offences before that date the limit is 12 months. Because a licensing offence continues for as long as the property is unlicensed, working out when the clock started is often the trickiest part of the whole claim.

You do not have to still live there

This is the single most common reason people wrongly rule themselves out. Former tenants can apply. Many of the strongest claims are brought after the tenancy has ended, when there is no ongoing relationship to protect and no awkwardness about living in the property while the case runs.

Sharers each have their own claim

If four of you shared a house, that is four claims, not one award divided four ways. Each of you reclaims the rent you paid. You can apply together on a single form, which is usually simpler and cheaper, but the arithmetic is individual.

You do not all have to take part. If two housemates want to claim and two do not, the two who do can proceed. And if one of you acts for the others, the rest should sign a short declaration confirming who is authorised to act.

What your landlord cannot do

They cannot evict you for claiming

Applying for an RRO is not a ground for possession. Since 1 May 2026 the section 21 “no fault” route has been abolished entirely, so a landlord who wants possession must rely on a specified statutory ground under section 8 and, if you do not leave, go to court. There is no lawful way to remove you simply for asserting this right.

They cannot lock you out or pressure you out

If a landlord responds by changing the locks, cutting off services, or harassing you, those are criminal offences under the Protection from Eviction Act 1977 — and they are themselves grounds for a further Rent Repayment Order. A landlord who retaliates usually makes their position considerably worse, because conduct is one of the factors the tribunal weighs when fixing the amount.

They cannot contract you out of it

A clause in your tenancy agreement saying you will not apply for an RRO does not bind you. Statutory rights of this kind cannot be signed away by agreement.

They can, of course, defend the claim

None of the above means your landlord has to roll over. They can argue the property never needed a licence, that they had duly applied for one, that they had a reasonable excuse, that they were not the right respondent, or that the award should be reduced. That is legitimate, and we have written about how those defences work.

Your rights during the process

• You can see their case. The tribunal directs both sides to exchange evidence before the hearing. You are entitled to read what is said about you and to respond.
• You can be represented — by a solicitor, by counsel, or by an adviser. You can also represent yourself; the tribunal is used to litigants in person and the hearing is much less formal than a court.
• You can usually attend remotely. Many RRO hearings are held by video.
• You can recover your fees. A successful applicant can ask for the application and hearing fees to be reimbursed, and tribunals routinely order it. Help with Fees is available if you are on a low income.
• You will not normally pay your landlord’s costs if you lose. The tribunal only makes costs orders where a party has behaved unreasonably. This is a much lower-risk forum than the County Court.

What you should do now

Two things decide most claims, and both are within your control today:

1. Pin down your dates. The exact day you moved in and the exact day you moved out. Everything — the deadline, the relevant period, the amount — is calculated from them.
2. Secure your proof of payment. Download the bank statements covering your whole tenancy now, while you still have access to that account. This is the evidence people most often find they cannot get later.

If you are not sure whether the property needed a licence, that is the part we check for you. Send us the address and the dates — there is no cost, and no obligation.

This article is general information about the law in England and is not legal advice about your own circumstances. Tribunal fees change — check the current figures on GOV.UK. The rules differ in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.