Two questions come up constantly from tenants in shared houses: can everyone in the property claim together, and does it matter if the landlord is a limited company rather than an individual? The short answer to both is yes — here's how each works in practice.
Can Several Tenants Make a Joint RRO Claim?
Yes. Where multiple tenants in the same property have all paid rent during a period when the landlord was committing a qualifying offence — most commonly, operating an unlicensed HMO — each of them is entitled to apply, and applications are often made and heard together for efficiency.
The Tribunal apportions the total award between the tenants who paid rent, generally reflecting what each person actually paid. If you and your housemates all paid rent to the same landlord for the same unlicensed property, it's usually more efficient — and can strengthen the evidence — to bring the claim jointly rather than separately.
You don't need every housemate to agree to claim before you can proceed yourself — but where several of you do want to claim, we can usually handle all of your applications as part of the same process.
Can You Make an RRO Against a Company Landlord?
Yes. A significant proportion of London's private rented sector is now owned through limited companies rather than individual landlords, and this makes no difference to your right to claim. If a company held the tenancy and committed the qualifying offence — for example, letting the property without the required licence — the RRO can be made against the company itself.
Identifying the correct respondent matters, because it determines who the Tribunal's order is made against. Where a property is managed by an agent on behalf of a company landlord, it's important to establish who actually held the tenancy — this is something we check as part of your free assessment.
What If the Landlord Changes Their Company Structure?
If a landlord company is dissolved or restructured, this can complicate — though doesn't necessarily prevent — recovery of any award made. This is a good reason not to delay: the sooner an application is made and any order obtained, the less scope there is for those complications to arise.