Rent Repayment Orders: What Landlords Need to Know Under the Renters' Rights Act 2025

What changed under the Renters' Rights Act 2025

The maximum rent repayment order doubled from 12 to 24 months' rent. The list of qualifying offences expanded to include PRS Database non-compliance. Superior landlords and company directors can now be ordered to pay directly. The application window extended from 12 to 24 months. All changes apply to offences committed on or after 1 May 2026. Read the full Renters' Rights Act 2025 guide.

A rent repayment order (RRO) is one of the most financially serious enforcement tools a tenant or council can use against a private landlord — and the Renters' Rights Act 2025 has made it both easier to bring and more expensive to lose. This guide sets out what an RRO is, which offences now trigger one, how the First-tier Tribunal process works, and — most importantly for a compliant landlord — how a properly documented tenancy is the first line of defence.

What is a rent repayment order?

An RRO is an order made by the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) requiring a landlord to repay rent already paid — either to the tenant directly, or to a local authority where the rent was paid through Universal Credit's housing costs element or housing benefit. It is a civil remedy, not a criminal conviction, but the Tribunal applies the criminal standard of proof: it must be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the landlord committed a qualifying offence before it can make an order. A prior criminal conviction is not required, though having one makes an application far more straightforward for the tenant or council and, as set out below, can force the Tribunal to award the maximum amount.

The legal basis is the Housing and Planning Act 2016, sections 40–52, as amended by the Renters' Rights Act 2025.

Why RROs matter more after the Renters' Rights Act 2025

For offences committed on or after 1 May 2026, three things changed that materially increase landlord exposure:

• The maximum award doubled — from up to 12 months' rent to up to 24 months' rent.
• The application window doubled — tenants and local authorities now have up to two years from the offence (previously 12 months) to apply.
• The list of qualifying offences expanded — most notably to capture non-compliance with the new Private Rented Sector (PRS) Database, and to extend liability beyond the immediate landlord to superior landlords and company officers.

Where an offence straddles 1 May 2026, the Tribunal applies the old rules to the pre-1 May period and the new rules to the post-1 May period.

The offences that can trigger an RRO

The qualifying offences are set out in section 40(3) of the Housing and Planning Act 2016. They fall into two groups for the purpose of calculating the maximum award.

Offences with a mandatory two-year starting point

For these offences, the Tribunal must start its calculation from the full two years' rent paid before the offence (subject to discretionary deductions):

• Illegal eviction or harassment of occupiers (Protection from Eviction Act 1977, s.1)
• Using or threatening violence to secure entry into premises (Criminal Law Act 1977, s.6)
• Knowingly or recklessly misusing a possession ground
• Providing false or misleading information to the PRS Database

Offences capped at the period the offence was committed

For these, the maximum is the rent paid during the period the offence actually ran, up to a two-year ceiling:

• Controlling or managing an unlicensed HMO (Housing Act 2004, s.72)
• Controlling or managing an unlicensed house subject to selective licensing (Housing Act 2004, s.95)
• Failing to comply with an improvement notice (Housing Act 2004, s.30)
• Failing to comply with a prohibition order (Housing Act 2004, s.32)
• Breaching a banning order (Housing and Planning Act 2016, s.21)
• Breaching restrictions on re-letting or marketing a property after using Ground 1 or Ground 1A
• Continuing breaches of tenancy reform requirements
• Continuing to fail to register with the PRS Database after already receiving a financial penalty for it

A landlord who lets or advertises a property without a valid PRS Database entry (once the Database is live) risks a civil penalty as well as RRO exposure — see the GOV.UK guidance on civil penalties for current penalty bands.

Who can be ordered to repay — including superior landlords and directors

Before 1 May 2026, only the immediate landlord could face an RRO. The Renters' Rights Act 2025 widened this considerably:

• Superior landlords can now be ordered to repay, regardless of who the tenant actually paid rent to (Housing and Planning Act 2016, s.40, as amended).
• Company directors, secretaries and other officers can be personally liable where the offence was committed with their consent, connived at, or caused by their neglect (new s.51A, inserted by the Renters' Rights Act 2025, s.104). Every qualifying offence except using violence to secure entry can be caused "by neglect."
• Where more than one person is made subject to an order for the same offence, they are jointly and severally liable.

How landlords can defend against an RRO

The Tribunal has discretion over the amount awarded unless the landlord has already been convicted, fined, or made subject to an RRO for the same type of offence — in which case it must award the maximum. Where discretion applies, it must weigh the landlord's conduct, financial circumstances, and compliance history, alongside the seriousness of the offence compared with other cases.

In practice, the strongest defence is documentary evidence of compliance, assembled before any dispute arises:

• A correctly drafted tenancy agreement with the prescribed information served to the tenant, since defects here underpin several of the possession-ground offences and evidence disputes.
• A deposit protected in a government-approved scheme within the statutory timescale, with prescribed information served — see tenancy deposit protection rules.
• A current, valid gas safety record for every property with a gas appliance.
• A valid EPC meeting MEES requirements.
• A valid licence for any property that needs one under HMO or selective licensing rules, and no outstanding improvement notice or prohibition order under the Housing Act 2004.
• An up-to-date PRS Database entry once registration becomes mandatory.

None of this guarantees an application will fail, but it directly addresses what the Tribunal is required to weigh, and it is the difference between a discretionary, reduced award and the mandatory maximum.

The First-tier Tribunal process

Applications are made to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) using Form RRO1. A tenant can apply directly; a local authority can apply to recover Universal Credit or housing benefit paid to the landlord, and in some cases must first serve a notice of intended proceedings giving the landlord at least 28 days to respond.

Key features of the process:

• The Tribunal applies the criminal standard of proof — beyond reasonable doubt — even though this is a civil tribunal.
• A hearing is held if the facts are disputed; paper determinations are possible where they are not.
• Either party can be ordered to pay the other's costs, though the Tribunal rarely awards costs to a landlord unless the application was unfounded or conducted unreasonably.
• An appeal against the Tribunal's decision goes to the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber).
• The amount ordered is enforceable as a debt through the County Court if not paid.

Full procedural detail is in the GOV.UK guidance on rent repayment orders for local authorities.

Prevention is cheaper than cure

An RRO is, in effect, a compliance audit with financial teeth attached. The landlords most exposed are those relying on informal paperwork, verbal agreements, or documents that pre-date the Renters' Rights Act 2025 — all of which increase both the chance an offence is found and the size of any award, since the Tribunal weighs conduct and compliance history directly.

The lowest-cost mitigation is getting the paperwork right from day one: a compliant, up-to-date tenancy agreement, deposit protection completed on time, and current safety certification, all kept on file. Since every existing assured shorthold tenancy converted to an assured periodic tenancy on 1 May 2026, landlords who have not reviewed their documentation since then are the highest-risk group.

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This guide is provided for general information for landlords in England and does not constitute legal advice. Rent repayment order proceedings are fact-specific and the amount awarded depends on the Tribunal's assessment of conduct, compliance, and financial circumstances in each case. If you have received an RRO application, or believe you may be at risk of one, take independent legal advice promptly — the time limits and evidential requirements are strict.