A letting agent who claimed he wasn’t the landlord of an unlicensed HMO has been told to pay back £31,435 in rent after a tribunal found he should have known about the council scheme.

A First Tier Property Tribunal heard that the freeholder had granted a tenancy agreement to Marco Scanu’s company, which appointed him as both manager and tenant with the power to sublet. He had received the rack-rent of the six-bed ground-floor flat in Paris House, Old Bethnal Green Road, London, but said he was passing on the rent and so was merely an agent.

Scanu, director of Mio Real Estate, argued that he had a reasonable excuse as he acted throughout on the instructions of the owner, who retained responsibility for the property.

Instructions

Scanu said the owner’s daughter visited the property two or three times a week and gave instructions directly to the tenants – a claim they denied. The tribunal rejected his argument that the owner was the landlord as there was no mention of him in any of the tenancy agreements with the occupants. It said Scanu had exclusive possession.

The tribunal also said it had no doubt that Scanu knew, or at the very least, ought to have known, about the existence of Tower Hamlets Council’s additional licensing scheme.

Acted

The judge said: “Whilst the respondent may well have acted neither deliberately nor with reckless disregard of the legislation, this in itself does not amount to a defence. Mr Scanu had shown himself to be somewhat naïve in his dealings with the owner of the property.”

The five tenants said their deposits were not held in a deposit protection scheme and/or were not returned, which Scanu did not challenge. The tribunal considered this to be poor conduct and made the Rent Repayment Order, ordering him to pay back 70% of the rent claimed.

‍