A landlord who visited her unlicensed HMO unannounced and entered tenants’ bedrooms has been told to pay them back £16,685.

Jahanara Begum also raised rent without notice and failed to protect their deposit or repay it when asked, a First Tier Property Tribunal heard. Four tenants who lived in the property in Padstow House, Three Colt Street, London, between July 2022 and July 2024, complained that the landlord’s conduct was poor. They said Begum was assertive and aggressive and did not always listen to them when they reported a fault.

She would enter the house without giving notice and tampered with all the bedroom locks so she could enter the bedrooms during visits. She also didn’t allow them access to the living room and would instead use the space for her own guests. Only when the tenants threatened to alert the council to the fact that seven people were living there did she remove her guests.

Mould

They also reported persistent mould, a lack of fire alarms and smoke detectors, as well as cockroaches. Begum did not properly fix the boiler despite the problem being reported several times, meaning that the central heating did not work from mid-2023, so tenants were only able to use electric heaters.

The tribunal heard that if the property had been licensed under Tower Hamlets’ additional licencing scheme, the council would have required the heating issue, the fire alarm issue and the severe mould problem to be remedied urgently as a condition of granting an HMO licence.

Hearing

The judge said Begum, who didn’t attend the hearing, had not made any submissions and added: “There is no basis on the information before the tribunal to conclude that the respondent did have a reasonable excuse for the failure to obtain a licence.”

He awarded a Rent Repayment Order for 90% of the maximum amount payable.

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