A landlord who pressurised her three tenants to leave an unlicensed HMO early has been told to pay them 80% of the rent they paid.

A First Tier Property Tribunal heard that the tenants paid landlord Leanne Ross four months’ rent in advance but couldn’t move into the house in Church Lane, Southampton, as arranged at the end of August 2024 and had to pay for temporary alternative accommodation. Once they moved in, at the beginning of September, they had to pay £800 for a missing mattress, which the landlord said would be taken as rent.

Two more people then moved in unannounced, and the living room and storage room were used as bedrooms, meaning that the property became licensable on 14^th September.

The three tenants told the tribunal that for the first week the bathroom didn’t work, while windows were broken and there was no heating. There were also no tables or chairs and only some old furniture. They raised numerous complaints, but these went unheeded.

On 2nd November, Ross told the three tenants that as they had not passed their reference checks, if they didn't pay further sums in advance of rent, their tenancy would be terminated on 30th November. They said she and her agent then became aggressive in correspondence and refused to let them stay until the end of December but insisted they move out by 30th November.

Agent

When the tenants asked to move out on 30th December as per their tenancy agreement, the agent, Jade Turner, messaged: ‘No as explained you HAVE NOT PASSED referencing!! You are not a uk citizen so don’t pass referencing like Leanne explained to you. (you are from overseas) we will come and check you all out the property 30th November!’

When they later raised a concern about an unarranged viewing, Turner told them: ‘She told you yesterday if you look above in the previous chat!! You only need 24hrs notice to enter a house on a HMO single room occupancy SO CHECK BRITISH LAW please …’

Left

They left on 30th November 2024, without managing to get the sums owed to them.

The tribunal found the landlord had committed an unlawful eviction offence, and the judge said there was clear pressure put on the tenants to leave early. “We consider that the correspondence and messages, which were increasingly aggressive in tone, were the cause of the applicants leaving. As well as the aggressive correspondence, arranging for unannounced viewings was another act which contributed to this offence.”

It told Ross - who failed to engage in the tribunal proceedings - to pay a Rent Repayment Order of £1,920 for each applicant, representing 80% of £2,400 that each had paid during the four months.

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