A landlord who sent tenants “brash and overbearing” messages about keeping their flat tidy during viewings has been told to pay them back more than £10,000.

Barry Howe also failed to licence the property in the Alaska Building, Bermondsey, but a First Tier Property Tribunal dismissed his claim that Southwark Council failed to tell him about the scheme.

Howe’s two former tenants had paid a £4,125 deposit but didn’t receive proof of protection. When Howe failed to return it, he said this was necessary for cleaning and repairs, but didn’t provide receipts.

The tribunal heard that the tenants had helped co-ordinate viewings of prospective replacement tenants and possible investment purchasers, via a shared WhatsApp group. However, Howe berated them about untidiness in the property and told the letting agent to video it to make sure it was kept to a high standard.

Invasion

The judge said: “This we find to be imposition of wholly unreasonable demands and an invasion of their privacy.”

After the tenants asked for their deposit, he messaged them saying: “You can try to be clever, using veiled threats and trust me you’ll end up of worse in the long run. If you disrespect me again, we will just go the legal route and I have no liquid assets in the UK (the business runs at a loss) and subsequently nothing to lose which means you have nothing to win.”

Judge

The judge said: “We found the respondent’s correspondence around the end of the tenancy to be brash and overbearing.”

Howe had only told the authority’s tax department that he was permanently living abroad in 2015 but didn’t request that all correspondence be sent by email until after the scheme came into effect, the judge added. “A local housing authority is under no obligation to consult with individual property owners and notify them of licensing obligations. He might have considered it sensible to appoint a local agent to manage the property.”

Due to the “egregious” retention of their deposit, the tribunal set the Rent Repayment Order at 60% of the £16,500 rent paid between November 2023 and May 2024 – telling Howe to pay £9,900 and fees of £341.

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