Property tribunals in England published 237 rent repayment order decisions in 2025, up from 194 in 2024 – with the vast majority (93%) about licensing offences.

An analysis of government figures by LetCompliance found that tribunals made an order in 72% of the applications decided from January 2025 (265 of 369) and last year ordered £1.5 million in rent to be repaid in the 171 readable orders, a median of £6,141 each.

It comes as prosecutions in England for Housing Act 2004 offences fell from 1,067 in the year to March 2017 to 166 in the year to March 2026, down 84%. For HMO and licensing offences alone, this dropped from 617 to 74.

Banning

The most prosecutions were in the Metropolitan Police area, London (52), and Merseyside (36), followed by South Yorkshire (15) and Essex (nine). Meanwhile, the number of banning orders has barely changed since 2022 (nine) to 2026 (seven). The firm also found that claims based on illegal eviction or harassment succeeded in only seven of 34 claims.

Founder Erdem Volkan says tribunal decisions are back near their 2021 peak, with tenants winning about three cases in four, adding that the money received by tenants is up due to more orders, not bigger ones.

Decisions in which the tenants were represented by Justice for Tenants rose from 49 to 73, illustrating a trend for more organised, represented claims.

London

London boroughs accounted for 65% of last year’s decisions and 85% of the money; the median London order in 2025 was £8,908, compared with £2,819 elsewhere. Partly due to higher rent and partly to licensing, Volkan tells LandlordZONE, as more than nine in ten orders since January 2025 have centred on a licensing offence, and 59 of the 73 Justice for Tenants cases in 2025 were in the capital.

Since 1 May, the maximum order for a RRO has doubled to two years’ rent, tenants have two years to apply instead of one, superior landlords (such as the owner in a rent-to-rent chain) can be named, and repeat offenders must be ordered the maximum unless there are exceptional circumstances.

Volkan adds that for landlords the lesson in the figures hasn’t changed. He explains: “More than nine in ten orders rest on a licence the property needed and didn’t have, so knowing whether yours needs one, and when it runs out, is the cheapest protection there is.”

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