A close relative has been living in a student house-share for the past year on a shorthold tenancy agreement, which ends soon. They are moving out, and another group will be moving in. The house had an HMO license at the beginning of the tenancy, but it expired a few months ago. We know this because the local authority sent the tenants a letter to inform them. The letter advised them of their rights, said they had requested proof from the landlord that an HMO renewal was no longer needed, and also included information about how to apply for rent repayment order
The landlord advertises his properties directly to tenants, not through an agent. He has three properties in the same block. According to the local HMO registry, the HMOs for his other two properties have expired too - one of them recently, the other more than a year ago. One is occupied by students and the other is currently being advertised, with wording which implies it is aimed at students.
For context - the landlord has always seemed inexperienced and rather rude - he inherited the properties, so although they've been in his family for years, he has only been managing them himself for a couple of years, and he clearly doesn't like spending money as he has cut corners on many of the usual formalities of rentals. So not renewing the HMOs fits with a pattern of behaviour.
My questions are:
- What level of "proof" do local authorities usually require from landlords that renewal isn't needed, given that they can obviously see from the council tax records who is living there.
- Do local authorities rely on tenants applying for RROs as a deterrent? (Presumably it is cheaper for them than prosecuting unlicensed landlords).
- If my relative and his flatmates apply for a RRO for the last few months, will the landlord just be allowed to pay up then continue operating? What, if anything, will happen to his existing tenants?
My relative and his housemates would like to get some money back (not least because the landlord has been pretty unpleasant at times), but they are a bit worried about what the consequences might be.