New Clause 21 - Rent repayment orders

Renters (Reform) Bill – in a Public Bill Committee am 3:00 pm ar 28 Tachwedd 2023.

Danfonwch hysbysiad imi am ddadleuon fel hyn

“(1) The Housing and Planning Act 2016 is amended as follows.

(2) In section 40, for subsections (1) and (2) substitute—

‘(1) This Chapter confers power on the First-tier Tribunal to make a rent repayment order where an offence to which this Chapter applies has been committed by—

(a) a landlord under a tenancy of housing in England, or

(b) any superior landlord in relation to such a tenancy.

(2) A rent repayment order is an order requiring the landlord to—

(a) pay a tenant an amount in respect of rent paid by or on behalf of the tenant, or

(b) pay a local housing authority an amount in respect of a relevant award of universal credit paid (to any person) in respect of rent under the tenancy.’

(3) In section 43 (making of rent repayment order), at the end of subsection (3) insert—

‘(d) section 46A (where an order is made against more than one landlord or there has been a previous order).’

(4) In section 44 (amount of order: tenants)—

(a) in subsection (2)—

(i) for ‘during’ substitute ‘in respect of’, and

(ii) for ‘12 months’ (in both places) substitute ‘2 years’, and

(b) in subsection (3), for ‘repay’ substitute ‘pay’.

(5) In section 45 (amount of order: local housing authorities)—

(a) in subsection (2)—

(i) for ‘during’ substitute ‘in respect of’, and

(ii) for ‘12 months’ (in both places) substitute ‘2 years’, and

(b) in subsection (3)—

(i) for ‘repay’ substitute ‘pay’, and

(ii) omit ‘that the landlord’ (in the second place).

(6) After section 46 insert—

(1) A rent repayment order made against more than one landlord may—

(a) apportion liability for the amount due under the order between the landlords in such manner as the First-tier Tribunal considers appropriate, or

(b) provide for the landlords to be jointly and severally liable for the amount due under the order.

(2) If a rent repayment order (“the original order”) has been made in respect of rent under a tenancy and another rent repayment order (“the new order”) is made in respect of rent under the same tenancy, the new order may not require payment to be made in respect of any period in respect of which the original order required payment to be made.’”—

In Jepsen and others v Rakusen [2023] UKSC 9 the Supreme Court decided that a rent repayment order could not be made under Chapter 4 of Part 2 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016 against a superior landlord. This new Clause, which is intended to be added to Part 3 of the Bill, will allow such orders to be made against superior landlords, will extend the period that can be taken into account when calculating payments due under such orders and will make provision about how payments are to be calculated and made in cases where there are multiple landlords or multiple orders.

Brought up, read the First and Second time, and added to the Bill.