Landlord prosecutions fell 84% as fines and rent repayment orders took over: the figures

On 6 April 2017 two things changed for landlords in England. Councils were given the power to impose a financial penalty instead of prosecuting for many Housing Act 2004 offences, and tenants and councils gained a wider right to ask the First-tier Tribunal for a rent repayment order, which makes a landlord pay back rent (sections 126 and 40 to 46 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016, brought into force by SI 2017/281).

Nine years on, the Ministry of Justice’s court figures and the tribunal’s published decisions show where enforcement went. Read on 6 October 2026:

• 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, from 617 to 74.
• The tribunal published 237 rent repayment order decisions in 2025, up from 194 in 2024.
• It made an order in 72% of the applications it decided from January 2025 (265 of 369). In 2025 it ordered £1.50 million of rent to be repaid in the 171 orders where the amount could be read, a median of £6,141 each.
• 93% of the orders rested on a licensing offence: an unlicensed HMO (178), an unlicensed house in a selective licensing area (60), or both (8).
• London had 65% of the 2025 decisions and 85% of the money. The median London order was £8,908, against £2,819 elsewhere.
• Claims based on illegal eviction or harassment succeeded in only 7 of 34.

Prosecutions, year by year

Prosecutions for Housing Act 2004 offences in England, year to March:

The fall started in the first full year after the power to fine arrived. It does not show that enforcement fell overall: councils’ financial penalties are not counted in these figures, and the government’s Local Authority Housing Statistics for 2024 to 2025 do not count them either.

In the year to March 2026 the most prosecutions were in the Metropolitan Police area, London (52), and Merseyside (36), followed by South Yorkshire (15) and Essex (9). Greater Manchester had 2 and the West Midlands 3.

At the tribunal

Decisions published on GOV.UK, by the year they were made:

The tribunal publishes decisions some weeks after making them, so 2026 is not complete. Appeals are only the financial penalties a landlord challenged; the number councils issue is not in these figures.

What the tribunal ordered

Every rent repayment order decision made from 1 January 2025 to 6 October 2026 was read:

Which offence the orders rested on, January 2025 to October 2026:

The largest five orders, between £29,582 and £38,140, were all for London HMOs. Almost every order was payable to tenants; four were repayable to councils for Universal Credit or Housing Benefit.

Where

Rent repayment order decisions by tribunal region in 2025: London 153, Eastern 25, Southern 23, Midlands 19, Northern 17.

The councils with the most decisions from January 2025 to October 2026:

What it means for a landlord

Fewer landlords are prosecuted for these offences than in 2017, but the tribunal’s orders show where the money is: licensing. GOV.UK’s overview of the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 puts it simply: if a tenant believes a landlord has committed certain offences, they can apply to the First-tier Tribunal for a rent repayment order.

So the first check is whether the property needs a licence, HMO, additional or selective, from the council where it is, and whether that licence is current. The rules differ council by council: see selective licensing, licensing in different councils and defending a rent repayment order.

LetCompliance records each property’s licence type, reference, issuing council and expiry, reminds before it runs out, and checks HMO bedroom sizes against the mandatory licence conditions, on every plan.

Where these figures come from

Prosecutions: Ministry of Justice, Criminal Justice Statistics Quarterly: March 2026, published 30 July 2026, outcomes by offence data, offence codes 19638 (summary offences under the Housing Act 2004), 19639 (offences connected with HMOs and housing licences) and 19687 (overcrowding orders). England means police force areas outside Wales. Each defendant is counted once, under the most serious offence they faced, and council prosecutions are recorded against the police force area.

Tribunal: HM Courts and Tribunals Service, Residential property tribunal decisions on GOV.UK, read on 6 October 2026. Yearly counts are of decisions in the categories for rent repayment orders, civil financial penalties and banning orders, by decision date. The 376 rent repayment order decisions made from 1 January 2025 were each read for the outcome, the amount and the offence. Seven are left out of the order rate (withdrawn or settled, filed in the wrong category, or provisional), and the amount could not be read for three orders. Amounts are as ordered, not as paid, and leave out refunds of tribunal fees. Sixteen linked decisions about one Hackney development in March 2025 account for £233,099 of the 2025 total. Region and council come from the tribunal’s case reference. No names were recorded.