Agent urges tenants to claim compensation from landlo...

A lettings agent has taken the surprising step of encouraging tenants to seek compensation if their landlords fail to abide by local licensing laws.

Ajay Jagota - who runs KIS lettings and sales agency in South Shields - wants student renters to check the licensing status of their homes after a management company was forced to repay almost £85,000 in rent for not having the correct license.

Jagota now also runs a service called Verywise Student: its website home page offers “student accommodation safety checks” plus a counselling service and tax and legal helplines.

Jagota cites the case of S C Osney Management, owner and operator of the 242 room Student Castle in Oxford; S C Osney has been ordered to repay £84,877 of rent after being found not to have an HMO license.

This follows a case brought by 44 tenants in the development. The First Tier Tribunal issued a rent repayment order but accepted that the lack of a license was ‘by omission rather than deliberate’.

Jagota says: “For most students the legal status of their accommodation is the last thing on their mind, but not only are things like gas and safety certificates literally a matter of life and death, they could be in line for compensation or rent refunds if their landlords haven’t fulfilled their legal obligations.

“The problem is that most students don’t have the legal knowhow to uphold their rights, or the resources to lawyer up. That’s why we created our free service to make sure they get the help and support they need.

“Even through this company was found to have not deliberately failed to get a license – it’s highly unlikely they’re the only landlord to be operating without the necessary paperwork and I advise all students to take advantage of free specialist services like ours to make sure that their legal rights are being protected.”

Jagota also runs a similarly-named service called Veriwise which claims to “help all tenants get access to justice, so whatever the issue is with your rented property if your landlord is refusing to fix the problem/issue or just ignoring you, then simply tell us and we resolve the issue directly with your landlord/agent so you don’t have to.”