Three Nottingham Trent University students are due to be paid almost £16,000 in rent repayments after it was discovered their Shakespeare Street accommodation was unlicensed.
Three Trent graduates have won back nearly £16,000 in second year rent because their property was unlicensed.
The trio rented a flat on Shakespeare Street opposite the Arkwright Building during their second year.
But they faced a battle getting their deposits back so turned to a tenants’ rights campaign group for help.
Now after chasing their landlord through the courts they found the property was unlicensed meaning they will get back a year’s rent – which is £5,253 each.
Broadcast journalism graduate Ngina Mwendo, 22, is one of the three flatmates who brought the case.
She said: “We were told we would get our deposit back at the beginning of August, then at the end of August, then in September, and then the landlord told us he didn’t have anything to do with it anymore.
“I ended up getting in contact with Justice for Tenants and they’ve helped us try to get our deposit back.”
Justice for Tenants is an independent and non-profit organisation that helps to retrieve the full deposits of struggling tenants.
Alasdair Mcclenahan, co-founder of Justice for Tenants, oversaw the case after Ngina Mwendo, Krishna Fatania and Whitney Olumese approached the company for help.
“This case was all-too-common. A landlord who only seemed to care about maximising rental income and not about the standards or condition of the property,” Mcclenahan said.
Upon taking the case, the company discovered the property was unlicensed by the landlord.
All rented properties in Nottingham require a license by law in order to ensure all accommodation is of a high enough standard for tenants to live in.
“Nottingham has such an issue with substandard, poorly-managed student accommodation that they brought in property licensing to make it easier to make landlords follow the law.
“If a landlord does not have the right license, tenants can claim12 months rent back,” Mcclenahan added.
Following the legal proceedings, the court determined that the property was without a license.
“The Tribunal is satisfied beyond doubt that the Respondent was responsible for 42 Shakespeare Street, that the building required an HMO licence and that no such licence existed so that the offence of being a person having control of or managing an HMO which is required to be licensed under s72(1) of the 2004 Act but was not so licensed was committed.”
The landlord in the court documents is listed as Ramzan Ali.
Ramzan Ali, was listed on Companies House as the director of a company called Harvey Mansions Ltd.
Companies House also list Ramzan Ali with a birth date in October 1972, making him 47.
Nicholas Humphreys Nottingham, the lettings agency that Ngina Mwendo and her flatmates sourced their accommodation through, deny “actively” managing the property.
A representative for the company said: “We have never actively managed an apartment within Shakespeare Street, we have only sourced tenants on behalf of the landlord.”
“The property was only marketed on receipt of receiving the relevant and legal documentation, including the licences for the apartments on our books,” they added.
At the time of publication, Ramzan Ali’s registered company address is 42 Shakespeare Street which was purchased by Nottingham Trent University in 2018.
NTU deemed the accommodation as “unlivable” and removed all the tenants residing there.
Platform was still trying to contact Ramzan Ali at the time of publication.
By Faith Pring
This is a very good summary of what occurred.
It is estimated that up to 50% of all students in Nottingham are eligible to claim back up to 12 months of rent.
I hope this article helps students to learn about their rights as tenants.
Al
justicefortenants.org