HMO license solicitors?

Talk to your council prs team

Is this your own admin error or negligence of a managing agent? (If latter, you will have a case to claim from agents professional indemnity insurance).
Do you have a Landlords insurance policy that might include legal services? (Worth talking to them if you do).
Have the tenants actually paid that sum in period concerned?
Are utilities/services included in the rent payments and is that factored in?

Apply for the license immediately and backdate the start date to when it was due. Pay the fees and contact the council to explain an admin mix up and ask for it to be expedited.
You are allowed to run a hmo whilst application is in progress.
RRO have been updated by our beloved Tory party to kill landlords and then somehow blame this crime on the woke brigade, once you understand it is the morons in today’s GOV that you are dealing with, the loop holes will appear.
The act was put in place to stop rogue landlords with substandard acommodation, bring lots of evidence to show you are neither rogue or sub standaed and the application is in place with the council fully aware. Judges look at action from the council as evidence. If the council have taken no action and are supporting your application for a new license, then this softens the tenants case.

Tribunals and court cases only get hairy when the council is involved (they usually give you two warnings to license up before action in any case).

Also bring a complete list of your expenses in running the property. Utility bills, mortgage interest, council tax, repairs and maintenance etc etc and if a RRO is to be made, argue for your costs to be excluded from the RRO.
Lastly, pay attention to when the tenants knew and why they did not alert you, its a long shot but some judges don’t like deliberate profiteering like that. It might also be obvious that they could have withheld rent and asked for the property to be licensed instead of the course of action they have taken. The law is fluid, some stuff works, some doesn’t.
Good luck (lawyer is a good good idea)

We Have represented Landlords on RRO cases before the tribunal.

Send us an email to arrange to discuss. ?

Are you a member of the NRLA ?
The Legal team there maybe able to Help

If you forgot to insure and the property burnt down you wouldn’t stand a chance with an insurance company even if they had your business for decades.
Can’t afford these days to make any business errors as a PRS landlord. No longer a slap on the wrist and don’t forget to do xyz next time.