Rent refund to all tenants years after S21 eviction?

Do any landlords know why several former tenants (who each rented a self-contained flat within a very large house) might each receive a “rent refund” from the letting agency years after their AST tenancies ended (and given that rent wasn’t actually overpaid)?!

A vulnerable friend, who has learning difficulties, rented one of these flats from 2020-2023. He received his monthly rental amount in full from Universal Credit (UC), and I then ensured it was paid to the letting agent (who confirmed to me today that the correct amounts were received throughout his tenancy up to & including the day he moved out in April 2023). So, there was no overpayment.

Yet my friend received £347.57 payment into his bank account in May 2025, over 2 years after he’d moved out.

It shows on his bank statement as: “rent refund- followed by name of former letting agency- followed by his former flat’s door no and address”

He doesn’t ever check his bank statements.

I no longer help him with managing finances (due to my own health/ family commitments), so have only just become aware of this rent refund he received back in May. He’s having a Universal Credit review, so his carer has forwarded 6 months’ bank statements to UC.

I think this rent refund should be paid back to UC and not be kept by the tenant (who is worried about getting a fine/ being in trouble). However, I also know he didn’t overpay rent during his tenancy and can think of no reason to receive a rent refund out of the blue over 2 years later.

I spoke to the lettings manager yesterday and asked if it was perhaps a mistake that might therefore need to be paid back to them. She was very surprised to hear that my friend had received a payment from them earlier this year, but promised to look into it.

Today, she told me she’d checked with Accounts and that all former tenants who used to live in the house back in 2023 have, in fact, received a refund this year. She said they’re trying to investigate the reason why they’ve sent these refunds, but they won’t be able to find out before my friend’s UC Review next week. She said she can’t promise that they will ever manage to get to the bottom of it.

I doubt I’ll hear back from the letting agency, but Universal Credit may not be satisfied with this explanation, it certainly doesn’t make much sense to me!

Does anyone know if it could potentially be some sort of compensation payment, perhaps ordered by the court? My friend (and the other tenants) each received Section 21 eviction notices in Jan 2023 (landlord wanted to sell up).

All the tenants (bar one) moved out of their flats prior to the end of the S21 two-month’s notice period. One tenant remained in his flat (I believe for at least another year) until evicted by court order (possibly by bailiffs). He needed to do this in order to subsequently qualify for temporary accommodation from the council without “intentionally” making himself homeless.

Could this tenant’s S21 eviction court proceedings have potentially resulted in a court order for ALL the tenants to be paid compensation/ given a rent refund? Does anyone know if that’s even possible and, if so, under what sort of circumstances?

Surely someone in the estate agent’s office must know why they’ve sent rent refunds out of the blue to tenants over 2 years after they moved out?! The lettings manager said they just don’t know what the reason is. Someone in the office must have calculated how much to send to each tenant and entered each of their former flats’ addresses on the banking transactions description.

Each flat within the old house had its own front door (and door number), the rent amounts were different and each had their own AST tenancy agreement. I don’t know whether all the tenants received the same amount of refund, or whether they vary.

My friend received his deposit back in full promptly after he moved out, so it’s nothing to do with the deposit (as also confirmed by the letting agent).

Can any landlords kindly throw any light on this or even give a best guess as to why all tenants have received refunds, yet letting agents can’t (or won’t) say why?

I rent out one property myself, but haven’t ever needed to evict a tenant, so wondering if landlords who have knowledge/ experience of S21 court proceedings might understand better than me why this could have happened?

I’m so grateful if anyone can help/ advise.

Thanks,

Joanne