Your Letting Agent Made the Mistake. Who Pays? Liability, Duty by Duty
When a letting agent gets a legal duty wrong, the law names who is liable duty by duty: sometimes only you, sometimes either of you. The table, with sources.
If your property is on full management, it is natural to assume that when the agent gets something wrong, it is the agent's problem. You pay them to handle it, after all.
The law does not give one answer to that. Each duty a landlord has comes from its own provision, and each provision names who it binds. For some duties that is only you. For two it is only the agent. For several it is either of you, and for one a written agreement can move it. This guide goes through them duty by duty, with the provision for each, so you can see where you stand on the things that cost money.
Correct as at 22 October 2026, against legislation.gov.uk. England only: Wales and Scotland have different rules. This is general information, not legal advice.
Three answers, not one
Across the main duties a landlord meets, the law gives three different answers to "who is liable?":
- Only you. Rent repayment orders, possession, rent increases, gas safety, electrical safety, and smoke and carbon monoxide alarms. The provisions for these do not name the agent.
- Only the agent. Belonging to a redress scheme and to a client money protection scheme. These are the agent's own duties.
- Either of you. Deposits, HMO offences and the civil penalty that can replace a prosecution, banned tenant fees, and the written statement of terms. Using an agent adds a second person who can be liable. It does not take you out of the provision.
Right to Rent is the exception. It is the one regime where a written agreement with your agent can move the penalty off you, and only on conditions.
Duty by duty
| What went wrong | Who the law names | Provision |
|---|---|---|
| Deposit not protected, or the prescribed information not given: the penalty order | Either. The court must order "the landlord" to pay between one and three times the deposit, and for these rules "landlord" includes "a person … acting on his … behalf". | Housing Act 2004 s.214(4), with s.212(9)(a) |
| Deposit not protected: the order to repay it or put it in a scheme | Whoever holds it. The order runs against "the person who appears to the court to be holding the deposit". | Housing Act 2004 s.214(3), (3A) |
| Deposit not protected: your possession claim | You. The court may make a possession order on an assured tenancy only if the deposit is held in an authorised scheme. | Housing Act 2004 s.215(1)–(3) |
| Rent repayment order | You. An order can be made where the offence was committed by "a landlord" or "any superior landlord". There is no provision for an order against an agent. | Housing and Planning Act 2016 s.40(1), (3), s.41(1) |
| Unlicensed HMO | Either. The offence is committed by "any person having control of or managing the HMO", and by the landlord. An agent who receives the rents can be the person managing. | Housing Act 2004 s.72(1), (1A); s.263(1), (3) |
| HMO management regulations breached | Either. The duties fall on "the manager", meaning the person managing the HMO, which includes an agent who receives the rents. | Housing Act 2004 s.234(3); SI 2006/372 reg 2(c) |
| Civil penalty instead of prosecution for either HMO offence | Either. The council may impose it on "a person" whose conduct amounts to the offence. | Housing Act 2004 s.249A(1) |
| Gas safety | You. The duties are on "every landlord", defined as the person entitled to the property when the lease ends. The agent appears only as a name that may go on the safety record. | SI 1998/2451 reg 36(1)–(3), (6) |
| Electrical safety | You. The duties are on "a landlord who grants or intends to grant a specified tenancy". | SI 2020/312 reg 3(1), reg 11 |
| Smoke and carbon monoxide alarms | You. The duties are on "a relevant landlord", meaning the immediate landlord. | SI 2015/1693 regs 3, 4, 8 |
| Written statement of terms not given | You, and anyone you contracted to do it. If you have a contract requiring someone to ensure compliance, the duty "also applies to that person". They cannot be penalised for it if you complied yourself. | Housing Act 1988 s.16D(2), (8); s.16I(1), (2) |
| Defective rent-increase notice | You. The Act says "the landlord may serve" the notice. Without a valid one, the rent does not go up. | Housing Act 1988 s.13(2), (4A) |
| Failed possession claim (defective section 8 notice) | You. The court will not hear the claim unless "the landlord" has served a notice in accordance with section 8, or it considers it just and equitable to do without one. | Housing Act 1988 s.8(1)–(2) |
| Right to Rent | You, unless a written agreement moved it. The penalty goes to the landlord. It goes to the agent instead only if the agent acts in the course of a business and agreed with you in writing to comply with the prescribed requirements (the checks), and then you are excused, unless you knew. | Immigration Act 2014 ss.22–25 |
| Banned tenant fees | Either. A landlord and a letting agent are each barred from requiring a prohibited payment, in their own section. The penalty is on "a person" who breached either. | Tenant Fees Act 2019 ss.1, 2, s.8 |
| Agent not in a redress scheme | The agent only. "A person who engages in lettings agency work" or property management work must belong to one. | SI 2014/2359 arts 3, 5, 8; Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 ss.83, 84 |
| Client money not protected | The agent only. "A property agent who holds client money" must belong to a client money protection scheme. | SI 2019/386 regs 3, 6; Housing and Planning Act 2016 s.133 |
The last two rows are there because they are the agent's own duties, not because they protect you from the others. A redress scheme gives you somewhere to complain about the agent. It does not change who the rows above name.
Where your agent can be liable too
The honest version of this answer is that an agent is sometimes on the hook as well. Four places matter most.
HMOs. An agent who receives the rents can be the "person managing" an HMO: the definition "includes, where those rents or other payments are received through another person as agent or trustee, that other person". That person can commit the unlicensed-HMO offence and the management-regulations offence, and can be given the civil penalty instead of being prosecuted. But the licensing offence is also committed by "any person who is the landlord", so the agent's liability sits alongside yours. And a rent repayment order for an unlicensed HMO can only be made where the offence was committed "by a landlord in relation to housing in England let by that landlord".
Deposits. For the deposit rules, a reference to the landlord includes "a person or persons acting on his or their behalf in relation to the tenancy". In Draycott v Hannells Letting Ltd [2010] EWHC 217 (QB), the High Court held that a letting agent which took the deposit and failed to protect it could be ordered to pay the section 214(4) penalty, because section 212(9)(a) makes "landlord" include a person acting on the landlord's behalf (paras 37–39). It was a High Court decision on appeal from the county court, which is where these claims are heard (correct as at 22 October 2026). The judge expressly left open what a court would do where the landlord took the deposit himself and the agent is sued (para 40), and the agent won the appeal on a different point, under a version of section 214 that has since been rewritten. So the case shows an agent can be the one ordered to pay. It does not show the agent always will be. Whoever is ordered to pay, the court may make a possession order on an assured tenancy only if the deposit is held in an authorised scheme, and that is your claim.
Tenant fees. The Tenant Fees Act bars a landlord from requiring a prohibited payment (section 1) and separately bars a letting agent from doing the same (section 2). The penalty can be imposed on "a person" who breached either section. Each of you answers for your own demands.
Right to Rent. This is the one place where your agent's involvement can take you out. The agent is responsible for a breach only if it acts in the course of a business and, "under arrangements made with the landlord in writing", it was obliged to comply with the prescribed requirements on your behalf. If so, you are excused. The excuse is not available if you knew that letting would break the rules. No written agreement, no transfer.
Why none of this takes you out of the other rows. Where the law names either of you, "either" does not mean "the agent instead". On every one of those rows the provision still names the landlord. The written statement of terms is the one place where it works the other way: a person you contracted to give it cannot be penalised if you gave it yourself. Engaging an agent never excuses you on these rows. Right to Rent, on its conditions, is the only exception.
Getting it back from the agent
No provision on this page makes your agent liable to you for a sanction imposed on you. Whether you can recover what you paid depends on your agency agreement and on the general law, not on any of the provisions above. So check your agreement: which tasks it says the agent is responsible for, whether it limits how much the agent will pay if they get one wrong, and what it says about complaints. The agent must belong to a redress scheme, so you can take a complaint there. Each scheme sets its own rules on what it will consider and what it can award. Read your agent's scheme's rules before you count on a complaint covering a large loss, and take advice from a solicitor if the sum is significant.
For how this fits the wider decision about whether to use an agent at all, see do you actually need a letting agent?. For how rent repayment orders work, see the rent repayment order guide.
Three things to ask your agent, in writing
You do not need to self-manage to protect yourself. You need to know what your agent is doing on each of the rows above, and to hold the proof. Ask them, by email so you have the answer on record:
- Which of these duties do you track for my property, and which stay with me? Go down the table: deposit protection and prescribed information, gas, electrical, alarms, the written statement, Right to Rent, and an HMO licence if the property needs one. If they do the Right to Rent checks, ask for it to be written into the agreement, because that is the only row where the paperwork itself moves the liability.
- What do you send me as proof, and when? The deposit protection certificate and prescribed information, the gas safety record, the electrical report, a copy of the written statement given to the tenant, the dates of the Right to Rent checks. A duty that sits with you is one you need to be able to evidence.
- What does your indemnity cover? Ask whether the agreement caps what they will pay if a mistake of theirs costs you money, and whether they hold insurance that would meet a claim.
If the answers leave you wondering what the fee is buying, the Letting Agent Cost Calculator puts a number on what full management costs you over five, ten and twenty years.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a rent repayment order be made against my letting agent?
The Housing and Planning Act 2016 lets the First-tier Tribunal make a rent repayment order where the offence was committed by a landlord or a superior landlord (s.40(1)), on an application against a landlord (s.41(1)). It does not provide for an order against a letting agent. Correct as at 22 October 2026.
My agent took the deposit and did not protect it. Is that my problem?
It can be. For the deposit rules, a reference to the landlord includes a person acting on the landlord's behalf (Housing Act 2004 s.212(9)(a)), so the court's order to pay between one and three times the deposit (s.214(4)) can reach the agent. Separately, the court may make a possession order on an assured tenancy only if the deposit is held in an authorised scheme (s.215(1)). That condition applies to your possession claim whoever made the mistake. Correct as at 22 October 2026.
Can a written agreement move Right to Rent liability to my agent?
Yes, and it is the only duty on this list where an agreement can. The agent is responsible only if it acts in the course of a business and agreed with you in writing to comply with the prescribed requirements (the checks) on your behalf (Immigration Act 2014 s.25(2)). You are then excused (s.24(2)(b)), unless you knew that letting would break the rules (s.24(5)). Correct as at 22 October 2026.
This guide is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Laws and regulations may change — always verify current requirements and consult a qualified solicitor for advice specific to your situation.
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