“You only have 12 months to claim an RRO.” You've probably heard this before.
And if you're a tenant trying to claim rent back from a landlord, this sentence can cause a LOT of unnecessary panic. Because here's the bit people often get wrong:
The 12-month deadline to make your application is NOT automatically the same as the 12 months of rent you can claim. Let me explain with a real-world example. Say this was your tenancy You rented an unlicensed HMO from January 2023 to January 2024. You paid rent every month. You eventually discover that the property should have been licensed, but wasn't. You don't file your RRO immediately. Instead, you submit your application in December 2024.
Now someone tells you: “Sorry. You filed too late. You can only claim the last 1 months.” Sounds logical, right? Wrong. The 12 months isn't a “12 months of rent” rule
Under the old RRO regime, the 12-month rule was primarily about when you had to bring your application. It wasn't simply: “Look at the date you filed and count backwards 12 months. That's all the rent you can claim.”
Those are two different questions: When do I have to file? vs. What period of the offence can my RRO cover? For an ongoing offence, such as operating an HMO without the required licence, those dates can be very different.
So in the example above, filing in December 2024 doesn't automatically mean your claim starts in December 2024. If the offence was being committed throughout your tenancy, the relevant period could potentially cover the whole August 2023 – August 2024 tenancy, subject to the applicable RRO rules and the Tribunal's assessment.
That's a huge difference. Why is everyone so confused? Because people keep using the phrase: “You have 12 months to claim.” And then treating it as though it means: “You can only claim 12 months of rent immediately before filing.” They're not the same thing. Think of it like this: The filing clock, How long do I have to start my case?
Old rules : 12 months
New rules : 24 months for relevant offences from 1 May 2026
The RRO clock
How much rent can potentially be repaid? That's determined separately under the RRO legislation. And yes, the rules have now changed AGAIN. This is where things get even more confusing. For relevant offences committed from 1 May 2026, the law has increased the relevant RRO period from 12 months to 24 months.
So you may now hear people saying: “RROs are 24 months now!” That's true for the new regime. But that doesn't mean every old RRO suddenly gets 24 months.
If your offence happened before 1 May 2026, the old rules can still apply.
The easiest way to remember it, Don't ask: “How many months of rent can I claim because I filed today?”. Ask: “When was the offence committed, was it ongoing, when did it end, and when did I file my application?” Those dates tell you much more than simply counting backwards 12 months.
The 12-month rule was never as simple as “you can only claim the last 12 months.”
Now that the rules have moved to 24 months for relevant new offences, understanding the difference between the deadline to file and the period you can seek rent for is more important than ever.
This article is general information, not legal advice. RROs discussed above apply to England; Wales has a different legal framework.