The listing said the boiler was new and the flat had never had damp. You moved in, and neither was true. Consumer protection law in England and Wales gives you specific remedies against a landlord who misled you, and most renters have never heard of them.
Since 6 April 2025 the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 has governed misleading and aggressive selling, but your own right to act still sits in Part 4A of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008. It lets you unwind the tenancy or claim back a share of the rent you have paid, and claim damages on top of either.
What counts as an unfair trading practice by a landlord
The 2024 Act defines specific categories, and only two of them, misleading actions and aggressive practices, give you a claim of your own. They apply to landlords and agents letting as a business. Their use in tenancies is still new, so a strong case is worth pursuing but never a sure thing.
You can only use these remedies yourself on an assured tenancy in England or a standard contract in Wales. Most social housing, homelessness placements, shared ownership and lodgers are excluded, as are some Welsh contract types such as supported and introductory contracts (regulation 27C).
Misleading actions are the most common. A landlord who advertises a working boiler, a specific EPC rating or no history of damp, when none of that is true, may have made a misleading action.
Misleading omissions are trickier. Leaving out something a renter needs to know, such as an unlicensed HMO, can break the law. But a pure omission is for Trading Standards or the Competition and Markets Authority to enforce (regulation 27B). To claim yourself, you need something the landlord actively said or showed you, or an aggressive practice.
Aggressive practices cover a landlord who pressured you into signing quickly, used threats, or made it unreasonably hard to use rights you already had.
For your own claim, two things must be true. The practice must be likely to make an ordinary renter decide differently (section 225 of the 2024 Act), and it must have been a significant factor in your own decision to sign or pay (regulation 27A). It does not have to be the only reason. You also do not need to prove the landlord meant to deceive you.
What can I claim if a landlord misled me?
You choose between ending the tenancy and a rent discount, because using one rules out the other. You can claim damages on top of either.
The right to unwind ends the tenancy. You use it by clearly telling the landlord, ideally in writing, that you reject the tenancy within 90 days of signing or of the tenancy starting, whichever is later. The clock does not restart when you discover the problem (regulation 27E), so it has often run out by the time an issue surfaces. Our guide to unwinding a tenancy under the consumer protection rules walks through it.
It is rarely a full refund. If you reject more than a month after the tenancy began, the landlord can keep the market price of all the housing you had up to then and refund the rest, unless that deduction would not be appropriate given the landlord's behaviour and the impact on you (regulation 27F).
The right to a discount is more practical once you have lived there a while. It is a slice of the rent you have paid, set by how serious the practice was (regulation 27I). It starts at 25% for a practice that is more than minor and rises to 50%, 75% or 100%, with nothing for a minor one. On £900 a month over a year, 25% is £2,700.
The bands do not apply if the amount payable under the tenancy is more than £5,000, the market rent when you signed was lower than the rent you agreed, and there is clear evidence of the difference. The discount is then the percentage gap between the two rents, applied to what you have paid. It is not settled whether that £5,000 means the rent over the whole tenancy or a single payment. On the whole-tenancy reading, a year at £900 passes £5,000, so clear evidence of a lower market rent would replace the band.
Damages cover what the practice cost you beyond the rent, such as removal costs, storage fees or emergency accommodation, plus compensation for alarm, distress and physical inconvenience (regulation 27J). Two limits apply. You can only claim losses that were reasonably foreseeable. A landlord also has a defence if the problem was outside their control, such as a mistake or someone else's information, and they can prove they took all reasonable precautions and all due diligence to avoid it.
What evidence do I need to prove a landlord misled me?
Keep screenshots of the original listing, saved somewhere that records the date, every written message about the property's condition, location or certificates, and the whole tenancy agreement.
After any phone call with your landlord, send a short email confirming what they said. That gives you a record made at the time, which is hard to dispute.
Keep photographs of the property's condition unedited, straight from your phone.
If you rent an HMO, ask your council's licensing team whether the address needs a licence, and check its public register of licensed HMOs (section 232 of the Housing Act 2004) to see whether it has one.
Our guide to claiming against a landlord for misleading information goes further on evidence. If the landlord has turned hostile since you complained, see what counts as landlord harassment.
Can I take a landlord who misled me to the small claims court?
Yes. Start with a letter before claim setting out what you were told, what you got and what you want. If the landlord will not refund you, give the discount or pay damages, you enforce the right with a claim in the County Court (regulation 27K). Small claims up to £10,000 are designed to be run without a solicitor. You can issue the claim online at gov.uk, and the court normally serves it on the landlord for you.
In England, if the landlord is also letting an HMO that needs a licence without one, you may be able to claim a rent repayment order from the First-tier Tribunal too. For offence periods from 1 May 2026 it can cover up to 24 months' rent, less any Universal Credit or Housing Benefit paid towards it. Rent for any part of the offence before 1 May 2026 is capped at 12 months, and the post-May period alone cannot reach 24 months until May 2028.
In Wales, a residential property tribunal can order up to 12 months' rent, less any Universal Credit or Housing Benefit, for the same offence. You can only apply once the landlord has been convicted of it, or ordered to repay benefit, and within 12 months of that.
If a letting agent made the misleading claims for the landlord, you can also complain to the agent's redress scheme, The Property Ombudsman or the Property Redress Scheme.
Weigh the likely recovery against your time and the court fee.
If you think a landlord misled you, Remedy can help you set out what you were promised next to what you got. If the problem is damp, a broken boiler or another repair, Remedy can help you report it to your landlord in writing, ask your council's private housing or environmental health team to inspect, and keep a dated record of what happened. Remedy does not give a legal assessment of disrepair compensation or bring claims for you. If you want advice on compensation, you can contact a solicitor or advice charity listed in our legal help directory. Each one is independent, and you contact them directly.
