Refunding rent a tenant overpaid, and who covers a currency shortfall

In England, an ordinary rent overpayment should be treated as the tenant’s money once the mistake is identified, but the exact repayment rule depends on the nation and the kind of payment. Across the UK, the safest drafting is to say rent is due in sterling net of bank charges, because housing legislation does not allocate currency losses for you.

Do you have to refund overpaid rent straight away, or can you pay it back over time?

You do not have a general 7–14 day statutory deadline to refund ordinary overpaid rent, but you should repay it promptly once the overpayment is clear; in Wales the default rule is repayment within a reasonable time after the contract ends, while England, Scotland and Northern Ireland do not set a fixed days-clock for an ordinary duplicate rent payment. The often-assumed 7–14 day clock is narrower: in England it applies only after a tribunal orders repayment of a prohibited payment, because the Tenant Fees Act says the order’s payment period must be “at least 7 days but not more than 14 days beginning with the day after that on which the order is made.” For rent covering days after an English assured tenancy has ended, the statute gives the tenant the right itself: “A person who paid rent as a tenant under an assured tenancy is entitled to be repaid any part of that rent that relates to days falling after the end of the tenancy.” In Wales, the default supplementary term says the landlord must repay relevant prepaid rent “within a reasonable time of the end of the occupation contract,” though that supplementary provision can be modified or omitted when the occupation contract is created. If a tenant forgot to cancel a standing order after moving out and the extra month landed in your account, having spent it on the mortgage does not turn it into your money; agree a short repayment plan only if the tenant accepts it, because delay turns a simple refund into a debt dispute.

Can you deduct an admin charge from rent you are refunding?

In England, Wales and Scotland you should not deduct an admin charge from rent you are refunding unless a specific permitted-charge rule covers it; in Northern Ireland there is no equivalent blanket tenant-fees ban, but an agent-commission charge shifted onto the tenant is void. England’s Tenant Fees Act starts from the opposite presumption to ordinary commercial bargaining: “For the purposes of this Act a payment is a prohibited payment unless it is a permitted payment by virtue of Schedule 1.” An administration charge for the hassle of arranging repayment of rent accidentally transferred twice is not a permitted payment, so the full erroneous amount should go back untouched. Wales reaches the same practical answer through its letting-fees regime: Welsh Government guidance says payments such as “administration fees” are prohibited payments. Scotland is also hostile to admin charges in private renting, because the statutory definition of “premium” includes “any service or administration fee or charge.” Northern Ireland is narrower: Article 3 of the 1986 Order voids a stipulation making the tenant pay the landlord’s agent’s commission, and Loughran v Piney Rentals treated that kind of administration fee as void, but that does not create a UK-wide rule banning every landlord’s own refund-processing charge.

Who covers the shortfall when rent arrives short after a currency conversion?

A currency-conversion shortfall is covered by the rent agreement, not by a housing statute: if the agreement says £1,200 is due, the tenant must make sure £1,200 is paid in sterling unless the parties agreed that exchange-rate movement or bank deductions are the landlord’s risk. UK payment regulations do not convert a short rent receipt into full rent just because an international transfer was sent; they say payment transactions “must be executed in the currency agreed between the parties.” The same regulations begin with a full-amount rule, saying payment service providers must ensure “the full amount of the payment transaction is transferred,” but they also allow the landlord’s own bank to deduct charges before crediting the account if that is agreed with the bank and properly stated: “The payee and its payment service provider may agree for the relevant payment service provider to deduct its charges from the amount transferred before crediting it to the payee.” That means a non-resident landlord who lets a tenant pay in local currency without fixing who bears exchange rates and transfer fees has created a practical gap, not a statutory one. If the agreed rent figure is sterling, ask for the shortfall; if the agreement allowed rent in euros or another local currency without a gross sterling-equivalent clause, the party who failed to fix the figure usually absorbs the fluctuation.

Last reviewed September 2026.

Sources

• Housing Act 1988 s.14ZC — “A person who paid rent as a tenant under an assured tenancy is entitled to be repaid any part of that rent that relates to days falling after the end of the tenancy.” Source
• Renting Homes (Supplementary Provisions) (Wales) Regulations 2022 reg.9 — “The landlord must repay, within a reasonable time of the end of the occupation contract, to the contract-holder any pre-paid rent or other consideration which relates to any period falling after the date on which the contract ends.” Source
• Renting Homes (Supplementary Provisions) (Wales) Regulations 2022 — “However, at the creation of the occupation contract, the parties may agree that a supplementary provision is modified or that it is not included in the occupation contract.” Source
• Tenant Fees Act 2019 s.15 — “A period specified under subsection (9) must be a period of at least 7 days but not more than 14 days beginning with the day after that on which the order is made.” Source
• Tenant Fees Act 2019 s.3 — “For the purposes of this Act a payment is a prohibited payment unless it is a permitted payment by virtue of Schedule 1.” Source
• Rent (Scotland) Act 1984 s.90 — “premium” means any fine, sum or pecuniary consideration, other than the rent, and includes any service or administration fee or charge; Source
• Commission on Disposals of Land (Northern Ireland) Order 1986 art.3 — “Where, on a disposal of land, an agent acting for the person making the disposal is entitled to be paid a commission, any stipulation made on the disposal to the effect that the person acquiring the land shall pay the whole or any part of the commission shall be void.” Source
• Loughran v Piney Rentals Ltd [2017] NICty 1 — “Such a payment is void under the provisions of the Order.” Source
• Payment Services Regulations 2017 reg.57 — “Payment transactions must be executed in the currency agreed between the parties.” Source
• Payment Services Regulations 2017 reg.84 — “Subject to paragraph (2), the payment service providers of the payer and payee must ensure that the full amount of the payment transaction is transferred and that no charges are deducted from the amount transferred.” Source
• Payment Services Regulations 2017 reg.84 — “The payee and its payment service provider may agree for the relevant payment service provider to deduct its charges from the amount transferred before crediting it to the payee provided that the full amount of the payment transaction and the amount of the charges are clearly stated in the information provided to the payee.” Source