First-tier Tribunal Determines Fair Rent Considering Disrepair

OUTCOME: Allowed

FR24 First-tier Tribunal – Property Chamber File Ref No. JM/LON/00BJ/F77/2022/0180

Notice of the Tribunal Decision

Rent Act 1977 Schedule 11

Address of Premises The Tribunal members were [ADDRESS], [POSTCODE]

Mrs [RESPONDENT]

[COMPANY]

Tenant [APPELLANT]

1. The fair rent is 180.00 Per Week (excluding water rates and council tax but including any amounts in paras 3&4)

2. The effective date is 15 November 2022

3. The amount for services is negligible Per

4. The amount for fuel charges (excluding heating and lighting of common parts) not counting for rent allowance is

not applicable Per

5. The rent is not to be registered as variable.

6. The capping provisions of the Rent Acts (Maximum Fair Rent) Order 1999 apply (please see calculation overleaf) 7. Details (other than rent) where different from Rent Register entry

Significant disrepair

8. For information only:

(a) The fair rent to be registered is not limited by the Rent Acts (Maximum Fair Rent) Order 1999, because it is below the maximum fair rent of £193 per week (variable) prescribed by the Order.

Chairman E [NAME] of decision 15 November 2022

FR24 MAXIMUM FAIR RENT CALCULATION

LATEST RPI FIGURE X 347.6

PREVIOUS RPI FIGURE Y 246.8

X 347.6 Minus Y 246.8 = (A) 100.8

(A) 100.8 Divided by Y 246.8 = (B) 0.408428

First application for re-registration since 1 February 1999 NO

If yes (B) plus 1.075 = (C)

If no (B) plus 1.05 = (C) 1.458428

Last registered rent* £132 Multiplied by (C) = 192.51 *(exclusive of any variable service charge)

Rounded up to nearest 50p = £193

Variable service charge NO If YES add amount for services

MAXIMUM FAIR RENT = £193 Per Week

Explanatory Note

1. The calculation of the maximum fair rent, in accordance with the formula contained in the Order, is set out above.

2. In summary, the formula provides for the maximum fair rent to be calculated by:

(a) increasing the previous registered rent by the percentage change in the retail price index (the RPI) since the date of that earlier registration and

(b) adding a further 7.5% (if the present application was the first since 1 February 1999) or 5% (if it is a second or subsequent application since that date).

A 7.5% increase is represented, in the calculation set out above, by the addition of 1.075 to (B) and an increase of 5% is represented by the addition of 1.05 to (B).

The result is rounded up to the nearest 50 pence.

3. For the purposes of the calculation the latest RPI figure (x) is that published in the calendar month immediately before the month in which the Tribunal’s fair rent determination was made.

4. The process differs where the tenancy agreement contains a variable service charge and the rent is to be registered as variable under section 71(4) of the Rent Act 1977. In such a case the variable service charge is removed before applying the formula. When the amount determined by the application of the formula is ascertained the service charge is then added to that sum in order to produce the maximum fair rent.

Case Reference : LON/00BJ/F77/2022/0180

P:PAPERREMOTE

Property : [ADDRESS] [POSTCODE]

Applicant: [redacted]

Respondent

: [redacted] : 23 August 2022

Type of Application : Determination of the registered rent under Section 70 Rent Act 1977

Tribunal

: Mrs [NAME] and venue of : 15 November 2022 remote hearing the Hearing

on the papers

_______________________________________________

DECISION ____________________________________

This has been a remote hearing on the papers which has been consented to by the Applicant and not objected to by the Respondent. A face to face hearing was not held because it was not practicable, no-one requested the same, and all the issues could be determined on the papers. The documents that we were referred to were in a paper bundle, the contents of which I have recorded.

The registered rent with effect from 15 November 2022 is £180 per week.

© CROWN COPYRIGHT

FIRST - TIER TRIBUNAL PROPERTY CHAMBER (RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY)

Background

1. The landlord applied to the rent officer for registration of a fair rent of £174.19 per week for the above property.

2. The registered rent at the date of the application was £132 per week which had been registered by the rent officer on 6 December 2012 with effect from the same date.

3. On 26 July 2022, the rent officer registered a fair rent of £187 per week with effect from the same date.

4. On 23 August 2022 the tenant objected to the registered rent.

5. Written representations were received from the tenant, no written representations were received from or on behalf of the landlord.

The Evidence

6. Mrs [RESPONDENT] stated that central heating had been installed in 2019; a new kitchen in 2017 and part double glazing in 2021. Recently a large part of the veiling in the living room had collapsed; the landlord attended and sealed off the room. The ceiling in the bedroom is sagging and there is cracked plaster in the hallway. One of the landlord’s workmen has broken the closing mechanism of the skylight rendering it a security risk. She confirmed that the carpets, curtains and white goods were her own. The tenant supplied a number of photographs to illustrate the condition of the flat.

The Law

7. When determining a fair rent the tribunal, in accordance with section 70 of the Rent Act 1977, must have regard to all the circumstances including the age, location and state of repair of the property. It also must disregard the effect if any of any relevant tenant’s improvements and the effect of any disrepair or any other defect attributable to the tenant or any predecessor in title under the regulated tenancy, on the rental value of the property. The Tribunal is unable to take into account the tenant’s personal circumstances when assessing the fair rent.

8. In [COMPANY] v Chairman of the Greater Manchester etc Committee (1995) 28 HLR 107 and [NAME] v [NAME] (1999) QB 92 the Court of appeal emphasised:

That ordinarily a fair rent is the market rent for the property discounted for scarcity i.e. that element, if any, of the market rent, that is attributable to there being a significant shortage of

similar properties in the wider locality available for letting on similar terms to that of a regulated tenancy, and

That for the purposes of determining the market rent, assured tenancy market rents are usually appropriate comparables; adjusted as necessary to reflect any relevant differences between the comparables and the subject property.

Valuation

9. In the first instance the Tribunal determined what rent the landlord could reasonably be expected to obtain for the property in the open market if it were let today in the condition and on the terms that is considered usual for such an open market letting. The Tribunal relied on its own general knowledge of rental values in Battersea and concluded that the likely market rent for the property would be £575 per week.

10. However, it was first necessary to adjust the hypothetical rent of £575 per week to allow for the differences between the terms and condition considered usual for such a letting and the condition of the actual property at the valuation date, ignoring any tenant’s improvements, (disregarding the effect of any disrepair or other defect attributable to the tenant or any predecessor in title). The Tribunal determined that the hypothetical rent should be reduced by £200 to reflect the disrepair and a further £150 to reflect the difference in the terms of the tenancy, partial double glazing, the lack of carpets, curtains and white goods which are usually provided on the open market 11. This leaves an adjusted market rent for the subject property of £225 per week. The Tribunal was of the opinion that there was substantial scarcity in Greater London for similar properties and therefore made a deduction of 20% from the adjusted market rent to reflect this element. The Tribunal’s uncapped fair rent is £180 per week.

Decision

12. The uncapped fair rent initially determined by the Tribunal, for the purposes of section 70, was accordingly £180 per week. This is below the maximum fair rent of £193 per week calculated under the Rent Acts (Maximum Fair Rent) Order 1999.

14. Accordingly, the sum of £180 per week will be registered as the fair rent with effect from 15 November 2022 being the date of the Tribunal's decision. As the landlord is a [COMPANY] the registered rent may be more than the amount that the landlord is actually charging or proposing to charge.

Chairman: [NAME]: 15 November 2022

ANNEX - RIGHTS OF APPEAL

i. If a party wishes to appeal this decision to the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) then a written application for permission must be made to the First-tier Tribunal at the Regional office which has been dealing with the case.

ii. The application for permission to appeal must arrive at the Regional office within 28 days after the Tribunal sends written reasons for the decision to the person making the application.

iii. If the application is not made within the 28 day time limit, such application must include a request for an extension of time and the reason for not complying with the 28 day time limit; the Tribunal will then look at such reason(s) and decide whether to allow the application for permission to appeal to proceed despite not being within the time limit.

iv. The application for permission to appeal must identify the decision of the Tribunal to which it relates (i.e. give the date, the property and the case number), state the grounds of appeal, and state the result the party making the application is seeking.