First-tier Tribunal Determines Market Rent for Property

OUTCOME: Allowed

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Case Reference : CAM/33UB/MNR/2021/0022

A:BTMMREMOTE

Property : 50 [ADDRESS] [POSTCODE]

Applicant: [redacted]

Respondent: [redacted]

Type of [NAME] : Determination of the market rent

under Section 14 Housing Act 1988

Tribunal : Mrs [NAME] [NAME] and venue of : 29 June 2021

Determination remote telephone hearing.

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DECISION

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The market rent as at 29 June 2021 is £1100 per month.

This has been a remote hearing which has been consented to by the parties.

The form of remote hearing was A:BTMMREMOTE with all participants

joining from elsewhere. A face-to-face hearing was not held because it was not

practicable and all issues could be determined in a remote hearing. The

documents that the Tribunal were referred to are in a bundle, the contents of

which have been noted. The order made is described below.

© CROWN COPYRIGHT

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FIRST - TIER TRIBUNAL

PROPERTY CHAMBER

(RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY)

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Background

1. On 18 April 2021, the tenant referred to the Tribunal a notice of increase of

rent served by the landlord under section 13 of the Housing Act 1988.

2. The landlord's notice, which was dated 9 April 2021 proposed a rent of £1150

per month with effect from 29 May 2021.

3. The tenancy is a periodic tenancy which commenced on 29 July 2011.

4. Directions were issued by the tribunal on 22 April 2021.

5. A telephone hearing was held attended by both the landlord and the tenant.

Prior to the hearing the Tribunal received written representations with a

number of photographs from the tenant, no written representations were made

by or on behalf of the landlord.

The Hearing

6. Mrs [APPELLANT] referred to her written submissions. She said the property is a

five minute drive from the town centre, buses run nearby, there is a local

school and shops nearby.

7. She said the property is a three bedroom terraced house. There is an

outbuilding at the front of the house, the gas and electric meters are in

cupboards adjacent to the outbuilding, they abut the downstairs cloakroom

which suffers from dampness. One of the windows in the lounge cannot be

opened, there are blown seals on some other windows. Rain comes through the

low level air vent in the lounge. The carpets are old and worn throughout the

house.

8. Mrs [APPELLANT] had not made enquiries regarding rents on other properties but

was of the opinion that an increase from £900 per month to £1150 was a very

large increase. Moreover it is one which she cannot afford.

9. Mr [RESPONDENT] described the property: it is on a former Ministry of Defence estate

which historically housed soldiers. He had purchased this house and two

others which are also let out. He considered that the house had been in good

order when let in 2011. He had dealt with the damp previously. He accepted

that the carpets and curtains were not new in 2011.

10. He said that a neighbouring three bedroom house was let about a year ago for

£1200 per month and a two bedroom house at £1100 per month. He was not

able to confirm the degree of modernisation of the two comparables.

11. Mr [RESPONDENT] said that he accepted that the tenant could not afford to pay £1150

per month and was willing to try and reach an agreement with Mrs [APPELLANT].

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[NAME]

12. The Tribunal viewed the locality via google maps and associated programmes.

13. The subject property is on an estate of similar houses. Local facilities are

nearby and Bicester village is a little over 2 miles distant.

14. The house is set back from the road with open plan grassed areas to the front

and a car parking area nearby.

15. The kitchen and living room have been combined to form a large room.

The law

16. In accordance with the terms of section 14 Housing Act 1988 the Tribunal

proceeded to determine the rent at which it considered that the subject

property might reasonably be expected to be let on the open market by a

willing landlord under an assured tenancy.

17. In so doing the Tribunal, as required by section 14(1), ignored the effect on the

rental value of the property of any relevant tenant's improvements as defined

in section 14(2) of that Act.

Valuation

18. In coming to its decision, I had regard to the evidence supplied by the landlord

and my own general knowledge of market rent levels in Bicester. The best

comparables are those on the same estate. However, it was not clear that the

houses which have been let in the last year are in the same condition as the

subject property. It is unlikely that worn carpets and blown window seals are

present at the beginning of a new tenancy. Doing the best I can with the

limited information before me I determine the open market rent of the subject

property at £1100 per month.

The decision

19. I concluded that the rent at which the property might reasonably be expected

to be let on the open market would be £1200 per month if it were in the

condition usually found in open market lettings. However, this house is not in

that condition and the rent determined reflects the condition of the house and

the terms of the tenancy.

20. The rent has been assessed as at 29 June 2021 as backdating the rent to 29

May would cause the tenant undue hardship. The rent determined sets a

ceiling on the rent which may be charged by the landlord. This decision does

not preclude the parties agreeing that the rent payable is a lesser amount.

Chairman: [NAME]: 29 June 2021

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ANNEX - RIGHTS OF APPEAL

i. If a party wishes to appeal this decision to the Upper Tribunal ([NAME]) then a written [NAME] for permission must be made

to the First-tier Tribunal at the [NAME] which has been

dealing with the case.

ii. The [NAME] for permission to appeal must arrive at the [NAME] within 28 days after the Tribunal sends written reasons for

the decision to the [NAME].

iii. If the [NAME] is not made within the 28 day time limit, such

[NAME] 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

[NAME] for permission to appeal to proceed despite not being

within the time limit.

iv. The [NAME] 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 [NAME] the [NAME] is seeking.

Appendix

Housing Act 1988

14 Determination of rent by rent assessment committee.

(1)Where, under subsection (4) (a) of section 13, a tenant refers to a rent

assessment committee a notice under subsection (2) of that section, the

committee shall determine the rent at which, subject to subsections (2) and

(4) below, the committee consider that the dwelling-house concerned might

reasonably be expected to be let in the open market by a willing landlord

under an assured tenancy—

(a) which is a periodic tenancy having the same periods as those of the

tenancy to which the notice relates;

(b) which begins at the beginning of the new period specified in the notice;

(c) the terms of which (other than relating to the amount of the rent) are the

same as those of the tenancy to which the notice relates; and

(d )in respect of which the same notices, if any, have been given under any of

Grounds 1 to 5 of Schedule 2 to this Act, as have been given (or have effect as if

given) in relation to the tenancy to which the notice relates.

(2) In [NAME] a determination under this section, there shall be disregarded—

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(a) any effect on the rent attributable to the granting of a tenancy to a sitting

tenant;

(b) any increase in the value of the dwelling-house attributable to a relevant

improvement carried out by a person who at the time it was carried out was

the tenant, if the improvement—

(i) was carried out otherwise than in pursuance of an obligation to his

immediate landlord, or

(ii) was carried out pursuant to an obligation to his immediate landlord being

an obligation which did not relate to the specific improvement concerned but

arose by reference to consent given to the carrying out of that improvement;

and

(c) any reduction in the value of the dwelling-house attributable to a failure by

the tenant to comply with any terms of the tenancy.

(3)For the purposes of subsection (2)(b) above, in relation to a notice which is

referred by a tenant as mentioned in subsection (1) above, an improvement is

a relevant improvement if either it was carried out during the tenancy to

which the notice relates or the following conditions are satisfied, namely—

(a) that it was carried out not more than twenty-one years before the date of

service of the notice; and

(b) that, at all times during the period beginning when the improvement was

carried out and ending on the date of service of the notice, the dwelling-house

has been let under an assured tenancy; and

(c) that, on the coming to an end of an assured tenancy at any time during that

period, the tenant (or, in the case of [NAME], at least one of them) did not

quit.

(4)In this section “rent” does not include any service charge, within the

meaning of section 18 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, but, subject to

that, includes any sums payable by the tenant to the landlord on account of

the use of furniture or for any of the matters referred to in subsection (1) (a) of

that section, whether or not those sums are separate from the sums payable

for the occupation of the dwelling-house concerned or are payable under

separate agreements….

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