First-tier Tribunal Sets Fair Rent for Property

OUTCOME: Allowed

First-tier Tribunal – Property Chamber File Ref No. LON/00AY/F77/2022/0079

Notice of the Tribunal Decision

Rent Act 1977 Schedule 11

Address of Premises The Tribunal members were 21 [ADDRESS] [POSTCODE]

[NAME]

Landlord [APPELLANT]

Tenant Mrs [APPELLANT]

1. The fair rent is £ 232.50 Per week (excluding water rates and council tax but including any amounts in paras 3&4)

2. The effective date is 4 April 2022

3. The amount for services is nil Per week

negligible/not applicable

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

nil Per

negligible/not applicable

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

6. The capping provisions of the Rent Acts (Maximum Fair Rent) Order 1999 apply.

7. Details (other than rent) where different from Rent Register entry

As rent register.

Note: The landlord is not obliged to charge this fair rent but, may not charge more.

8. For information only: Part (a) below, applies.

(a) The fair rent to be registered is the maximum fair rent as prescribed by the Rent Acts (Maximum Fair Rent) Order 1999. The rent that would otherwise have been registered was £ 360 per calendar month including £ Nil per month for services (variable).

[NAME] of decision 19 July 2022

MAXIMUM FAIR RENT CALCULATION

LATEST RPI FIGURE X 320.20

PREVIOUS RPI FIGURE Y 292.60

X 320.20 Minus Y 292.60 = (A) 27.6

(A) 27.60 Divided by Y 292.60 = (B) 0.0943

First application for re-registration since 1 February 1999 YES/NO

If yes (B) plus 1.075 = (C)

If no (B) plus 1.05 = (C) 11.443

Last registered rent* 208.50 Multiplied by (C) = 232.36 *(exclusive of any variable service charge)

Rounded up to nearest 50p = 232.36 per week

Variable service charge NO If YES add amount for services

MAXIMUM FAIR RENT = £ 232.50 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.

FIRST-TIER TRIBUNAL PROPERTY CHAMBER (RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY) Case Reference : LON/00AY/F77/2022/0079 Property : [ADDRESS], London Sw8 2XB Applicant : [redacted] Representative : None Respondent : [redacted] (Landlord) Representative : [RESPONDENT] of Application : S.70 Rent Act 1977 – Determination of a new fair rent Tribunal Member : [NAME] and venue of Meeting : 19 [ADDRESS] [POSTCODE] Date of Decision : 19 July 2022

REASONS FOR DECISION

Background

1 The landlord applied to the Rent Officer for registration of a fair rent. The rent registered as already payable at the time of the application was £208.50 pw, capped, with effect from 23 March 2020.

2 In response the Rent Officer registered a fair rent of £237 pw with effect from 4 April 2022. There were no service charges. Subsequently the tenant objected and sought a re-hearing of the application by the Tribunal.

Inspection

3 The Tribunal did not inspect the Property owing to the restrictions imposed and arising from Covid 19. The Property appears from Google Streetview (@January 2022), to be part of a substantial 1950’s terrace of low rise flats, set on four levels. The roof appears to be flat but it is not possible to see beyond the verge/ eaves from ground level photography. The windows appear to be double glazed units in plastic frames. The front elevation of the Block within which the Property appears to be located has the appearance of a local authority block, appears in fair condition but, is undergoing some works from earlier in 2022. There was no additional information on the interior save that full gas central heating was provided by the landlord. The block is located near the busy Nine Elms development site in south Vauxhall, just south of the River Thames.

4 The property comprised 4 rooms, kitchen, bathroom, WC. The Tribunal made the assumption common in older established tenancies such as this one, that there were no carpets or curtains, or white goods included in the letting by the landlord. The kitchen and bathroom were assumed to be functional but basic. Double glazing was not mentioned.

5 The tenant did not report to the Tribunal any improvements which they had carried out or any items of disrepair which the landlord had not.

Evidence

6 Directions, for the progression of the case were issued. The Tribunal received brief representations. Neither party requested a hearing. The case was determined only on the papers.

Law

7 When determining a fair rent the Committee, in accordance with the Rent Act 1977, section 70, had regard to all the circumstances including the age, location and state of repair of the property. It also disregarded the effect of (a) any relevant tenant's improvements and (b) the effect of any disrepair or other defect attributable to the tenant or any predecessor in title under the regulated tenancy, on the rental value of the property.

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 emphasized

(a) 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 - other than as to rent - to that of the regulated tenancy) and

(b) that for the purposes of determining the market rent, assured tenancy (market) rents are usually appropriate comparables. (These rents may have to be adjusted where necessary to reflect any relevant differences between those comparables and the subject property).

Decision

9. The condition of a property is inferior of that of comparable properties, so that the rents of those comparables are towards twice that proposed rent for the subject property, it calls into question whether or not those transactions are truly comparable. Would prospective tenants of modernized properties in good order consider taking a tenancy of an unmodernised house in poor repair and with only basic facilities or are they in entirely separate lettings markets? The problem for the tribunal is that the only evidence of value levels available to us is of modernised properties. We therefore have to use this but make appropriate discounts for the differences, rather than ignore it and determine a rent entirely based on our own knowledge and experience, whenever we can.

10. On the evidence of the tribunal’s general knowledge of market rent levels in this location, the subject property if modernized and in good order would let on normal Assured Shorthold Tenancy (AST) terms, for £600 pcm.

11. The Tribunal makes allowance for the absence of carpet and curtains, for the lack of white goods, basic kitchen and bathroom and absence of double glazed windows. These adjustments total a £150 deduction, producing a market rent of £450pcm, prior to considering scarcity.

12. The Tribunal also has to consider the element of scarcity and whether demand exceeded supply. The Tribunal found that there was a substantial scarcity in the locality of Greater London and therefore makes a further deduction of 20% from the adjusted market rent to reflect this element. This deduction results in an uncapped rent of £360 pcm.

13. The Tribunal is also required to calculate the Maximum Fair Rent Cap (MFRCap) which serves to limit the extent of increase in a fair rent on review. The cap is determined by a formula under statutory regulation, which whilst allowing for an element of inflation may serve to prevent excessive increases. The cap as the date of the tribunal’s determination produces a figure of £232.50 pcm. This figure is a combination of the previously registered rent being subject to the change in RPI between registration dates rounded up to the nearest 50p. There is no service charge element. In this case the cap did apply according to the MFRCap regulations.

18 As the cap applies, the new rent calculated above is capped. The fair rent is £232.50 takes effect from and including the date of determination, 19 July 2022.

[NAME] 15 August 2022