First-tier Tribunal Sets Fair Rent Including Service Charges

OUTCOME: Allowed

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Case Reference

: BIR/37UE/F77/2025/0019

Property : 23 [ADDRESS] [POSTCODE]

Tenant

: Mrs [APPELLANT]

Landlord : [APPELLANT] of Objection : 2nd July 2025

Type of Application : Section 70 Rent Act 1977

Tribunal Members : Mr [NAME] (Chairman) Deputy District Judge Naomi Candlin

Date of Decision : 22nd April 2026

_______________________________________________

DECISION

The sum of £568.00 per month will be registered as the fair rent including £169.34 in respect of Services with effect from 22nd April 2026 being the date the Tribunal made the Decision. ____________________________________

FIRST - TIER TRIBUNAL PROPERTY CHAMBER (RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY)

2 REASONS FOR THE DECISION

Background

1. Following an objection from the Landlord to the determination of a fair rent by the Rent Officer, the Tribunal has made a determination under the provisions of the Rent Act 1977.

Inspection

2. The Tribunal did not inspect the property but considered this case on the basis of the papers provided by the parties and having regard to its own knowledge, expertise and online research.

Evidence

3. This is a slightly unusual case in that the objection to the rent registered by the Rent Officer has been made by Landlord only on the service charge determined as part of the registration. No written submissions were provided by the Tenant. The Tribunal has considered the written submissions provided by the Landlord which comprise a schedule of the proposed service charges.

4. From the information provided it appears that the subject property is a purpose built self-contained flat. The accommodation comprises:

Lounge, kitchen and shower room.

The property has full central heating.

5. The RR1 Form submitted by the Landlord to the Rent Officer Service states that the current rent is £503.50 per calendar month (pcm) including services. The RR1 requests the Rent Officer to fix a rent of £559.07 including £169.34 pcm for services.

6. When the Rent Officer registered the rent the on 16th June 2025 with effect from 23rd August 2025, the rent was registered at £560.00 pcm including £147.05 pcm for services. The landlord submitted a copy of its service charge calculation for the period 1st April 2025 – 31st March 2026 giving details of the various costs making up the service charge, which, including the management fee, amounted to £2.032.07 per annum in respect of the subject property. This equates to £169.34 pcm. The Rent Officer has made no reference to the reason for the discrepancy in the service charge he has Registered against that proposed by the Landlord in the ‘Remarks’ section of the [NAME]. Neither party has provided any information to assist the Tribunal as to whether the service charges are ‘Variable’ or ‘Fixed’ and therefore, based on the limited information in its possession, the Tribunal assumes that the Service Charges in this case are fixed.

3 Determination and Valuation

7. The Tribunal has therefore considered the ‘Service Charge’ proposed by the Landlord and has used its own knowledge and experience accordingly.

8. The Service Charges cover a wide range of items including:

Alarm call maintenance and monitoring. Communal electricity, gas, TV and water charges. Grounds and general maintenance including tree management and rubbish clearance. Fire Safety maintenance, alarm call maintenance and monitoring. Communal cleaning and window cleaning. Legionella testing. Door entry repairs. Portable Appliance testing and equipment provision. Scheme Manager costs, Management Fee and miscellaneous sundries.

9. As stated above, the details provided on the [NAME] provide no details to confirm how the Rent Officer Service has arrived at their determination that the amount attributable to ‘Services’ should be less than that requested by the Landlord in the RR1 Application Form.

10. The Tribunal considers that the cost of the Services provided by the Landlord and requested in the RR1 Form is not unreasonable and therefore determines that it will increase the Service Charge element of the rent to the figure requested by the Landlord.

11. The Tribunal has considered the rental value of the property and is of the opinion that the open market rental value is £710.00 pcm.

12. The Tribunal has also made an adjustment for scarcity using their own general

knowledge and experience. The Tribunal considers that in the wider geographical

area there is an imbalance of supply and demand impacting on rental values and

has, therefore, made a reduction of 20% for scarcity.

Decision

13. The uncapped fair rent determined by the Tribunal, for the purposes of section 70, is therefore £568.00 per month from 22nd April 2026. The maximum fair rent permitted by the Rent Acts (Maximum Fair Rent) Order 1999 is £601.00 per month. This therefore has no impact on the rent determined by the Tribunal because it is below the maximum fair rent of £601.00 per month prescribed by the Order. The calculation of the capped rent is shown on the decision form.

Chairman: [NAME]: 22nd April 2026

4 APPEAL PROVISIONS

If either party is dissatisfied with this decision, they may apply for permission to appeal to the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) on any point of law arising from this Decision. Prior to making such an appeal, an application must be made, in writing, to this Tribunal for permission to appeal. Any such application must be made within 28 days of the issue of this statement of reasons (regulation 52 (2) of The Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) (Property Chamber) Rules 2013) stating the grounds upon which it is intended to rely in the appeal.

5 First-tier Tribunal – Property Chamber File Ref No.

BIR/37UE/F77/2025/0019

Notice of the Tribunal Decision

Rent Act 1977 Schedule 11

Address of Premises The Tribunal members were 23 [ADDRESS] [POSTCODE]

Mr [NAME] (Chairman) Deputy District Judge Naomi Candlin

Landlord [APPELLANT]

[NAME] [APPELLANT]

1. The fair rent is £568.00 Per Month (excluding water rates and council tax but including any amounts in paras 3&4)

2. The effective date is 22nd April 2026

3. The amount for services is £169.34 Per Month

Applicable /not applicable

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

N/A Per N/A

Applicable/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/do not apply (please see calculation overleaf).

7. Details (other than rent) where different from [NAME] entry

8. For information only:

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 £601.00 permitted by the Order.

[NAME] of decision 22nd April 2026

6 MAXIMUM FAIR RENT CALCULATION

LATEST RPI FIGURE X 408.2

PREVIOUS RPI FIGURE Y 376.6

X 408.2 Minus Y 376.6 = (A) 31.6

(A) 31.6 Divided by Y 376.6 = (B) 0.0839

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) 1.1339

Last registered rent* 530.00 Multiplied by (C) = 600.96 *(exclusive of any variable service charge)

Rounded up to nearest 50p = £601.00

Variable service charge NO If YES add amount for services

MAXIMUM FAIR RENT = £601.00 Per Month 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.