First-tier Tribunal Sets New Fair Rent for Tenant at £233 Weekly

OUTCOME: Allowed

FR24 First-tier Tribunal – [NAME] Chamber File Ref No. LON/00AW/F77/2024/0689

Notice of the Tribunal Decision

Rent Act 1977 Schedule 11

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

[NAME]

Landlord [NAME]

Tenant Mrs [APPELLANT]

1. The fair rent is £233 Per week (excluding water rates and council tax but including any amounts in paras 3&4)

2. The effective date is 28 January 2025

3. The amount for services is nil Per

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

Northern Kensington & Chelsea. A maisonette (basement and ground) converted from part of an original terraced house of late nineteenth century, subdivided in to flats, in an established residential area just south of A4 Westway. No services provided or paid for separately. 3 rooms, kitchen, bathroom, wc. Full central heating, no landlords double glazing, white goods, carpets or curtains, furniture. Otherwise as register entry.

8. For information only:

The fair rent to be registered is the maximum fair rent as prescribed by the Rent Acts (Maximum Fair Rent) Order 1999. As the rent was above the MFR, it is capped. The uncapped Fair Rent without the MFR capping provisions, would otherwise be £525 per week. The landlord may charge a rent at any level up to and including the Registered Fair Rent at box 1 above, but not a sum in excess of it.

[NAME] of decision 28 January 2025

FR24 MAXIMUM FAIR RENT CALCULATION

LATEST RPI FIGURE (2 months prior) X 390.9

PREVIOUS RPI FIGURE (2 months prior) Y 278.1

X 390.9 Minus Y 278.1 = (A) 112.80

(A) 112.80 Divided by Y 278.1 = (B) 0.4057

First application for re-registration since 1 February 1999 NO

If yes (B) plus 1.075 = (C)

If no (B) plus 1.05 = (C) 1.4557

Last registered rent* £160 pw Multiplied by (C) = £232.90 pw *(exclusive of any variable service charge)

Rounded up to nearest 50p = £233 pw

Variable service charge NO If YES add amount for services

MAXIMUM FAIR RENT = £233 Per pw

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.

© CROWN COPYRIGHT 2013

FIRST-TIER TRIBUNAL [NAME] CHAMBER ([NAME]) Case Reference : LON/00AW/F77/2024/0689 [NAME] : 39b [ADDRESS] [POSTCODE] Applicant : [redacted] (Landlord) Representative : None Respondent : [redacted] (Tenant) Representative : None Type of Application : S.70 Rent Act 1977 – Determination of a new fair rent Tribunal Members : Mr [NAME]. [NAME] and venue of Meeting : 28 January 2025 First Tier Tribunal (London) [ADDRESS] [POSTCODE] Date of Decision : 28 January 2025

REASONS FOR DECISION

Background

1 By an application, the landlord applied to the Rent Officer for registration of a fair rent at £196.32 pw. The rent stated as payable at the time of the application was said to be £148.67 pw. The registered rent at that time was £160 pw. There was no separate variable service charge included.

2 With effect from 28 October 2024, the Rent Officer registered a fair rent of £231.50 pw, there was no variable service charge. A party

2 objected to the new fair rent. The First Tier Tribunal was notified of this objection and a request for a fresh determination of the rent.

Directions

3 Directions dated 4 December 2024 were issued by the Tribunal, for case progression. Neither party requested a hearing.

Representations

4 Standard Reply Forms were issued by the Tribunal prior, completed versions were received back from landlord and tenant. They set out the brief details of the [NAME].

5 The Tribunal determined the new rent with the assistance of such written statements from the parties as were received. Neither party provided evidence of properties in the locality, to let or let.

Inspection

6 The Tribunal did not inspect the [NAME]. The Tribunal was however able to externally view the [NAME] from Google Streetview and other online records (@ August 2023). The [NAME] appeared to date from around the late nineteenth century set within a 4 level building. The [NAME] appeared to be subdivided from a former family house into 3 or 4 flats, the [NAME] being one of them.

7 The building is set in an established residential area just south the A4 Westway in the northern portion of RB Kensington and Chelsea. There are no ancillary areas. The [NAME] is accessed from a communal entrance off the street.

8 The [NAME] accommodation is on 2 levels, basement/garden level and ground floor, there use of a garden. The [NAME] includes 3 rooms, bathroom, WC, kitchen. From an external view the [NAME] appeared to be in fair condition. The front elevation is fair faced brickwork with what appear to be single glazed timber double hung sash windows. There is full central heating. There is no mention of furniture, carpets or white goods being provided by the landlord. The tenancy began 8 June 1987.

Law

9 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 [NAME]. 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 [NAME].

3 10 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 [NAME] 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 [NAME]).

11 Where the condition of a [NAME] is poorer than that of comparable properties, so that the rents of those comparables are towards twice that proposed rent for the subject [NAME], 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 un-modernised 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.

12 On the evidence of the comparable lettings and our own general knowledge of market rent levels in and around North Kensington, the Tribunal accepts that the [NAME] would let on normal Assured Shorthold Tenancy (AST) terms, for £750 per week. This then, is the appropriate starting point from which to determine the rent of the [NAME] as it falls to be valued.

13 A normal open market letting would include carpets, curtains and “white goods”, but these are assumed provided by the tenant. There is no double glazing. Deductions for these shortcomings amount to £100 pw, leaving the adjusted market rent at £650 pw.

14 The Tribunal also has to consider the element of scarcity and whether demand exceeded supply. The Tribunal found that there was scarcity in the locality of North Kensington this type of [NAME] and makes a further deduction of £125 pw from the adjusted market rent.

15 The fair rent to be registered on this basis alone would be £525 pw but, the new rent is limited by the statutory Maximum Fair Rent Cap calculation. The MFRC limits any increase to the change in RPI (set two months prior at each date), between the date of the last registration

4 of a fair rent and the current, plus 5%. The calculations are shown in the MFR form and this caps the new fair rent at £233 pw. The fair rent is therefore capped and registered at this figure.

16 The Rent Act makes no allowance for the Tribunal to take account of hardship arising from the new rent payable compared with the existing rent registered. The landlord is entitled but not compelled, to charge the tenants rent at the registered figure from the effective date. However, the landlord may not charge more than the fair rent.

[NAME] 28 January 2025

Rights of appeal

By rule 36(2) of the Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) ([NAME] Chamber) Rules 2013, the tribunal is required to notify the parties about any right of appeal they may have. 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 decision to the person making the application (regulation 52 (2) of The Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) ([NAME] Chamber) Rule 2013).

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. The application for permission to appeal must identify the decision of the tribunal to which it relates (i.e., give the date, the [NAME], and the case number), state the grounds of appeal and state the result the party making the application is seeking. If the tribunal refuses to grant permission to appeal, a further application for permission may be made to the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber).