1 Front Row Cottages, Stoke Doyle, Oundle, PE8 5TJ
Condition: End-terraced period house with no central heating, some water staining/black mould linked to guttering issues, and significant tenant-funded improvements and landscaping over many years.
Evidence considered
- Landlord's schedule of 7 comparable 2-bedroom lettings in nearby villages ranging £825-£1,100 pm, given limited weight due to differing size/location
- A mid-terraced unit in the same terrace (13 Front Row Cottages), fully modernised, let at £975 pm in June 2025 - given greatest weight as closest comparable
- Tenant's cited passing rents for neighbouring cottages (£650 and £600 pm) and Fair Rents for others (£480 pm) - Fair Rents disregarded as calculated under different (Rent Act 1977) basis
- RPI/CPI increase data and landlord's own 25% condition/improvement discount calculation (giving £712.50 pm) - considered but not directly adopted
Tenant submitted evidence: yes. Landlord submitted evidence: yes.
Tribunal's reasoning
The tribunal took as its benchmark a recent letting of a similar mid-terraced property in the same terrace at £975 pm, reasoning that the subject property, being end-terraced with an extra bedroom, would command more if equivalently modernised. It then made deductions for the lack of modernisation, disrepair for which the landlord was responsible (guttering/damp issues, no central heating), and for substantial improvements and landscaping funded by the tenant, which must be disregarded under section 14(2) of the Housing Act 1988. Weighing all evidence and applying its own expertise, the tribunal determined a market rent of £650 pm, matching the landlord's proposed figure, effective from 1 June 2025.
Read the original decision (PDF, GOV.UK)
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