125 Cowslip Drive, Redcar TS10 5BF
Condition: Modern new-build two-bedroom terraced house in good order.
Evidence considered
- Written market rent evidence submitted by both landlord and tenant on comparable properties
- Tribunal's own knowledge and expertise of market rent levels in the Redcar & Cleveland and Teesside areas
- Enquiries made by the tribunal of local letting agents in Redcar
- Physical inspection of the property
Tenant submitted evidence: yes. Landlord submitted evidence: yes.
Tribunal's reasoning
The tribunal had first to resolve a dispute over whether the tenancy was a statutory periodic tenancy (allowing a rent increase) or a fixed-term renewal at a set rent; it found no binding fixed-term renewal had been created and the tenancy was a statutory periodic tenancy, so the landlord's Section 13 notice was valid. Having inspected the property, the tribunal relied on its own knowledge of local market rents for similar new-build two-bedroom houses in the Redcar & Cleveland/Teesside area, together with comparable evidence from both parties and enquiries of local letting agents, to set the market rent at £670 pcm. Because the tenants had reasonably believed their rent was fixed at £610 until May 2023, backdating the increase to the date in the landlord's notice would cause undue hardship, so the tribunal delayed the effective date to 14 March 2023 (the latest new tenancy period before the decision date) rather than reducing the rent figure itself.
Read the original decision (PDF, GOV.UK)
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