15 Grosvenor Road, Harborne, Birmingham, West Midlands, B17 9AL
Condition: A Victorian mid-terrace house with some outstanding, disputed disrepair issues and a poor EPC rating (E), with no insulation and partly single-glazed windows.
Evidence considered
- Tenant comparable: adjoining four-bedroom property on the same road advertised at £1,600 pcm (considered a larger property)
- Tenants' six agreed lets of three-bedroom Harborne properties - given little weight as the property was found to be a four-bedroom property
- Landlord comparable (preferred): four-bedroom terraced house on same road, two bathrooms, at £1,900 pcm, EPC D vs subject's EPC E
- Landlord comparable: semi-detached four-bedroom house with two bathrooms at £2,050 pcm - considered larger, better condition and location
- Landlord comparable: detached four-bedroom house at £1,950 pcm, EPC B, with garage and parking - considered better property
- Landlord comparable: four-bedroom terraced house with three bathrooms at £2,000 pcm - considered in better condition
- Landlord comparable: end-terrace four-bedroom house at £2,450 pcm - appeared in significantly better condition
- Tenants' Schedule of Property Condition and Schedule of Disrepair accepted at face value, supporting a £250 deduction for outstanding defects and EPC rating
Tenant submitted evidence: yes. Landlord submitted evidence: yes.
Tribunal's reasoning
The tribunal treated the loft/attic room as a genuine fourth bedroom (despite tenant use as an office) based on photographic evidence and sales particulars describing it as such, and valued the property as a four-bedroom house. It preferred the landlord's Grosvenor Road comparable at £1,900 pcm but, considering all comparables, assessed the modernised market rent at £2,000 pcm. A £250 deduction was then applied for unremedied disrepair items accepted from the tenants' schedule and the property's poor EPC rating, giving a final determined rent of £1,750 pcm.
Read the original decision (PDF, GOV.UK)
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