20 Broad Gauge Way Wolverhampton WV10 0AX
Condition: The flat required urgent repairs including a leaking/damp en-suite shower room, loose tiles, a faulty hob and kitchen cabinet, a broken bedroom window latch/lock, non-adjustable hot water/heating controls, and non-working extractor fans.
Evidence considered
- Landlord comparable: two-bed one-bathroom flat same postcode advertised at £900 pcm (considered less comparable, fewer bathrooms)
- Landlord comparable: two-bed two-bath flat, Albion Street, advertised at £925 pcm
- Landlord comparable: two-bed two-bath flat, Albion Street, marketed £1,000 pcm and let
- Landlord comparable: two-bed two-bath flat, Albion Street, marketed £950 pcm and let
- Two comparables (a two-bed apartment at £1,050 pcm and a detached house at £2,000 pcm) were disregarded as not comparable
- Tribunal also relied on its own expert knowledge of local rental values
- Tenant submitted photographic evidence of disrepair but no rental comparables
Tenant submitted evidence: no. Landlord submitted evidence: yes.
Tribunal's reasoning
The tribunal assessed a market rent of about £950 pcm based on comparable two-bedroom flats let at £950-£1,050 pcm, disregarding a one-bedroom and two unrelated comparables. It then made deductions totalling £150 pcm for disrepair (damp en-suite, loose tiles, faulty hob/cabinet/worktop, broken window, faulty heating/hot water controls, non-working extractor fans), arriving at a determined rent of £800 pcm. The tribunal also found undue hardship on the tenant's part and postponed the new rent's start date to the date of its decision rather than the date in the landlord's notice.
Read the original decision (PDF, GOV.UK)
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