31 Salisbury Hall Drive, Hatfield, AL10 9GJ
Condition: First floor flat in a purpose-built three-storey block with central heating, double glazing and off-road parking; no lease or detailed condition evidence was available.
Evidence considered
- Neither party submitted comparable rental evidence
- Tribunal relied on its own general knowledge and experience of the local rental market
- Tenant's submissions focused on a service charge dispute rather than comparable rents, which the Tribunal found outside its jurisdiction in these proceedings
Tenant submitted evidence: no. Landlord submitted evidence: no.
Tribunal's reasoning
The landlord served a section 13 notice increasing the rent from £120.59/week to £153.01/week. Neither party provided comparable rental evidence, so the Tribunal relied on its own knowledge and experience of the market, determining a market rent of £230/week (£1,000 pcm), exclusive of service charges. However, as the landlord is a Registered Social Landlord subject to the Regulator of Social Housing's Rent Standard (CPI+1%, capped at 7.7%), the actual rent payable was capped at £114.51/week (£496.21 pcm), which the Tribunal confirmed was correctly calculated by the landlord and was below the market rent, though it had no formal jurisdiction to determine this capped figure. The Tribunal declined to deal with the tenant's service charge dispute, noting this required a separate application under section 27A of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985.
Read the original decision (PDF, GOV.UK)
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