41 Baker Close Buckshaw Village Chorley Lancashire PR7 7B
Condition: Modern top-floor flat in reasonable/fair decorative order, with ongoing vermin (rat) infestation in the shared roof void above the property.
Evidence considered
- Landlord submitted online rental adverts for similar 2-bed flats on Buckshaw Village, mostly £800 pcm (one at £850 pcm) and a semi-detached house at £950 pcm; given significant but not full weight as being at the top end of the market.
- Tribunal's own general knowledge of market rents in the Buckshaw Village locality, used to cross-check the landlord's evidence.
- Tenant's unsupported assertion that a fair market rent would be around £700 pcm, and anecdotal evidence of a relative's rent for a different property type in a different area, given no weight.
- Tribunal noted that online comparables (Rightmove) showed a range dipping to about £775 pcm, which was undisputed.
Tenant submitted evidence: no. Landlord submitted evidence: yes.
Tribunal's reasoning
The tribunal first held the landlord's section 13 notice valid despite a blank date field, applying Mannai principles that the omission caused no real prejudice or doubt as to the notice's intended effect. It then set a baseline market rent of £775 pcm for the property in good condition, based on landlord-submitted comparables for similar flats on Buckshaw Village (even though these were considered to sit at the higher end of the range) cross-checked against the tribunal's own market knowledge. From this baseline it deducted £10 pcm for the property's general fair (rather than better) condition and £70 pcm for an unresolved, persistent rat infestation in the common-parts roof void which, although not attributable to any breach by either party, had to be reflected in rental value under section 14 of the Housing Act 1988; other alleged disrepair issues (communal heater, bathroom ceiling, historic hot water and oven faults) were found to have no material or timely bearing on the valuation. This produced a determined market rent of £695 pcm.
Read the original decision (PDF, GOV.UK)
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