5 Delight Court, Dipton, Co Durham, DH9 9XJ
Condition: No specific disrepair noted; valuation based on property being in good order, in a purpose-built independent living complex.
Evidence considered
- Tenant asserted other similarly-sized or larger flats in the development had lower rents, but gave no supporting details, so the Tribunal gave this no evidential weight
- No comparable evidence was submitted by the landlord
- Tribunal relied on its own general knowledge and expertise of rental values in the area to set a base market rent, then added itemised water and service charges
Tenant submitted evidence: yes. Landlord submitted evidence: no.
Tribunal's reasoning
The tribunal received no comparable evidence from the landlord and found the tenant's unsupported assertion about other tenants' rents carried no evidential weight. Using its own expert knowledge of local rental values, it assessed a base market rent of £90.00 per week for the ground floor flat in good order, then added the itemised water charge (£9.40/week) and service charge (£54.45/week) from the landlord's proposed figures to reach a total of £153.85 per week. Figures were converted from weekly to pcm (x52/12) for this record; rent includes water and service charges.
Read the original decision (PDF, GOV.UK)
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