Flat 3A, 20 Westbourne Street, Stockton-On-Tees, TS1 83EH
Condition: The top-floor converted flat suffers from rotten single-glazed windows, penetrating damp and black mould, an inadequate electric heating system, roof defects, and a communal fire alarm system that appears not to be working or regularly tested.
Evidence considered
- No comparable letting evidence was submitted by either party.
- Tribunal relied on its own expert knowledge of rental values in the Central Stockton Selective Licensing Area to set a baseline modernised rent of £400 pcm.
- Deductions of £10 per identified defect (windows, damp, mould, heating, roof, fire safety) and £5 for lack of fire system testing were applied based on the tribunal's inspection findings.
Tenant submitted evidence: no. Landlord submitted evidence: no.
Tribunal's reasoning
The tribunal received no comparable evidence from either party and relied on its own knowledge of rental values in the Central Stockton Selective Licensing Area, assessing a modernised market rent of £400 pcm. It then applied deductions of £10 per item for ten identified defects (disrepair, rotten windows, damp, black mould, hole in roof, displaced ridge tile, gutter vegetation, inadequate heating, non-working fire alarm system) and £5 for lack of regular fire system testing, totalling £105, producing a determined rent of £295 pcm, effective from the date in the landlord's notice.
Read the original decision (PDF, GOV.UK)
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