Flat 5, The Old Saddlery, College Street, Kempston, MK42 8LL
Condition: Third floor purpose-built flat with central heating and double glazing, decorated and floored at the tenant's own expense after being reportedly in poor condition at the start of the tenancy.
Evidence considered
- Landlord cited rent of £1,000 pcm for a comparably sized flat (Flat 6) in the same building.
- Landlord cited rent of £1,050 pcm for a comparably sized flat (Flat 7) in the same building.
- Tribunal found this evidence lacked detail but was not unrealistic, subject to adjustment for passage of time.
- Tenant submitted photographs of the property's condition and personal financial circumstances, which the tribunal held were not relevant to market rent assessment.
Tenant submitted evidence: no. Landlord submitted evidence: yes.
Tribunal's reasoning
The landlord served a s13 notice increasing rent from £950 to £1,050 pcm. The tribunal disregarded the tenant's personal/financial circumstances and her self-funded improvements to the flat, as the assessment must be based on a hypothetical willing vacant-possession tenant. The landlord's comparable evidence (two similarly sized flats in the same building let at £1,000 and £1,050 pcm) was accepted as broadly realistic, and the tribunal, applying its own expertise, determined the market rent at the full amount sought by the landlord, £1,050 pcm, effective from the date in the notice.
Read the original decision (PDF, GOV.UK)
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