Westwoods flat 206, Cheetham Hill Road 288, Manchester M8 0WT
Condition: Second-floor purpose-built flat with original/dated finishes including worn carpets, damaged kitchen lino and hallway flooring, EPC rating D, not recently modernised.
Evidence considered
- Tenant's comparables of nearby one-bedroom flats in M8 ranging £650-£950 pcm, including better-condition/EPC C flats at higher rents and a south-facing flat with better flooring at a lower rent
- Signed statements from two other tenants in the same block: a refurbished, EPC C flat at £850 pcm, and an unrefurbished but better-floored south-facing flat at £650 pcm
- Landlord's comparables of one-bedroom flats in M8 at £900-£1,095 pcm (including a furnished flat and a semi-detached bungalow)
- Online rental valuation tool estimates cited by tenant (around £576-£759 pcm), given limited weight as general estimates
- Tribunal relied on its own knowledge of local rental values alongside the comparables, treating the two in-block comparables as most directly relevant but adjusting the low one upward as unrealistic
Tenant submitted evidence: yes. Landlord submitted evidence: yes.
Tribunal's reasoning
The tribunal used its own expertise and the comparables provided, particularly two other flats in the same block, finding that the £650 pcm comparable was unrealistically low and that £825 pcm better reflected a modernised, good-order version of the property. It then deducted £25 pcm to reflect the property's worn carpets, damaged kitchen lino, missing flooring strips and EPC D rating, arriving at £800 pcm. The tribunal also found that starting the new rent on the landlord's proposed date would cause undue hardship to the tenant given her pregnancy/recent childbirth and financial circumstances, so delayed the effective date to the date of its decision.
Read the original decision (PDF, GOV.UK)
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