Inside justice: London Rent Assessment Panel

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Created on Friday, 16 November 2012 00:00

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Inside justice: London Rent Assessment Panel

Samir Jeraj observes an independent panel settle private rental disputes, including a rare case of a flat with 'fair rent' controls

Samir Jeraj

I arrive at the London Rent Assessment Panel near Goodge Street for a 9:30am hearing. The building is shiny and new-looking, with light created by the glass-walled offices and hearing rooms. On the wall of the waiting room is an old ward boundary map of the area around the City of London, a reminder that many more people used to live in central London until the end of the 19th century. One of five Rent Assessment Panels in England, the quasi-judicial body aims to settle disputes between private landlords and tenants in London. The hearing room itself is intimate setting with two panellists and the involved parties sitting at tables.

The first case is from a tenant contesting a rise in her current rent, which is just over £600 per month for a two-bed flat near Goodge Street. Like much of the property in the area, the lower floors have been shops and workshops, with the top floor remaining as a flat for some exhausted Victorian or Edwardian shopkeeper to retire to.

The landlord, a large property company, gives some background. They purchased the whole building a few years ago and with it came the tenant who was entitled to stay under the law. The landlord wants to upgrade the flat - the rest of the building has been refurbished and they claim the the flat is "very dated". The somewhat unknown condition of the flat's interior is the key to deciding how much the rent can be raised.

The tenant, an articulate woman in her early 40s, gives her own version of the recent history. The flat goes back to her uncle, a man who became the tenant there in 1965 when there was still a small factory downstairs. She moved in with him and, when he passed away, took on the tenancy herself. According to her, the flat has no central heating or fitted kitchen, and the windows and gutters are also in a poor condition.

She repaired the bathroom herself a couple of years ago, as her uncle had done before – although it has since been clarified that all the repairs should be carried out by the landlord. She takes issue with the comparable flats listed as, "no one lets flats in this condition". When asked by the chair, the tenant says the rent should be between £600-800 (max). The last rent officer estimate was £678. Overall the hearing was amicable with little disagreement over what would constitute a fair rent, only what the condition of the flat was.

The second case is between two self-described "veterans" of rent hearings. The basement-flat tenant is contesting a rise in rent from £280 to £325 a week. The landlord hands the committee a rent valuation from a valuer, causing the chair to adjourn while everyone reads the new material. The tenant claims he didn't know the valuer was doing a rent valuation and had assumed that it was a valuation for insurance. He then adds a written statement of his own to be read during the recess.

The resumed hearing is more standoffish. The landlord says the rent valuation came out as £450-550 per week. The contents of the valuation seems to cause some amount of confusion among all present. Once the report language and content has been clarified, we move onto the tenant's case. He talks about how longer-term tenancies command lower rent than the six-month contracts which most renters live on. The size of the flat is another bone of contention, as is the restricted light. He concludes by making clear to the committee that when they visit later on that day they're visiting his home. He says he's lived there his whole life: "It's not just a place where I live. It's a home".

The last hearing is a rare sighting for housing geeks like me. It's one of a dying breed, a historical aberration. The one bed flat is still protected by the 1977 Rent Act, one of maybe 100,000 in the UK that operate the rent controls subsequently abolished in 1988. Under this Act, rents can only rise by an amount liked to the retail price index, what's termed "Fair Rent".

Unfortunately, the tenant hasn't turned up, so the panel proceeds with the landlord's case. The one-bed flat is in St John's Wood, where a comparable flat would be rented out for £24,000 a year. Just nearby on Abbey Road, a similar flat was being advertised at £23,900.

Unlike the previous hearings, it is said to be in a good condition with landlord and tenant both pitching in to maintain the flat. The landlord states that a fair rent under the 1977 Act would be £18,000 a year, a figure close to the £17,000 set by Rent Officer. Without the tenant present the hearing is brief, and the committee arrange to attempt to visit the flat.

A recent report for Rightmove said that 30% of renters in London and the south east were paying more than 50% of their take-home pay on rent. In practice this means that renting is becoming increasingly unaffordable, and changes to housing benefit coming in next year are likely to make this work. Despite often being blamed for the decline of private renting in the 1980s, we're seeing a clamouring for rent controls again.

The tenants and landlords will receive a decision notice within 28 days. The hearings are over by lunchtime, which means the committee can carry out their visits in the afternoon, and decide what the rent should be.

Source: The Guardian UK, 12 November 2012