Deepak Shah & Anor v Julian Thomas & Anor

Under section 14(7) of the Housing Act 1988, the First-tier Tribunal may postpone the commencement of a rent determined under section 14 only where it finds, on evidence, that commencement on the date specified in the landlord’s notice would cause the tenant undue hardship. A general possibility of financial difficulty is insufficient. The tribunal must make a specific finding of undue hardship supported by evidence. It cannot postpone the rent merely as a precaution or to give the tenant an opportunity to provide evidence later. Where there is no evidential basis for postponement, the rent takes effect from the date specified in the notice.

The landlords appealed against the First-tier Tribunal’s determination of the market rent for a property let under the statutory rent-review scheme in the Housing Act 1988. The amount of rent determined was not challenged in this appeal.

The tenants had referred the landlords’ notice under section 13 to the First-tier Tribunal. The Tribunal determined the market rent under section 14 but delayed its commencement from 3 September 2024, the date specified in the notice, until the date of its determination, 9 December 2024. It did so because the tenants had made limited representations about expected hardship, although they had provided no facts, figures or supporting information. The issue was whether that postponement was lawfully justified under section 14(7).

1. The appeal was allowed. The Upper Tribunal substituted a decision that the rent was to take effect on 3 September 2024, the date specified in the landlords’ notice.
2. Section 14(7) of the Housing Act 1988 makes undue hardship to the tenant a precondition to postponing the commencement of a rent determined by the First-tier Tribunal. The Tribunal must therefore make a specific finding of undue hardship based on evidence.
3. The First-tier Tribunal had no evidential basis for its decision. The tenants had made only limited representations and had supplied no hard facts, details, figures or supporting information. The Tribunal’s reference to a small degree of flexibility did not satisfy the statutory requirement.
4. The Upper Tribunal considered that evidence produced for the appeal could not repair the defect, because the decision had to be reviewed on the evidence before the First-tier Tribunal. In any event, a letter indicating that one tenant had no taxable income for 2024–25 would not, without more, establish undue hardship.
5. The First-tier Tribunal could not postpone the rent merely in case its commencement caused a problem, or provide a fresh opportunity to produce information that could have been provided before the hearing. In the absence of a finding supported by evidence, the statutory default applied and the rent took effect from the date specified in the notice.

• Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber): appeal allowed. The postponement of the rent commencement date was set aside and the rent was directed to take effect from 3 September 2024.
• First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber): determined the market rent but delayed its commencement from 3 September 2024 until 9 December 2024 on the basis of asserted hardship, without supporting evidence.