Chancellors Estate Agents v Hardland & Anrs, Oxford CC
Kester Lees appeared for the successful tenant in an unopposed lease renewal in which the tenant sought to maintain the passing rent (last agreed in 2010) whereas the landlord sought a 25% uplift. HHJ Melissa Clarke in an ex tempore judgment, sitting in the County Court in Oxford, accepted that the market had stagnated in Bicester from evidence of a surplus of similar properties which had not rented within the last 12 months and, consequently, rejected the landlord's reliance upon two actual lettings from 2015. Further, when taken together with the historic rent review evidence of nearby properties the judge concluded that the passing rent remained the market rent.
Further, the judge rejected the landlord's reliance on comparable evidence of self-contained offices as suitable when valuing ancillary accommodation; to do so would not be to properly value the 'holding' as required by s.34 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954. Therefore, no uplift was justified since the 2010 rent.
Following the decision the judge awarded the tenant 100% of its costs (summarily assessed) on the basis that the tenant had been 100% successful and had beaten its without prejudice offers. Therefore, this case demonstrates that the 'usual rule' of no order as to costs in rent only cases does not apply where either a party beats an offer or one party substantively succeeds on its rental valuation.
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