{"id":4980,"date":"2020-03-10T12:25:32","date_gmt":"2020-03-10T12:25:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.citylets.co.uk\/blog\/?p=4980"},"modified":"2020-03-10T12:25:33","modified_gmt":"2020-03-10T12:25:33","slug":"first-tier-tribunal-criticised-by-tenant-for-not-following-expert-view","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.citylets.co.uk\/blog\/first-tier-tribunal-criticised-by-tenant-for-not-following-expert-view\/","title":{"rendered":"First-tier Tribunal Criticised by Tenant for Not Following \u2018Expert\u2019 View"},"content":{"rendered":"

A tenant whose attempt to sue a landlord for almost \u00a314k was dismissed, has criticised the First-tier Tribunal for not following a legal practitioner\u2019s view in a published article which supported the renter\u2019s claim.<\/p>\n

Rent advance agreement<\/strong><\/p>\n

James Malloch entered into a short assured tenancy agreement, in relation to a property in Edinburgh<\/a>, with Bernisdale Homes Ltd on 8th<\/sup> November 2016. The initial term of the lease was 12 months but the tenancy continued thereafter on a monthly basis until December 2018 when it was terminated by the landlord.<\/p>\n

Prior to the start of the lease, the tenant who was concerned he wouldn\u2019t pass an affordability test if the landlord was to assess his income, offered to pay an advance of 12 month\u2019s rent in the sum of \u00a313,980 (which is an equivalent of a monthly rent of \u00a31,165). His proposal was met with the landlord\u2019s acceptance.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2018Imposed requirement\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

When the tenancy was terminated, Mr Malloch raised an application for repayment of \u00a313,980 on the basis that the pre-payment was a \u201crequirement\u201d that was \u201cimposed\u201d on him by the landlord. He relied on section 89<\/a> of the Rent (Scotland) Act 1984, which prohibits premiums or loans payable by rent in order to prevent landlords demanding extra payment over and above rent, and also provides that any requirement imposed to pay rent in advance in excess of six months is void and unenforceable. The tenant also relied on a published article by a legal practitioner who he referred to as an \u201cexpert\u201d and argued that the First-tier Tribunal should have followed that view.<\/p>\n

However, the First-tier Tribunal rejected Mr Malloch\u2019s claim after finding he requested the arrangement himself. His appeal against this decision was later refused by the Upper Tribunal for Scotland.<\/p>\n

\"latest-apps\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Dismissing the appeal, Sheriff Nigel Ross, said: \u201cThe FtT found in fact that the respondent had entered into an arrangement with the appellant, for a 12-month pre-payment of rent, at the instance and request of the appellant.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe appellant made that request, to get around the fact that his income was insufficient to meet the financial requirements which the respondent would otherwise impose. On an ordinary reading of s.89 (1), the section strikes at any \u2018requirement\u2019 which was \u2018imposed\u2019, whether as a condition of the grant, renewal or continuance of the tenancy or under the terms thereof.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe FtT\u2019s findings were that the pre-payment arrangement was neither a \u2018requirement\u2019, nor was \u2018imposed\u2019.”<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cThe appellant relies on a published article by a legal practitioner who he describes as an expert, and criticises the FtT for not following that view.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe FtT, however, required to come to their own conclusion on the law, and did not err in not considering itself bound by the opinion of a commentator.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe FtT would have been in error if they delegated their own interpretation of the law to nay other source. They did not do so.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A tenant whose attempt to sue a landlord for almost \u00a314k was dismissed, has criticised the First-tier Tribunal for not following a legal practitioner\u2019s view in a published article which supported the renter\u2019s claim. Rent advance agreement James Malloch entered into a short assured tenancy agreement, in relation to a property in Edinburgh, with Bernisdale …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4984,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[162,1],"tags":[580,340,579],"class_list":["post-4980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legal","category-property","tag-bernisdale-homes-ltd","tag-first-tier-tribunal","tag-upper-tribunal-for-scotland","legal","property"],"yoast_head":"\r\nFirst-tier Tribunal Criticised by Tenant for Not Following \u2018Expert\u2019 View - 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