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14/7/25 8:13 pm
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The government has no idea how the Renters’ Rights Act will impact the tribunal that considers rent appeal cases, a Freedom of Information request has revealed.
Property lawyer David Smith says his request found that the Ministry of Justice doesn’t hold data on the average time it takes for the tribunal to consider, process and rule rent increase appeals.
The revelation comes despite the new Act encouraging tenants to challenge all, and any, rent increase proposed by a landlord, and in the face of commitments by the government to act if the tribunal becomes overwhelmed.
From 1st May, every private renter will be able to challenge a proposed rent increase from their landlord which is above local market rates. However, at present, the only way of being certain if a rent increase is above market rates or not will be to take a case to the tribunal in the first place.
The government has given itself the power to enable rent increases ruled upon by the tribunal to be backdated where it feels the system is becoming “overwhelmed”. However, it has not explained how it defines the system being overwhelmed, and, as a result of the Freedom of Information request, has confirmed it does not have the basic data needed to judge the impact of the Act on the tribunal, explains Smith, a partner at Spector, Constant and Williams.
He says it’s bizarre that the government is failing to collect basic data on its performance. “If ministers are serious about wanting their reforms to work, they need urgently to measure, and publish in full, baseline data on the performance of the tribunal now. The government should regularly publish this data to ensure everyone can see if, and when, the tribunal starts to struggle with the anticipated massive increase in rent appeal cases it is asked to consider.
"The other interesting point was that the FTT only dealt with 40 rent increase appeals for the month of October. Nationally. So they have no pre-existing capacity to meet the avalanche that is about to descend upon them."
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