ABSTRACT
Surprisingly few applications are made by tenants for fair rents to be assessed. This is probably a result of a combination of tenants’ ignorance of the procedure, a desire not to upset their landlords and, perhaps in some cases, a feeling that having agreed to pay a certain amount it is wrong to attempt to pay less. Whilst these reasons may be entirely understandable, tenants should always bear in mind that a fair rent is likely to be less than the agreed contractual rent. Although there were sometimes advantages for a landlord who applied for a fair rent at the beginning of a tenancy (he would at least then know what the likely rent for the whole term would be), it would rarely be advisable for him to do so during the course of an established tenancy, where the rent had not already been registered. The only likely result would be a deduction in the amount of rent received.
