13th
Mar 2017
PIMS comment: Although the story is just regarding one district, once the judges have revealed their reasons, then the information may be applied elsewhere....of course within reason.
The Court of Appeal's judges have granted a landlord the right to let out two small attic rooms to students, having ruled against Nottingham City Council's attempts to stop them from being rented out.
The council took their case to the Court of Appeal requesting to overturn a previous court ruling where a judge decided that although the attic bedrooms were small and very likely would be turned down by other prospective tenants, they were sufficient for students as they would be in a situation that he called 'cohesive living'.
However the country's three highest judges unanimously refuted the council's argument and ruled in favour of the landlord and upheld the previous judge's decision.
In the Appeal's hearing, the court was told that the landlord wanted to let out a room in a property within one of the city's districts, he also had a company that wanted to rent out the same type of room in another property within the same area.
The two rooms in question were both in the attics and had sloping roofs which affected the living space. Both rooms fell below the council's minimum requirement of 86 square feet for rooms that can be rented out in houses of multiple occupation. Consequently the council stopped the landlord from renting out one of the rooms in one of the properties, and said that the other house's room could only be rented out if was done so in conjunction with a second adjoining room.
Last year in the original court's proceedings, Judge Martin Rodger QC when ruling in favour of the landlord, said that in the main students were likely to accept living in smaller rooms as they are used to living in shared accommodation. The majority of students in their first year will live in the Halls of Residence which is of course communal living, and in their second year many decide to live in private shared accommodation as it is cheaper.
Because of the ruling the landlord was able to rent out the two rooms only to full time students who are going to live in the properties for up to ten months.
Andrew Arden QC, on behalf of the council said that there was no way it could be presumed that students would use the communal spaces, saying: "The concept of 'cohesive living' is too vague to ensure a sharing of communal facilities.
"Respectfully, the tribunal appears to have proceeded on the basis of a generalised - populist - perception of how students behave in a shared house.
"Even if there is a communal living room, this does not mean that the occupier of a particular room will use it, or want to use it, or feel comfortable in it.
"It is as likely that a student, wishing to study, would spend as much time as possible somewhere separate within the house."
However, the appeal was rejected by Lords Justice Longmore, Lewison and Briggs.
At present the judges have not made their reasons known for rejecting the council's appeal, however they should be released at a later date.
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