"(1) subject to section 23 and subsection (2) below, the tenant under an assured shorthold tenancy ... may make an application in the prescribed form to a rent assessment committee for a determination of the rent which, in the committee's opinion, the landlord might reasonably be expected to obtain under the shorthold tenancy"
"(3) Where an application is made to a rent assessment committee under subsection (1) above with respect to the rent under an assured shorthold tenancy, the committee shall not make such a determination as is referred to in that subsection unless they consider -- (a) that there is a sufficient number of similar dwellings in the locality let on assured tenancies (whether shorthold or not); and (b) that the rent payable under the assured shorthold tenancy in question is significantly higher than the rent which the landlord might reasonably be expected to be able to obtain under the tenancy, having regard to the level of rents payable under the tenancies referred to in paragraph (a) above"
"An internal room with no window. It was a galley style and rather narrow. There was no space for eating"
"In having regard to the details of properties submitted by the tenants and the landlord, the Committee had in mind that the rental figures referred to were figures which landlords were seeking for the academic year 2003 to 2004. They were rents sought, not rents achieved. In this sector of the market, increases in rent normally take place with each new letting. The Committee determined that it had to decide what rent the landlord might reasonably be expected to obtain for the property subject to a letting for the academic year 2002 to 2003"
"Having considered carefully the submissions put before it, and using the knowledge and experience of its members, the Committee found that the rent which the landlord might reasonably have been expected to obtain for the property was£52.50 per person per week. The Committee then considered whether the rent at which the property was let (£58.50 per week) was substantially more than the landlord might reasonably have been expected to obtain. The rent charged was in excess of 10% more than the rent which the landlord might reasonably have been expected to obtain. The Committee took the view that an excess of more than 10% was significant"
"For my part I am quite satisfied that this committee, that is to say a committee of this sort under a procedure which is clearly intended to be informal and not to be carried through with the precision of a court of justice, is fully entitled to act, as it has been said, on their own impression and on their own knowledge. It is idle in my view to think of gentlemen manning this committee and sitting maybe day after day without requiring experience and knowledge of conditions in the locality, and to say that they should shut their eyes to what they know of their own knowledge, and act only on such evidence as may or may not be put before them, seems to me to reduce the matter to absurdity"
"The Committee relied on the experience of its members to assume that the appellants had because a professional landlord could be expected to do so. The Committee members have an expertise which they are entitled to use, but they should be careful to ensure that there is some basis in fact to enable any assumption to be applied. More particularly, they should be satisfied that there is no evidence pointing in another direction"
"For my part I am quite clear that whenever a new point emerges, something which might take a party by surprise or something which the committee have found out and of which the parties would have no knowledge, fairness would clearly dictate that they should inform the parties and enable them to deal with the points"
"But it seems to me that a Rent Assessment Committee should not simply decline to take account of (as this Committee appears to have done) open market rentals which were put before it on the basis that adjustments had to be made such as to mean that those comparables were not close comparables, when it is perfectly prepared to accept, as of some assistance, a registered fair rent in respect of which very substantial adjustments must be made"
"In my view the Committee should assess the evidence overall and make a proper value judgment on the whole of that evidence"