Section 5: Objection

When the landlord or tenant disagrees with the Rent Officer's determination of fair rent.

v2024

Late objections

Schedule 11 paragraphs 5A & 6 of The Rent Act 1977 provide the statutory procedure for dealing with objections to a registration of rent by the Rent Officer. 

Schedule 11 (5A): 

Where a rent has been registered or confirmed by the rent officer under paragraph 3A or 5 above, he shall] notify the landlord and the tenant accordingly by a notice stating that if, within 28 days of the service of the notice or such longer period as he or the appropriate tribunal may allow, an objection in writing is received by the rent officer from the landlord or the tenant the matter will be referred to the appropriate tribunal. 

There is a statutory time limit of 28 days from the date of registration stated in Schedule 11 (6) (1) (a). 

If an objection is received within the 28 days specified in that paragraph  the rent officer must refer the matter to the  First-tier Tribunal; 

Schedule 11 (6) (1) (b) provides the procedure where an objection is received outside the statutory 28 day  period. 

If  the objection is received after the 28 day period the rent officer may either accept the late objection and refer the matter to the  First-tier Tribunal or ask the First-tier Tribunal if they will accept the late objection.  

The procedure is therefore, objections received after 28 days MUST be dealt with in one of two ways. 

  1.  may be accepted by the Rent Officer or 
  2.  may be referred to the First-tier Tribunal who will decide whether to accept the late objection. 

The  First-tier Tribunal has agreed that the Rent Officer should use their discretion under Schedule 11 (5A) and accept objections received up to 35 days from the date of registration, so these should be accepted under option 1 above. This gives landlords and tenants at least the statutory 28 days and allows for any possible postal delays.  

The Rent Officer must be clear which option they have chosen when referring a late objection to the tribunal, as the tribunal will make their decision once only and will not reconsider it other than on a point of law. 

For example, the Rent Officer cannot take option 2 and ask the First-tier Tribunal to decide whether to accept a late objection, and following the tribunal decision to reject, then opt to decide to override the tribunal’s decision and take option 1. 

Late objections can never be rejected by the Rent Officer. If the Rent Officer does not accept the late objection under option 1, then they must take option 2 and refer the case to the First-tier Tribunal for them to decide whether to accept the late objection.  Only the tribunal can refuse a late objection. 

The First-tier Tribunal are more likely to accept a late objection if they can see a reason for the objection being late and ask that we obtain and provide a reason for the objection being late if at all possible. 

Objection Processing 

Objections are processed by the Customer Service Centres (CSC), who will receive all objection requests and enter the objection onto VICTER and scan the objection letter to the case. 

Where the objection has been received significantly more than 35 calendar days after the rent has been registered, the CSC will be alerted to that fact once it is entered on VICTER. The objection letter will be emailed to the RO and the Hub manager notifying them of the objection request and the fact that it is a “late” request. 

The CSC will also include the two standard letters that relate to late objections, in order for the rent officer to make the decision as to which letter to send. It is important that the rent officer clearly indicates which letter should be used. To avoid confusion the letter that is not to be sent to the Tribunal should be deleted from the email back to CSC. 

The Rent Officer will need to review the objection letter ensuring that the request is valid as an objection to the registered rent. An objection cannot be entertained where the Rent Officer has registered the rent requested in a joint application, or the objector is objecting to any other part of the register apart from the registered rent itself. 

The Rent Officer will then need to decide whether to accept the late objection or refer the matter to the First-tier Tribunal for them to decide whether or not to accept. 

If the Rent Officer has reviewed and accepted the late objection, they must respond to the RAP mailbox indicating that the objection is accepted and should attach to the email any other documentation that they feel is relevant to the case, which CSC will then attach to the case. The rent officer should also choose the standard letter “RO accept late objection” and notify the CSC of this decision in their response. 

The CSC will then forward the objection paperwork to the relevant First-tier Tribunal including: 

  • the Rent Register entry 
  • the registration notification letter (ROSS5) 
  • the previous Rent Register entry 
  • a survey sheet 
  • the Rent Officer’s valuation notes 
  • a copy of any tenancy agreement 
  • a copy of the current application form (RR1) 
  • notes of any consultation for the current case (Which the Rent Officer should already have attached to the VICTER case file) 
  • notes of any jurisdictional hearing for the current case (Which the Rent Officer should already have attached to the VICTER case file) 
  • representations received for the current case 
  • Any other document used to inform the valuation being objected to (all such documents must be scanned or attached to the VICTER case file) 

A checklist detailing all of the above is available from in the forms cabinet of the intranet.. 

Where any of the papers listed above are not available, for example there may not be a recent survey sheet, then the  First-tier Tribunal should be informed of this,  otherwise they may make a request for the missing information and that in turn will delay the case unnecessarily. 

The second course of action which the Rent Officer may take is to refer the objection to the  first-tier tribunal to decide whether to accept it or not. If following this course, which is often the most likely scenario in the case of a late objection, the Rent Officer must reply to the email received from the CSC advising them of this decision. The rent officer should choose the standard letter “First-tier accept late objection”. 

The CSC will then issue a letter to the relevant  First-tier Tribunal  asking them to decide whether or not to accept   the late objection. 

In such a case, copies of the following should be sent with the above letter and the letter of objection to the Chamber: 

  • any other reasons why the objection is late 
  • the Rent Register entry 
  • the registration notification letter (ROSS5) 
  • any other information that the Rent Officer supplies that may help the  First-tier Tribunal decide 

If the  First-tier Tribunal decides to accept the late objection CSC will send them the rest of the standard set of documents when requested 

  • Objections 
  • Objections Decisions 
  • Objections - checklist

Rent Act objection checklist

When an objection is received and accepted and a case is remitted to the First-tier Tribunal, the Rent Act Objection checklist should be sent with the paperwork, showing that where possible, all relevant papers have been sent.  

The checklist can be found in the “ Rent Officer Forms and Letters” section of the Intranet.

Objection decisions

Once a decision has been made by a First-tier Tribunal, the clerk sends a copy of the decision to the Landlord and Tenant (or their agents), and notifies the rent officer of that decision. The decision will either be a confirmation of the rent officer’s registered rent, or a new registered rent determined by the tribunal. There will be a new decision date and effective date supplied. 

First-tier Tribunal decisions are now entered onto Victer by the CSC, once the  decision is received, it is essential that this information is entered onto Victer immediately and accurately, this is so that there is no possibility that the decision will be missed as this can have significant effects on the Maximum Fair Rent (MFR) calculation at the next registration. Additionally, the new effective date supplied on the decision will affect the timing that a new application for registration can be submitted. 

Once the decision has been entered on VICTER, a letter is produced to notify the landlord and tenant (or their agents) that the public register has been updated.  

CSC monitor objection cases that have been outstanding for several months and will chase up the relevant tribunal for updates on progress. 

First-tier tribunal decisions are published online on the gov.uk website under “residential property tribunal decisions”. 

  • Objections to registered rent 
  • Maximum Fair Rent

Objections

Once the Rent Officer has made their decision they must register the rent and notify both landlord and tenant. Rent Officers cannot subsequently “change their mind” and adjust the rent on the register.  

There is no right of objection if the landlord and tenant have made a joint application to register the rent, and the Rent Officer has registered the amount requested on the RR1 application. 

In all other cases there is a right of objection to the Rent Officer’s decision.  Either party may object to the rent registered by the Rent Officer.  

Schedule 11 of The Rent Act 1977 requires that the objection must be made to Rent Officer, it must be made in writing, and received within 28 days of the date of the notice or within any longer period that the Rent Officer or  First-tier Tribunal may allow. 

Valid objections are referred to the First-tier Tribunal, who are an independent body and not part of the VOA. 

Maximum recoverable rent when a case is subject to an objection 

The rent shown on the public rent register is  the maximum recoverable rent at all times.  Therefore, the rent determined by the rent officer remains on the public register and remains valid even though it is subject to an objection to the tribunal. 

The rent may change when the tribunal come to their decision, but it will have a new decision and effective date and cannot be back dated. The rent officers rent remains the maximum recoverable rent in the interim period. 

First-tier Tribunal  

First-tier Tribunals are part of the property chamber, governed by HMCTS (HM Courts and Tribunal Service). 

Overall responsibility for tribunals within HMCTS lies with the Senior President. Each Property Chamber also has its own President. The Property Chamber is divided into three parts reflecting the grouping of the source jurisdictions: Agricultural Land and Drainage; Land Registration; and Residential Property. The Chamber President is also the Principal Judge for Residential Property.  

Each region has a Regional Judge and a number of Deputy Regional Judges or Deputy Regional Valuers.  

The Tribunals’ objection procedure is similar to that used by the Rent Officer; the parties can request an oral hearing but it will usually be dealt with by way of written representations. The Tribunal will usually inspect the premises. 

Once the Rent Officer refers an objection to a First-tier Tribunal, it cannot be withdrawn unilaterally but only if both parties agree and the Tribunal agrees to the withdrawal. 

A  First-tier Tribunal may only make a decision on the matter referred to it. It cannot consider issues of jurisdiction, other than whether the objection is valid.  

After considering the matter the First-tier Tribunal will reach a decision and may either confirm the rent determined by the Rent Officer or, if it does not consider that rent to be fair, the tribunal may determine a fair rent for the tenancy. It will also take into account the Maximum Fair Rent rules and apply the MFR where necessary as at the date of its decision (NOT the date of the original Rent Officer decision). 

The First-tier Tribunal then notifies the landlord, tenant and the Rent Officer of its decision. Having received this notification the Rent Officer must indicate in the rent register the rent confirmed or determined by the tribunal. 

The date the First-tier Tribunal makes its decision becomes the effective date of the registration and this is noted on the Rent Register. 

The First-tier Tribunal publishes copies of the decision and any detailed written reasons (if the parties request reasons) on it the gov.uk  website. 
 
http://www.justice.gov.uk/tribunals/residential-property  

Once the First-tier tribunal  has come to their decision, they will notify the parties and the CSC directly of their decision.  CSC will then update VICTER with the decision and notify the parties that the public register has been updated.  

A decision of a First-tier Tribunal is subject to appeal to the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber), within 28 days of the issue of the First-tier Tribunal reasons for its decision, although seeking permission to appeal does involve a cost to the appellant. Appeals may be accepted on legal grounds (process and procedure rather than valuation opinion) at the discretion of the Upper Tribunal. When the Upper Tribunal has made its decision, this decision may be subject to judicial review. 

  • Errors
  • Jurisdiction - Deciding jurisdiction
  • MFR
  • Rent Register – notifying the parties
  • Explaining FR Valuations
  • Objections – Late objections
  • Objections – checklist
  • Judicial Review