Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Rent not payable if ECR not provided: dwelling deemed unfit under Renting Homes (Wales) Regulations (Coastal Housing Group v Mitchell)

Published on: 15 January 2025

Published by a LexisNexis Property Disputes expert

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Article summary

Coastal Housing Group Ltd and others v Mitchell and others [2024] EWHC 2831 (CH) What are the practical implications of this case?

In brief: the impact could be vast. It is now established that contract-holders across both social housing and the private rented sector may suspend rent for any period in which their landlord is not compliant with reg. 6. The court regarded this as a simple and effective lever for contract-holders to prompt swift remedial action by landlords (paras [116]–[117], [201]). A contract-holder who takes this course—so long as they can demonstrate the landlord’s non-compliance—will not be required to reimburse the withheld sums, even after receiving their ECR.

What remains unresolved is the situation where a contract-holder continued to pay during non-compliance, perhaps because they were unaware of the right to withhold or for another reason. That reflects the circumstances of each defendant in these test proceedings; all have advanced counterclaims in restitution and equitable set-off. Those counterclaims will be listed for hearing later in 2025 to decide whether they are entitled to recover rent that, in principle, they were not obliged to pay...

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