DECISION
Introduction
1. This is an appeal by Dependable Homes Limited against the decision of the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal for the Southern Rent Assessment Panel on 29 February 2008 determining the premium payable for a new lease under section 48 of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 of Flat 21, Sunningdale Court, Jupps Lane, Goring by Sea, West Sussex BN12 4TU at £12,968.
2. The respondent tenants are Mr David and Mrs Margaret Mann who hold a lease of the appeal premises dated 1 July 1963 for a term of 99 years from 25 December 1962. At the valuation date, 26 July 2007, the lease had 54 years to run at a fixed ground rent of £12.60 per annum.
3. Before the LVT the appellant argued for a premium of £19,500 and the respondents for £13,725. The disputed issues between the parties were the long leasehold value and the relativity. Mr Pridell for the appellant took the long leasehold value at £167,500 to which he applied a relativity of 84% to give a short leasehold value of £140,700. Mr Spratt for the respondents took the long leasehold value at £151,537 having uplifted the short leasehold value of £135,000 by 12.25% (equivalent to a relativity of 89%).
4. The LVT determined the long leasehold value of the appeal property at £150,000 before turning its attention to the appropriate relativity. It said:
“28. Mr Pridell relies heavily on the ‘graph of graphs’ but, as pointed out by Mr Spratt, his chosen relativity of 84% falls outside the graph’s range for 54 years unexpired. Mr Spratt’s relativity of 89% also falls outside the graph’s range.
29 The ‘graph of graphs’ is an average of averages based on limited, undefined data from all areas outside central
30. Mr Spratt gave the Tribunal evidence of market value comparables which, when adjusted for improvements and the ‘no act world’, support a lower value for the short lease than that put forward by Mr Pridell, even having allowed for adjustments for tenant’s improvements. Although relativity is relevant in these cases for the reasons already promulgated, the ‘graph of graphs’ has little relevance in this case. Both valuers chose to value outside its range. Comparables of actual sales of long leasehold flats, albeit requiring further adjustment for tenant’s improvements were put to the Tribunal in evidence.
31. From the Tribunal’s assessment of that evidence and for the reasons stated above, the Tribunal’s determination of the premium to be paid on the grant of the new lease of the Property is based on a short leasehold value of £135,000 and a long leasehold value of £150,000 (involving a relativity of 90%). All other variables have been agreed between the parties and this results in a premium to be paid of £12,968…”.
5. The LVT refused permission to appeal and so the appellant applied for permission to this Tribunal. In granting permission on 2 July 2008 the President made the following observations:
“An appeal would in my view stand a good chance of success. The LVT appears to have misunderstood and misapplied the Lands Tribunal decision in Arrowdell; and in applying a relativity outside the range of the valuers’ evidence and determining a price that was less than that sought by the tenant the decision is probably wrong in principle. In view of the relatively small amount that appears to be at stake (the decision surprisingly does not record the respective prices contended for) it is unfortunate that the parties should have to incur the costs of an appeal, which would have to be by way of rehearing. But I think it is inevitable that permission should be granted.”
6. Ms Camilla Lamont appeared for the appellant and called Andrew John Pridell FRICS, Principal of Andrew Pridell Associates Limited, as an expert witness. Mr Christopher Spratt BSc FRICS, Principal of C G Spratt & Son, appeared for the respondents and, with the permission of the Tribunal, also gave expert evidence.
7. I made an accompanied internal inspection of the appeal property and external inspections of comparable properties on 26 June 2009.
Facts
8. Flat
9. The parties have agreed the capital value of the ground rent in the sum of £175 and have agreed the deferment rate at 5%.
Issues
10. There are two disputed issues. Firstly, the value of the unimproved long leasehold interest which the appellant takes as £167,500 and the respondents £150,000. Secondly, the relativity, which the appellant says is 82% and the respondents 90%. The result of these differences means that the appellant calculates the premium payable as £21,023 and the respondents as £12,968.
Evidence: long leasehold value
11. Mr Pridell relied mainly upon one comparable, the sale of a long leasehold interest (93 years unexpired) in flat
12. Mr Pridell considered two further comparables. Flat
13. Mr Pridell said that the market was still rising until June 2007. After the failure of Northern Rock in September 2007 there was a period of uncertainty but values did not immediately collapse and mortgages were still available. The market evened out before retreating in early 2008.
14. Mr Spratt relied upon the sale of nine flats in
Comparable Sales: | |||||||
Party | Flat No. | | Block | Floor | Bedrooms | Price | Unexpired Term |
R | 4 | 8/05 | A | 1 | 2 | £139,000 | 56 |
R | 5 | 4/07 | A | 1 | 2 | £125,000 | 54 |
R | 17 | 1/07 | B | 2 | 2 | £140,000 | 93 |
R | 19 | 8/08 | C1 | G | 2 | £133,000 | 93 |
Appeal Property | 21 | 07/07 (Valuation Date) | C1 | 1 | 2 | – | 54 |
R | 23 | 12/06 | C1 | 2 | 2 | £148,000 | 90 |
A/R | 28 | 11/07 | C2 | 1 | 2 | £167,500 | 93 |
R | 29 | 1/07 | C2 | 1 | 1 | £130,000 | 95 |
R | 29 | 5/08 | C2 | 1 | 1 | £143,000 | 94 |
A | 34 | – | C3 | G | 2 | NOT SOLD | N/A |
R | 47 | 5/07 | D | 2 | 2 | £146,000 | 93 |
15. Mr Spratt noted that the sale of No.28 was the only comparable that had fetched more than £150,000. He said that the flat had been substantially improved and thought that Mr Pridell’s valuation allowance was too small and that his counter adjustment for the open staircase was unjustified. Taking all the sale evidence into account Mr Spratt argued that the long leasehold value of the appeal property was £150,000 at the valuation date. This figure reflected the modest nature of the block and its proximity to an industrial estate and a working men’s club.
16. The appellant criticised the provenance of the comparables that Mr Spratt relied upon because they had not been verified by reference to Lands Registry Office Copy Entries. Instead Mr Spratt had obtained basic details of the sales from a website called Property Pod. The data available on that website gave no details of the lease term, number of bedrooms, floor level or condition. Mr Spratt overcame the first of these omissions by referring to the schedule of leases contained in the Office Copy Entry for the freehold interest in
17. Both experts considered that long leasehold comparables of between 90 to 95 years unexpired term represented 100% of the value to which the appropriate relativity should be applied. Neither expert adjusted the comparables for time in relation to the valuation date.
Evidence: relativity
18. Mr Pridell said that the appropriate relativity in this appeal was 82%. He based this on past (but unspecified) LVT determinations, his experience of the workings of the legislation, interpretation of the “graph of graphs” and from his company’s own graph of relativities. Before the LVT he had argued for a relativity of 84%. This was derived from a different graph of graphs (Beckett and Kay’s 2006 second revision rather than the 2008 first revision which he was now using) and had erred on the high side in favour of the tenants. At the time of the LVT hearing he had not produced his own graph which he explained was constructed at the end of 2008 and was based upon provincial (non prime central London) LVT decisions, settlements and opinions in both enfranchisement and lease extension cases. It showed a relativity of 82% for an unexpired term of 54 years. Mr Pridell said that both his graph and the graph of graphs had already taken the benefit of the Act into account and that no separate adjustment was necessary. Applying a relativity of 82% to his long leasehold value of £167,500 gave a value of the short leasehold interest in flat 21 of £137,350.
19. Mr Spratt adopted the relativity of 90% that was determined by the LVT and which he considered realistic given the nature and locality of the appeal property. He supported this view by reference to three other LVT and Lands Tribunal decisions on relativity; at Anchor Court, Goring (60 year unexpired term, relativity 91.75%), Coniston Court, Hove (the appeal property in Arrowdell, 63 years unexpired, relativity 88%) and Seaview Court, Bognor Regis (52 years unexpired, relativity 87.5%). He also described an approach that he said had been adopted by LVTs in the area which allowed an uplift in value of the short leasehold of 0.5% for every year of unexpired term below 80 years. Applying this to the appeal property (which had an unexpired term of 54 years) resulted in an uplift of 12.5%, which equated to a relativity of 89%.
20. Mr Spratt rejected the use of graphs of relativity which he described as self serving and of variable and unknown provenance, often being based upon settlements in the prime central
21. Mr Spratt preferred to rely upon local LVT decisions and the evidence of two sets of transactions at
Submissions
22. Ms Lamont argued that the LVT’s decision was flawed for four reasons. Firstly, the LVT had failed to have due regard to the evidential value of the graph of graphs, notwithstanding the acknowledged absence of no Act World evidence and contrary to the decision in Arrowdell, as approved by the Tribunal in Nailrile Limited v Earl Cadogan, unreported, Lands Tribunal reference LRA/114/2006. Secondly, by relying upon Mr Spratt’s evidence the LVT had reached a view on relativity (90%) that no reasonable LVT, on the material before it could have reached. Had the LVT given due weight to the evidential value of the graphs of graphs it should have appreciated that its figure of relativity was “outside the boundaries of lawful determination”. It should also have realised that by accepting Mr Spratt’s reliance upon previous LVT decisions it was acting contrary to Arrowdell which said that such decisions, whilst not inadmissible, were of no evidential value. Thirdly, the LVT relied upon evidence that was based upon its personal knowledge of transactions that were not disclosed by (or to) the parties and had rejected both parties’ evidence without giving sufficient reasons. Ms Lamont relied upon Fox v Wellfair Limited [1981] 2 LL Rep 514; Zermalt Holdings SA v Nu-life Upholstery Repairs Limited [1985] 2 EGLR 14 and Arrowdell. Finally, the LVT had erred by determining a premium lower than that argued for by the tenants. It was wrong for it to determine a price outside the range contended for by the parties, see Pitts and Wang v Earl Cadogan [2007] RVR 269 at paragraph 9 and Earl Cadogan v Erkman [2009] 13 EG 144 at paragraphs 14 to 15.
Conclusions: jurisdiction
23. I consider firstly whether this Tribunal is entitled to determine a premium that falls outside the disputed range of the parties before the LVT. This issue was considered in Erkman from which the following principles are derived:
(i) The Lands Tribunal may determine a price that is higher or lower than that determined by the LVT (see Arrowdell at paragraph 14).
(ii) The Lands Tribunal cannot determine a price which is higher than that contended for by the freeholder or lower than that contended for by the tenant before the LVT (see Pitts and Wang at paragraph 9).
(iii) A price outside the range of the parties’ contentions before the LVT would not be a matter in dispute.
(iv) The limitation in (ii) above applies to the price as a whole and not to its component parts.
(v) The Lands Tribunal can only reach a determination in relation to a component of the price where there is evidence to support it.
(vi) Where an appeal is by way of a rehearing (as it is in the present case) the Lands Tribunal is not limited by the evidence given before the LVT.
(vii) The Lands Tribunal can entertain evidence that would justify a relativity or a value that falls outside the range contended for before the LVT and can reach a determination outside of this range, but it cannot as a consequence determine a price that is outside of the range contended for.
24. Applying these principles to the present appeal I reach the following conclusions. Firstly, the LVT were wrong to determine a price (£12,968) that fell outside the disputed range of the parties (£13,725 and £19,500). Secondly, my jurisdiction to determine a price is limited to the disputed range before the LVT and not an extended range as now argued for by the parties (£12,968 and £21,023). Thirdly I can determine the component parts of the price (the long leasehold value and relativity) outside of the figures argued for by the parties before the LVT provided that the resultant price falls within the disputed range before it.
Conclusions: long leasehold value
25. The best comparable evidence of long leasehold values is that adduced for the sale of seven flats in
26. Of the seven comparables, two are in respect of sales of No.29. These took place in January 2007 (£130,000) and May 2008 (£143,000). However it is not possible to use these as a means of calculating the increase in value between those two dates because there are no details of the condition of the property at either date. It is possible that the increase in sale price is due (at least partially) to repairs and/or improvements made in the intervening period. In any event these two sales are of limited assistance because No.29, unlike the appeal property, is a one bedroom flat.
27. I agree with Mr Pridell that the best comparable is that of the sale of No.28 in November 2007. The sale is verified by an Office Copy Entry and is of a similar flat in the block (C2) adjoining that in which the appeal property is situated (C1). This means that the two properties have the same aspect and proximity to
28. Mr Pridell’s figures were of value and not cost. Nevertheless I agree with Mr Spratt that Mr Pridell has underestimated the allowance for the improvements at No.28, although I accept Mr Pridell’s opinion that the external (albeit covered) staircase and balcony detract from the value of that property. In my opinion a net downward adjustment of £7,500 is appropriate to reflect the value of these factors, resulting in a value of £160,000 for No.21 based on this comparable.
29. Three of the remaining comparables at
Conclusions: relativity
30. Mr Spratt does not rely upon the graph of graphs. Instead he relies on previous LVT decisions, a rule of thumb approach adopted by local LVTs and an analysis of comparables at
31. The use of LVT decisions as evidence before this Tribunal was considered in Arrowdell where the President and Mr N J Rose FRICS said at 45:
“37. … In our judgment leasehold valuation tribunal decisions on relativity are not inadmissible, but the mere percentage figure adopted in a particular case is of no evidential value. The reason for this is that each tribunal decision is dependent on the evidence before it, and thus, in order to determine how much weight should be attached to the figure adopted in a decision, it would be necessary to investigate what evidence the leasehold valuation tribunal had before it and how it had treated it. Such a process of investigation is potentially lengthy, and it is inherently undesirable that leasehold valuation tribunal hearings should resolve themselves into rehearings of earlier determinations.
…
39. … If no assistance is to be derived from earlier leasehold valuation tribunal decisions for the reasons we have just given, the same will go for settlements that have themselves been based on such decisions. In such circumstances, in our view, it is necessary for the Tribunal to do the best it can with any evidence of transactions that can usefully be applied, even though such transactions take place in the real world rather than the no-Act world. Regard can also be had to graphs of relativity ….”
In my opinion the use of previous LVT decisions in this appeal is susceptible to the same criticisms as were described in Arrowdell and should be rejected for the same reasons.
32. Mr Spratt said “a broad brush approach which has been adopted by Local Tribunals is to allow an uplift in value of the leasehold interest of 0.5% for every year of unexpired term below 80 years.” No examples were given of LVT decisions that adopted this approach. In my opinion such a rule of thumb approach to the calculation of relativity, which is not based upon a proper consideration of the facts and evidence of individual cases, is wholly undesirable and I attach no weight to it.
33. The decision in Arrowdell says that evidence of transactions may be considered even where those transactions take place in the real world rather than the no-Act world. Mr Spratt has provided such evidence in relation to two local blocks of flats, one at
34. The determination of the premium payable in respect of the grant of a new lease must be made by reference to Part II of Schedule 13 to the 1993 Act. Paragraph 3(2) of that Schedule states:
“(2) Subject to the provisions of this paragraph, the value of any such interest of the landlord … is the amount which at the relevant date that interest might be expected to realise if sold on the open market by a willing seller (with neither the tenant nor any owner of an intermediate leasehold interest buying or seeking to buy) on the following assumptions –
…
(b) On the assumption that Chapter I and this Chapter confer no right to acquire any interest in any premises containing the tenant’s flat or to acquire any new lease;
….”
This assumption must be taken into account. How this achieved is a matter for evidence but in Nailrile the Tribunal, the President and Mr A J Trott FRICS, having considered comprehensive evidence and argument on the issue, allowed a deduction of 7.5% from the Act world figure (see paragraph 228).
35. The application of a percentage deduction is complicated in this case by the unreliability of the transaction evidence. Although the sale prices were verified by Office Copy Entries Mr Spratt provides no details about the condition of the two flats at
36. Mr Spratt acknowledged that the uncertainties are greater in respect of the
37. Mr Spratt declined to use the same technique of comparison between short and long leasehold values in respect of Sunningdale Court, where evidence existed of two short leasehold sales (54 and 56 years unexpired) of first floor flats in block A. Mr Spratt dismissed these as being “back flats”. I presume he means by this that block A, unlike the other five blocks, fronts
38. I conclude that Mr Spratt’s analysis of relativities based upon comparable transactions is incomplete and inadequate and cannot be relied upon.
39. That leaves the graphical evidence relied upon by Mr Pridell. He produced his own graph of relativities “based on the [1500] cases conducted through my company”, namely settlements and LVT determinations. This showed a relativity of 82% for an unexpired term of 54 years. He also referred to an updated (2008: first revision) version of the Beckett and Kay graph of graphs which for an unexpired term of 54 years gave a range of relativities from 72% to 87% with a mid point of approximately 80%.
40. I do not accept Mr Spratt’s assertion that relativity must reflect location; he produced no evidence to support it other than to say that the graph of graphs was based solely upon non- comparable prime central
I accept Mr Priddell’s view that the graphs of graphs is used to determine a relativity that reflects the benefit of the Act and requires no further adjustment (it was so used in Nailrile, see paragraph 228).
41. Reviewing all the evidence I conclude that the appropriate relativity in this appeal is 83%.
Conclusions: Premium payable
42. The appeal must be allowed. Having concluded that the value of the long leasehold interest is £158,000 and that the relativity is 83% I determine the premium payable for the extended lease to be £19,000 in accordance with the valuation contained in Appendix 1.
Dated 8 September 2009
A J Trott FRICS
APPENDIX 1
VALUATION OF THE LANDS TRIBUNAL
PREMIUM PAYABLE IN RESPECT OF GRANT OF NEW LEASE
VALUATION DATE: 26 JULY 2007
1. Diminution in value of landlord’s interest |
|
|
|
A. Present interest |
|
|
|
(i) Capital value of ground rent income |
|
|
|
Ground rent | £ 12.60 |
|
|
YP 54 years @ 7% | 13.916 |
|
|
|
| £ 175 |
|
(ii) Value of reversion |
|
|
|
Capital value upon reversion | £158,000 |
|
|
x PV of £1 in 54 years @ 5% | 0.072 |
|
|
|
| £11,376 |
|
|
|
|
|
Total value of present interest |
|
| £11,551 |
|
|
|
|
2. B. Future interest |
|
|
|
(i) Capital value of ground rent income |
|
|
|
Ground rent is a peppercorn, therefore | £NIL |
|
|
|
|
|
|
(ii) Value of reversion |
|
|
|
Capital value upon reversion | £158,000 |
|
|
X PV of £1 in 144 years @ 5% | 0.001 |
|
|
|
| £ 158 |
|
Total value of future interest |
|
| £ 158 |
|
|
|
|
Diminution in value of landlord’s interest |
|
| £11,393 |
|
|
|
|
2. Marriage value |
|
|
|
Capital value of extended leasehold interest |
| £158,000 |
|
Less |
|
|
|
(i) Value of existing unimproved leasehold Interest @ 83% relativity |
£131,140 |
|
|
(ii) Value of landlord’s present interest | £ 11,551 |
|
|
|
| £142,691 |
|
Total marriage value |
| £15,309 |
|
|
|
|
|
Landlord’s share @ 50% |
|
| £ 7,654 |
|
|
|
|
3. Compensation under Schedule 13 para 2(c) |
|
| NIL |
|
|
|
|
Premium payable |
|
| £19,047 |
|
|
|
|
Say |
|
| £19,000 |