First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber)
The First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) is part of the Ministry of Justice’s Tribunals Service. It is administered through 5 regional offices in England that provide an independent service for settling disputes involving:
- housing;
- leasehold property; and
- park homes.
The Tribunal has no power to become involved in commercial property disputes.
Legislation has given the Tribunal powers to settle certain types of disputes that would otherwise be dealt with by the courts. The Tribunal aims to provide easier and cheaper access to justice. While there are application and hearing fees for some (but not all) jurisdictions, there is no fee for dealing with the level of market rents or fair rents.
Scotland and Wales have their own tribunal systems for hearing housing disputes. The service in Wales is set out in this section but the service in Scotland is outside the scope of this section.
This section is maintained by Jeff Platt, Managing Director of Section20 Ltd.