Rental Price Increase

Grezz24 · 16 March 2017 at 4:35PM

Hi All,

I am new to the forum so apologies if this has been answered elsewhere.

I have been with Countrywide in a property for a few years now. I was in a 12 month contract with them at £495 PCM. This was being put up by £5 per month which i was fine with as it wasn't breaking the bank, but i was being given a £125 contract renewal fee which i wasn't happy with.

I did a bit of research and found that i can reject a new contact in the forum of a rolling tenancy, in Jan this year i got the email through asking me to sign and pay etc, i replied back stating that i was fine with the rental increase (now £510) but that i wanted to go onto a periodic tenancy agreement.

I didnt get any reply back from this and have been paying the new rent of £510 a month since Jan.

However today i received a mail from them stating that they were putting my rent up to £515 PCM. while this is only £5 a month i wanted to confirm if this was legal or not?

i was under the impression that i could only have my rent put up once a year unless i otherwise agreed with this?

This email came through a more formal route and is below:

"In accordance with the statutory provisions of the Housing Act 1988, we enclose a Notice in the prescribed form to increase your rent to £ 515.00 per calendar month, exclusive of rates, which becomes effective from 01 April 2017. We consider this rent to be compatible with the current market conditions."

THere is then an attachment:

"Housing Act 1988 Section 13(2) – as amended by the Regulatory Reform (Assured Periodic Tenancies) (Rent Increases) Order 2003.

Form 4

Landlord’s Notice proposing a new rent under an Assured Periodic Tenancy of premises situated in England."

my questions are:

How many times can my rent be put up in a year?
Can i reject the new increase due to a previous increase 2 months ago?
from my reading i found i need to be given 1 months notice, this mail came through on the 16/03/17 stating the rent would increase on the 01/04/17 thus not giving me 1 full month?

Thank you for taking the time to read this, any help or suggestions would be welcome.

Graham

cooltt · 16 March 2017 at 5:02PM

OK first off, forget all the bumph the EA has sent you to make it "appear" they are within their right to do this, the reality is it's rather a pathetic attempt to try and strengthen their very weak position.

Your Tenancy agreement will tell you when and how rent increases can be applied even though you are out of the 12 month initial contract.

You can reasonably expect a rent increase ONCE within a 12 month period AND the tenant (you) have to agree to this. Any LL that attempts the throw in a fiver here and a tenner there is on very shaky ground.

Rental market conditions do not fluctuate wildly month by month hence the 1 increase in 12 months.
Ask the Agent / LL what exactly has changed in the last 2 months for there to be a second increase, i guarantee they will not be able to provide a satisfactory reason. Whats happened here is they wish they increased it more 2 months ago and are now trying it on. Stand your ground, refuse the increase in writing and go from there.

G_M · 16 March 2017 at 5:07PM

I assume the attachment was a S13 Notice similar to this:
Section 13 Notice

What date is in section 3) ?
What date is in section 4) ?

Have you read the notes?

Does your original tenancy agreement specify anything about rent increases?

There is some ambiguity in he law here:

i got the email through asking me to sign and pay etc, i replied back stating that i was fine with the rental increase (now £510) but that i wanted to go onto a periodic tenancy agreement.

I didnt get any reply back from this and have been paying the new rent of £510 a month since Jan.

However today i received a mail from them stating that they were putting my rent up to £515 PCM.

It seems
* your rent was £505?
* you were offered a new fixed term at £510
* you declined the new fixed term contract
* the tenancy became a Statutory Periodic Tenancy, and
* you voluntarily increased your rent to £510
* thus the landlord did not increase the rent "using this statutory notice procedure"
* Thus he has not contravened note 16 a)

However that's just my rather uncertain analysis of the Act

Havimg said that, I do wonder whether the LL has actually taken on board that the rent was increased (by you) in January? Might be worth a conversation.

See also:

* Rent increases: when & how can rent be increased?

saajan_12 · 16 March 2017 at 5:25PM

G_M's guide explains all Rent increases

Basically there's 3 cases:
1) If you agree to the increase -> there doesn't need to be any formality and it can be as often as you like.. you just start paying the new amount.

2) If the latest tenancy agreement you signed contains a specific clause outlining rent increase ->The LL can increase rent in accordance with that (e.g. amount, frequency, notice required..).

3) If not, the LL can serve a Section 13 notice giving you a month's notice of the new rent. You can dispute this and it gets reviewed, and if reasonable, you have to start paying the new rent. If the committee reject it, the LL cannot increase but note the LL can evict using Section 21.. in this case they may not go through the void etc for a small £5 increase, but its something to be aware of.

itchyfeet123 · 16 March 2017 at 7:00PM

I would be tempted to check whether the most recent increase was instigated by the LL and is actually being passed on to her. I wouldn't put it past an agent to try an underhanded method to get some money out of you after you declined to pay their renewal fee.

G_M · 16 March 2017 at 9:20PM

saajan_12 wrote: »

G_M's guide explains all Rent increases

Basically there's 3 cases:
1) If you agree to the increase -> there doesn't need to be any formality and it can be as often as you like.. you just start paying the new amount.

2) If the latest tenancy agreement you signed contains a specific clause outlining rent increase ->The LL can increase rent in accordance with that (e.g. amount, frequency, notice required..).

3) If not, the LL can serve a Section 13 notice giving you a month's notice of the new rent. You can dispute this and it gets reviewed, and if reasonable, you have to start paying the new rent. If the committee reject it, the LL cannot increase but note the LL can evict using Section 21.. in this case they may not go through the void etc for a small £5 increase, but its something to be aware of.

A good summary.

In this case it appears that 1) above took place (in Jan), and then 3) took place today.

Since the Act limits the use of a S13 notice to 53 weeks after a previous increase under the Act, I suspect it is allowable (even though probably contrary to the spirit of the Act.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/50/section/13

Grezz24 · 17 March 2017 at 9:34AM

G_M wrote: »

I assume the attachment was a S13 Notice similar to this:

What date is in section 3) ?
What date is in section 4) ?

Have you read the notes?

Does your original tenancy agreement specify anything about rent increases?

There is some ambiguity in he law here:
It seems
* your rent was £505?
* you were offered a new fixed term at £510
* you declined the new fixed term contract
* the tenancy became a Statutory Periodic Tenancy, and
* you voluntarily increased your rent to £510
* thus the landlord did not increase the rent "using this statutory notice procedure"
* Thus he has not contravened note 16 a)

The dates are as below from section 3 and section 4.

1. This notice affects the amount of rent you pay. Please read it carefully.

2. The landlord is proposing a new rent of £515.00 per month*, in place of the existing one of £510.00 per month*. * delete as appropriate

3. The first rent increase date after 11th February 2003 is 1st April 2017 (see note 11 over the page).

4. The starting date for the new rent will be 01 April 2017 (see notes 14-18 over the page).

So the best thing to do would be query why its being put up again even tho it was increased in Jan.
the house belongs to a construction company who own the entire estate but rent them out through countrywide - so i can try speak with them as i believe they wont be aware of the extra rental increase.

Have they given me enough notice to do the rental increase? i was under the impression i had to be given 1 months notice and not 13 days.

Thanks all for the help.

silvercar · 17 March 2017 at 10:06AM

I suspect that they are using the fact you declined to sign up for another 12 months as leverage. Now your contract is periodic, they could give you 2 months notice, so they are reckoning that you will pay the extra to avoid having to move.

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Rental Price Increase

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