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Application for registration for a fair rent - challenge what landlord is seeking?
bitsandpieces
Posts: 1,736 Forumite
I'm in a housing association flat (shared ownership - I own part, and rent the rest) and the landlord has registered an application for a fair rent with the Valuation Office Agency. They're wanting about a 10% increase. The last increase was 2 years ago.
Previous rises have seemed relatively reasonable - given the way property prices have been going up. With the state of the market at the moment, though, the requested rise seems rather high: the rent afterwards will still be a bit lower than a commercially-let flat in the area, but these are often slightly larger than mine and in slightly more desirable areas (and landlords have been struggling a bit to let at these prices).
I'm thinking of writing to the Valuation Office Agency to argue that they should not approve the requested rent rise. The plan is to:
- Point out some similar properties being rented in the area, and why the requested rent would be high compared to the rent on other properties (when one considers size and location).
- Note that the market is such that landlords are lucky if they get good occupancy at the advertised rents, meaning that the requested rent increase is more out-of-step with the market than it might appear.
- Argue that, given the current deflation in the economy, the value of the rent I am paying is increasing - in real terms - even without a rent rise. This deflation (in contrast to the usual inflation) makes the rent rise particularly dramatic.
Does this sound sensible? Anything to add? Or anything else to do?
Previous rises have seemed relatively reasonable - given the way property prices have been going up. With the state of the market at the moment, though, the requested rise seems rather high: the rent afterwards will still be a bit lower than a commercially-let flat in the area, but these are often slightly larger than mine and in slightly more desirable areas (and landlords have been struggling a bit to let at these prices).
I'm thinking of writing to the Valuation Office Agency to argue that they should not approve the requested rent rise. The plan is to:
- Point out some similar properties being rented in the area, and why the requested rent would be high compared to the rent on other properties (when one considers size and location).
- Note that the market is such that landlords are lucky if they get good occupancy at the advertised rents, meaning that the requested rent increase is more out-of-step with the market than it might appear.
- Argue that, given the current deflation in the economy, the value of the rent I am paying is increasing - in real terms - even without a rent rise. This deflation (in contrast to the usual inflation) makes the rent rise particularly dramatic.
Does this sound sensible? Anything to add? Or anything else to do?
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