Rent increase?

DawnW

Looking at it from another angle though, the neighbour has the responsibility and cost of all maintenance and insurance etc, and as a tenant, your friend does not. Also, your friend can just give a month's notice (once out of AST) and walk away if any problems arise (area going downhill etc), or if they heeded to relocate for work. Her neighbour cannot, and would have to try to sell, or have the hassle of trying to rent it out (trust me, it IS a hassle) if they needed to move, but would have to carry on paying the mortgage whatever happened.

SGE1

rag31 wrote: »

Hi there, we have lived in our rented house for 10 months now (middle of July is a year) and have just had a letter from our landlord proposing a 3% rent increase - taking the monthly rent from £795 up to £818.

We can't afford this and I'm wondering whether we can say no, and if so how can we word it and what is the likelihood of them booting us out.

We spent a couple of years searching for this house and the deciding factor was that it is owned by a university that has owned it for 700 years (they own a few thousand properties) and we thought it would give us stability for the children. However if they up the rent every year by 3% then we can't afford it.

We are both self employed and our income isn't going up by this amount. Am just a bit depressed now and advice on next steps would be welcome.

Thanks,
Becky

You don't have an extra £23 a month? If that's the case, it looks like you're gravely overstretching yourself in the first place. I would move to somewhere quite a lot cheaper!

rumbaba

DawnW wrote: »

Looking at it from another angle though, the neighbour has the responsibility and cost of all maintenance and insurance etc, and as a tenant, your friend does not. Also, your friend can just give a month's notice (once out of AST) and walk away if any problems arise (area going downhill etc), or if they heeded to relocate for work. Her neighbour cannot, and would have to try to sell, or have the hassle of trying to rent it out (trust me, it IS a hassle) if they needed to move, but would have to carry on paying the mortgage whatever happened.

Hello Dawn,

No the neighbour with the mortgage has little in the way of maintenance costs as it's in really good condition. Her buildings insurance is only about a hundred quid a year too. Even with that she still pays less each month than my friend who rents.

I know what you mean about just upping and moving, but the neighbour is happy there (good area) and areas don't suddenly go downhill overnight. That takes years to happen. Just as some areas start to go upmarket - it happens gradually.

If the neighbour wanted to move without selling it she could rent it out like the one next door is rented. But if she did decide to move (which she won't cos she loves it there) she'd be quids in as since she bought it she's made over £130k equity in it- and that's at today prices. All the houses down that road are fetching £300k plus.

Good luck to the woman! I'm not jealous or anything but it does seem unfair that my friend has to pay more in rent and she'll end up with nowt while her neighbour pays much less and has £130K of dosh if she sells up! Grrrrrrrr

silvercar

rag31, you need to make sure that you are claiming any benefits you are entitled to. Also do work out the costs of moving, it may be cheaper to stay put and suffer the rent increase.

rag31

SGE, Yes £23 a month now, but as I said we are wanting to stay for at least 5 years - so next year it would be £50 more than the original amount, the year after £75ish etc etc.

And we already moved 150 miles away from family and friends to a 'cheaper place' so would rather not keep doing that forever. We chose this place because it's big enough for us, provides stability (LL prob not about to sell it) and it was within our affordable price - even though, yes at the top end. And since we moved here we have had less income as both mine and dh line of work has been hit by the recession.

But thanks for your helpful post anyway!

sunnysea83

rag31 wrote: »

Hi there, we have lived in our rented house for 10 months now (middle of July is a year) and have just had a letter from our landlord proposing a 3% rent increase - taking the monthly rent from £795 up to £818.

We can't afford this and I'm wondering whether we can say no, and if so how can we word it and what is the likelihood of them booting us out.

We spent a couple of years searching for this house and the deciding factor was that it is owned by a university that has owned it for 700 years (they own a few thousand properties) and we thought it would give us stability for the children. However if they up the rent every year by 3% then we can't afford it.

We are both self employed and our income isn't going up by this amount. Am just a bit depressed now and advice on next steps would be welcome.

Thanks,
Becky

I beleive they will need to serve you with a section 13 notice to increase the rent and can only increase the rent every 12 months giving you 1 full months notice.

If however your tenancy is due to come to an end at the end of the 12 months then they can ask you to sign a new tenancy agreement with a new rent or give you two months notice on a section 21 to move out.

If they have served you with a section 13 notice to increase the rent then you have the legal right to go to the Rent Assessment Panel who will send a committee round to your property inspect it and then make a determination of the rent payable for your property. It doesnt cost you a penny all you need to do is send in a an application form which can be got from their website rpts. gov. uk go to publications and forms and then forms and you want the 1st form i beleive (Section 13) complete the form send it with the section 13 notice to your local panel.

If you havent had a section 13 notice then you could stll make the applicaton and send the letter received about the rent with it and they might write to your landlord for you??? not sure about this tho

They have a useful helpline too which the number for is on their website

Good luck

Fire_Fox

rag31 wrote: »

Ours is a 4 bed house, had been empty for a number of months before we moved in and has had a turnover of tenants every 6 months for the last 4 or 5 years according to the neighbours. The garden has taken us nearly a year to get semi under control (large garden) as it was totally overgrown with 12ft high nettles and brambles. My dh is a plumber and has refitted the bathroom for cost of parts only, and sorted out a leak at the weekend for free. We have also professionally cleaned the carpets in an attempt to get them sorted, and cleared a flea infestation! So we feel we have invested a lot in the property so far.

Maintanance wise, they are extremely slow and the house is pretty shoddy. Although they had painted everything magnolia when we moved in the carpets are disgusting and some windows rotten and drafty.

Becky

Write back to them stating your case for a rent reduction - hopefully then you will agree on 'no change'! Point out every problem with the property maintenance-wise (have you put any of this in writing before?), the work you have done to date at cost, the rent of a similar property in the area, how much the RPI/ rents have fallen in recent months, and the fact that you are a good tenant and wish to remain so long term.

adg1

I would check you contract carefully.

If there is to be a rent increase then it will state it there. Normally, a long term (2+ years) will have some form of increase built in between 3-8% (in line with inflation and no less than 3% and no higher than 8%.

It may be that the University has long term tenants or tenancies that go over a year and works this increase into each contract.

If there is no mention of a rent increase then you can refuse and try to negotiate. If they understand rentals (and with 700+ proprties they should) they will know a void of even a couple of weeks will cost them more than not increasing your rent by 3%.

If your contract is jsut for a year, look for the bit that says about extensions to the contract, or renewals. It should be in there and be something like 'if the tenant decides to extend this agreement for 1 (or 2) years then rent will be subject to an increase of...'

Hope that helps!

rag31

Thank you for all your advice. I took it, wrote to my landlord stating that we would like to stay, with evidence that we are good tenants and of other similar properties to rent at the moment and they have agreed to hold the rent for a further year :beer:

Becky
xx

Jomo

rumbaba wrote: »

Hello Dawn,

No the neighbour with the mortgage has little in the way of maintenance costs as it's in really good condition. Her buildings insurance is only about a hundred quid a year too. Even with that she still pays less each month than my friend who rents.

I know what you mean about just upping and moving, but the neighbour is happy there (good area) and areas don't suddenly go downhill overnight. That takes years to happen. Just as some areas start to go upmarket - it happens gradually.

If the neighbour wanted to move without selling it she could rent it out like the one next door is rented. But if she did decide to move (which she won't cos she loves it there) she'd be quids in as since she bought it she's made over £130k equity in it- and that's at today prices. All the houses down that road are fetching £300k plus.

Good luck to the woman! I'm not jealous or anything but it does seem unfair that my friend has to pay more in rent and she'll end up with nowt while her neighbour pays much less and has £130K of dosh if she sells up! Grrrrrrrr

Yes but the fact remains that any maintenance costs will fall on to the house owner, not the person renting. It might be in good condition at the moment but it doesn't stay like that forever...and in my own experience and those I know, things crop up when you don't expect it to and you have to find the money from somewhere to fix it. If you rent you just pick up the phone and ask for it to be sorted!

I doubt many people would buy their own properties if there wasn't any incentive to do so. Alot of people see it as inheritance for their kids or another way of saving up for when they retire.

I really don't see why it should make you angry??