Rent increase by text?

Enfieldian

I renewed my AST at the end of January this year for another 6 months to take me through to the end of July, at the same rent as the previous 12 months, £750pcm.

I have received a text from my LL today which reads:

"Hi, will you be staying or leaving. The rent has gone up to £850pcm for the next 12 months. Let me know ASAP"

Not withstanding the fact that this is a huge and totally unwarranted rent increase, unless I have gained another bedroom that I have not found yet, I was under the impression that either:

The rent agreed for a fixed term, in this case 6 months, could not be reviewed until the end of the fixed term.

AND/OR

Correct notice/forms had to be used, rather than a text (!)

Can anyone advise please?

lizzielondon

yep correct notice/forms have to used (don't know what they are called sorry)

i assume your ll is referring to whether or not you'll be staying after your fixed term so the rent increase is for after your fixed term?

bit bizarre

Enfieldian

He is a bizarre kind of Landlord, runs his own business which I think has not been doing to well lately.

A little research online has indicated that the LL can only increase the rent at the end of a fixed term, which will be the end of July unless the contract specifies a rent review (which mine does not) there is also reference to a Section 13 being served.

I just need to know the exact law so that I can go back and bury the little sod.

lizzielondon

if you don't make him aware of this he can't increase your rent

if he isn't aware of a section 13 he probably is not aware how to serve notice correctly...

will he want you to sign a new contract? or will he be happy to let your tenancy become a statutory periodic tenancy? if you stay one day after you fixed term and he hasn't served a section 21 your tenancy will automatically become this

CloudCuckooLand

Ignore the text. Let him communicate correctly, or not at all.

Get ready to leave, anyway, no need to swallow a £100 increase in the current climate.

G_M

The LL either has no idea what he's doing, and wants to increase the rent now, which he can't, or wants has started considering next July when your AST expires and perhaps has an offer from another tenant. What are comparable rents in the area?

Assuming you want to stay but not at £850 pm, remember the LL has to either get you to sign a new fixed term AST at the new rent, or give you a S21 Notice to leave which he must do 2 months in advance (May depending on precise dates).

If neither of these 2 things happen and you stay one single day beyond your fixed term, you automatically become a periodic tenant with the same rights, temrs and rent as before, except that you can leave any time by giving a months notice and can be told to leave anytime by being given 2 months notice.

This does leave you vulnerable (LL can subsequently issue 2 months notice or a correct rent increase Notice) so you may wish to start looking around now for July, but for the time being you are secure, at the agreed rent of £750

Enfieldian

I don't want to stay beyond the end of the current AST anyway.

I need a larger place and would have moved at the end of January except there was nothing suitable on the market. LL would not agree to a periodic tenancy then so I had to sign another 6 month AST...

I just want to make sure that he can't increase the rent by £100 a month for 3 full months that I am here....

lizzielondon

oh ok if you don't want to stay simples! tell him to stop being silly

DVardysShadow

Enfieldian wrote: »

I don't want to stay beyond the end of the current AST anyway.

I need a larger place and would have moved at the end of January except there was nothing suitable on the market. LL would not agree to a periodic tenancy then so I had to sign another 6 month AST...

I just want to make sure that he can't increase the rent by £100 a month for 3 full months that I am here....

Going periodic is easy if there is no section 21 notice in place ...

Enfieldian

DVardysShadow wrote: »

Going periodic is easy if there is no section 21 notice in place ...

Just checked the AST that was issued in January, it has a Section 21 attached, as always, but this is not the issue as I don't want to stay any longer than the end of July. No reference to rent increases during the fixed term though.

This LL has been a complete amateur throughout the 2+ years I have been here, Deposit still not protected, me having to chase for Gas Safety Inspections and to cap it all off, when there was a problem with the boiler he took out British Gas cover, knowing that there was already a problem and asked me to pretend to be him when the Engineer came round to survey for the policy because "it was cheaper to pretend he was an owner occupier"....

And he's an Arsenal fan......

G_M

lizzielondon wrote: »

oh ok if you don't want to stay simples! tell him to stop being silly

I disagree at this stage. Ignore him totally. If he persists he can be accused of harrasment (a serious matter) so keep his textx, emails, voicemail messages etc.