can you increase rent if interest rates go up?

Kaminari_2

As a landlord and a tenant i would like to say that landlord get the very rough end of the stick.

If you did decide to stop paying rent, you wouldn't even have to change the locks to make it illegal for the landlord to enter the property. The Landlord would also have to wait until you are well in arrears before he could even think about removing you and the process usually takes at least 6 months and involves court and balliffs. For a tenant that is dedicated to not paying rent that is only two moves a year. The Landlord would have very little recourse to recover the money either.

It can be a pain for a tenant dealing with EA's trying to get into a property but it is a long and nasty and drawn out and expensive thing to try and get a non paying tenant out for a Landlord.

BUT you should always look at it this way - you are paying for a service (ie roof over your head) if you don't like it you should find something in your price range that you do like.

Kaminari_2

As a tenant i am on a yearly contract and it is written in the contract that our rent will increase in line with inflation.

Babe Ruth - You have to do what is best for you. Leave the rent as it is, know your property is being taken care of and the rent is more than likely going to be paid on time.

OR

Increase the rent, risk the tenants moving out, you may have a viod period before the next tenants move in, they might not look after the place as well or pay the rent on time. Or you might get tenants like the ones you have now that are will to pay the increase, look after the property and are easy to deal with giving you extra income.

I don't think it would hurt to discuss an increase with them especially as they have been there so long.

oldMcDonald

Unless the lease states that you can increase the rent alongside interest rates then you must keep to the agreed amount in the signed tennancy agreement. It is an agreed amount which they have signed to say they will pay and you have signed to say that you will ask. At the end of the tennancy agreement you can put it up by whatever you wish and if the tennants want to ask the rent officer to look at it they can, or they can accept, or they can move. If they are HB then the HB will not raise a lot and the rents officer will be asked to assess the amount.

It is wholly dependant on what you want for rent, what the local price is for the same type / condition property, and how much you wish to keep your current tennants.

One of our ex;landlords wanted an increase of £30 per month mid term - we refused and he said he would up it by £100 at end of tennacy if we didn't!, To cut a long story short, he upped by £100 a month at the end, we left, he advertised at that amount and couldn't fill property. Friend of mine ended up renting it at the same amount as we did, only to have landlord try to raise it again 2 months into tennancy!

(Not intending to aim this for OP or others on here) This landlord was new to letting (we were his first tennants) and he really didn't have a clue. We even came home to find that he had let himself in using his set of keys to check the property without giving us any notice!! There seem to be a lot of new landlords about at the moment who don't seem to have any idea about letting!

BobProperty

greencat wrote:

.....But since tenancy law is so biased in favour of landlords ....

One reason I am no longer a landlord is the law is so biased in favour of the tenant and is getting worse (deposit rules etc.). I'd love to know how some of the posters on here would deal with problem tenants.

greencat wrote:

......If landlords had no rights then I would simply not pay any rent, change the locks and sleep easy content in the knowledge that couldn't be kicked out of my free house.....

Funnily enough you can do that until the landlord gets a court order. If you play it right you can live rent free for about 9 months plus. (and tenancy law is so biased in favour of landlords?)
Can you think of any other business where you have to borrow the major share of an asset with a £x00,000 value and then give complete possession of it to somebody else? (I can think of one, but you can probably take the asset back almost immediately and sue the other party for the balance)

Tassotti

Absolutlely correct Bob. I try to refrain from telling tenants this though. It's up to them to know their rights.

The only downside for the tenant is they may get a CCJ against their name.

However, it costs the LL to obtain the court order and most don't bother as they are only throwing good money after bad (and probably alrerady lost thousands)

In my early days, rented out a 3 bed house to 3 girl sharers. None paid rent, took 6 months to evict them. Rent Loss £6300, Solicitor Fees £1500, Court Fees £450 + Baliff fees (can't remember exact amount)

Got property back...trashed... another £8000

Still hunting them down for payment.

SCUM!!!!

searcher30

thank you for your very useful comments. it was just out of general
interest. the rent was set at a good rate and we may llook at selling as not
the best investment as a buy ot let it was just convenient to do this at the
time. I think a lot of people who rent dont always appreciate all the things
that landlords can do for tenants too (and we went out of our way for ours!)
so it works both ways. i am very grateful to everyone who has tried to be
helpful.

Tassotti

Hi searcher..sorry for going off track.

I also agree that it is better to keep good tenant/s and not increase the rent.

If someone is paying on time every month and looks after your asset, then I think it is worthwhile to look after them.

Don't forget , your cashflow may not be brilliant at the moment, but in 15 years, you will have at least doubled the value.

In this instance, I would be reluctant to increase rents unless the market has rapidly changed (which it doesn't)

Best of Luck

Tass

hechizero

All those who have a strong dislike for landlords - Say "Aye".

Tassotti

Why???

Because we put a roof over your head?

hechizero

Tassotti wrote:

Why???

Because we put a roof over your head?

No - cause you all have the smug gene. Perhaps you can enlighten us on the altruistic qualities that landlords are so commonly known for.