Landlady wants to increase rent by £70 a month

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Does anybody know if claiming HB on a new property is a straightforward process? I dread the endless form filling, but will obviously do this rather than agree to an astronomical rent increase. I just don't want my HB to stop thereby making things more difficult (sorry if this sounds a stupid question).

The property may need a more thorough clean than we are able to give it, as I don't know how we can get rid of the mould in the bathroom or clean the extractor fan thing.

The landlady did replace the carpet during the tenancy after the previous carpet tiles were loose and we kept tripping over them, but it is obviously a very, cheap, low quality carpet as it is almost worn through where I have my computer chair, where the settee corners are etc.

I've a horrible feeling she may attempt to charge us for this sort of thing although it constitutes reasonable wear and tear.

As I said, first of all, I'll write a letter stating we are prepared to agree to a slight increase, as we have in previous years, but if not, goodbye. I would hope this doesn't occur. I dislike any nastiness, but the landlady is bringing this upon herself as far as I am concerned.

RHemmings

diana11 wrote:

I rent out property and I never impose a rent increase during the time of a tenancy as I do not want my tenants to have an excuse for leaving. I dread it when tenants eventually move on. As well as losing the rent, the property will always require a freshen up, maybe new carpets, new paint etc etc.

Good long term tenants are hard to find and I guess your landlady may change her mind on the rent increase if you give your notice in.

What is the longest you've had a tenant stay without upping the rent?

Angela_D_3

Ask her how long next door has been on the market, they might want £600 doesn't mean they'll get it.

Angela_D_3

She is allowed 10% tax free income per year to cover wear and tear if she tries to charge you take her to the small claims court. I never pay the last months rent ever.

bud-miser

Yes, I adopt the same policy as Diana. Far better to forego fat/juicy rent increases than have to deal with the upheaval of changing tenancies. These often do not come cheap, with possible bills involved AND the risk of losing rent for a period.

At the moment, my longest-staying tenant has been with me for nearly 3 years and I have not sought to increase the rent in that time. I may be approaching him for a 5-6% increase at the 3 year mark, which I think is fair.

diana11

RHemmings wrote:

What is the longest you've had a tenant stay without upping the rent?

Yes my longest is 3 years. If they are happy then I'm happy. I only put the rent up between tenancies.

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Have just worked this out, and it's a rent increase of 13% !!!!. Maybe if the rent had not increased in previous years, but it went up by about 3% last year and the year before, so this is just madness. Seems to me the landlady is plain greedy and is justifying things by claiming it is market rates. The houses that go for £600 have much better furnishings than ours and are in better condition. I may be pointing this out in the letter.

I'm not too stressed about moving if it comes to that, I just can't believe that somebody would try to take the cake like this. Maybe I should name and shame the agency involved - beware of Countrywide Residential in York. I'm annoyed I've allowed this to spoil my weekend

Tassotti

To be honest, it is nothing to do with the agency if the LL wants to put the rent up.

If you are considering moving, remember that many LLs will not accept HB tenants, and you may have difficulty finding a new place.

If you withold the last months rent, and there are damages, cleaning expenses, etc, you may find yourself in court and have a CCJ on your credit file.

zar

It may not be an option for you but when I was doing my masters in York two years ago we didn't rent a house in York as it was too expensive. We rented a small two-bed townhouse in Pocklington for £395pcm, then when the landlady sold it we rented a 3-bed house in Stamford Bridge for £400pcm (through one of the Pocklington agents). They were both at the lower-end of the market but there was plenty about for £450. Both have regular bus services into York, I don't drive and found it very straightforward getting in every day but I was on the right side of the city for the university. Both Pock and SB are lovely places to live and have cash machines, pub, shop open til 10pm etc.

p.s. Try to enjoy the rest of your weekend, it'll all sort itself out and hopefully something good will come out of it like you find somewhere better to live anyway. :beer:

pps from what you said I assume you're renting furnished. A lot of the property in Pock is unfurnished, but its quite easy to pick up everything you need for free on freecycle or cheaply in charity shops - there was a charity shop in Market Weighton that sold lots of furniture for example and would deliver. At least you get to choose your own furniture then.

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(1) LL does not know I claim HB. As far as I'm concerned, as long as the rent is paid on time and in full, it's none of her business. It may be that I am just going to have to put up with this absolutely outrageous increase for six or seven months (I'm moving out next Spring anyway), but we'll see how the money-grabbing landlady responds first.

(2) I realise that, and as I said, it's not a road I want to go down. I'm just rather angry at the moment and feel that we have not been treated all that well to be honest. There are some things that we cannot clean and it is not our fault. I think the thing to do is to take pictures of absolutely everything incase money-grabbing LL decides to claim all kinds of spurious charges.

In reality, this is only going to affect my housemate as I didn't pay a deposit when I moved in (housemate had been there for a years previous, so LL already had a deposit), but for the sake of good relations, I have no intention of leaving her in the lurch.

(3) I'm going to see about going to the Rent Assessment Committee (depending on how LL responds). Even if my HB increases, my housemate will struggle to find an extra £35 on top of other increases (i.e. gas bill).

I just don't see how this can be justified. It's just not a very nice thing to do (somebody will no doubt say this is irrelevant since niceties are irrelevant when you can be increasing ££££).