Landlady wants to increase rent by £70 a month

amboy

Barcode wrote:

The fire has been disconnected for two years. We were told quite explicitly not to turn it on. I'm sure we have a record of this somewhere, as does the LL. But from what others have said, this could be a risk? I've found contact details for the environmental health officer in York and wonder if we need to inform the LL about what we are doing?

Before you get to that, you have just confirmed that on its last service the engineer disconnected the fire, this means that there is no gas going to the fire.

However if -

He did not shut the gas to the fire off then he will be for the high jump too, no Corgi engineer in his right mind would leave an unsafe fire with the supply on, it is easy for them to just cap it off, or as one of my engineers did a while ago, just take the fire out.

If the latter is the case then , NO you dont have to inform your LL of anything you intend to do otherwise she will simply get the fire taken out, however any route you take along reporting surely means you dont see your future housing plans being with her.

Tassotti

Don't inform the LL just yet. If the appliance is faulty and gas not capped, the LL will find out soon enough.

If all is safe, then if the LL knows about the EH inspection, it may affect your LLs attitude when you are trying to negotiate the rent increase.

lynzpower

the reason we found out about our gas leak is that someone smelt gas so we claled out transco., they immieidately told us to vacate the property and not to go back in until remedial works were carried out.

Seriously, get transco in NOW, if they note ANY problems Id get yourself a hotel and bill your LL as tasotti says.

clutton_2

get transco in immediately - they will tell you straightaway if there is a gas leak in your house.

if you have not signed a new AST with the new rent amount written on it, the landlord cannot ask you to pay more. your signature on a new AST is your agreement to pay more. If you are planningn to move in the next few months, i would just not respond to the landlord, i would not sign a new AST if asked, and i would not increase your rental payment to him/her.

from reading this thread, i suspect you need to get more clarity as to what YOU want - do you want to stay there come what may ? do you want to move anyway but these current probs may mean you move earlier than originally planned ?

i do not condone never paying the last months rent, apart from anything else, your current landlord will NEVER give you a reference if you do that, and you will have great difficulty in getting a new landlord to offer you accommodatoin without a landlords ref. i would not take you on without one. A deposit can always be fought over in the courts, if you have left owing rent, the judge will not look kindly on that

Barcode

Thanks for the advice.

I've talked to my housemate last night and we both agree that we are not going to sign a new contract at £595 p.c.m unless the housing benefit people agree to the increase. If they do not, it may be that I am better off looking for a one bedroom place where HB will cover more of the rent. I feel bad for my housemate as we are good friends, but I can't be responsible for others.

I was planning to move next Spring anyway. Another option may be for me to apply to the University Access to Learning Fund, as this is definitely 'unexpected' and I could not be expected to budget for a £35 a month increase (I was prepared for more like £10 a month when the AST was due for renewal). This will hopefully see me through until I am going to move.

I'm going to need to think about whether it is better to (grudgingly) pay this for six more months or so, or go through the hassle of moving out only to have to move again in the Spring. I'm not sure, and it will largely depend on the LL's response.

My housemate is off to the CAB today to see what (if anything) we can do. She mentioned something about a Rent Assessment Committee, and it seems we're going to ask somebody to set a fair rent.

The worry about not signing a new AST is if we're kicked out, but I'm sure the LL has to give us two months notice.

I have no idea why she thinks she can re-let our property at £600. The reasons being are that our house:

- Has a cracked window in the backdoor (I now know this should have been fixed within 10 days of it being reported, so I'm going to chase this up now).

- The boiler in my housemates room was at risk of falling through the ceiling where it had leaked, causing mould. It was fixed, but the mould in the cupboard remains. I'm sure it is a health hazard for my housemate.

- Very old furnishings, even the inventory states that the sofa is in a 'grubby condition.' The coffee table/tv stand is some nasty shiny black MFI job from the 80's that falls apart on a regular basis.

- Cheap carpets which wear through when the furniture is put on it.

- Non-working gas fire in the front room.

My guess is that the cost of getting the house up to a standard where she can reasonably charge the increase is going to be much more than having us pay the lower rate of rent for another six months or so. Housemate thinks it may be the agent trying it on and we should write to the LL directly. I'm not sure I believe this, but I'm going to make sure the agency and LL get a copy of the letter we'll be sending this week.

Mrs_pbradley936

I think she should be paying you to live under such conditions! Seriously, things can be shabby and comfortable but they cannot be dangerous. I wish you well with it all and hope you keep us all informed.

clutton_2

""The worry about not signing a new AST is if we're kicked out, but I'm sure the LL has to give us two months notice""

a landlord CANNOT get you out without a court order.

A landlord has to give you two months notice (but look in your tenancy agreement and see if he has already done that by including a Section 21 notice ). If no Section 21 exists, he has to issue a 2 month notice to quit. you still do not have to move. he then has to go to court and get a repossession order. you still do not have to move. he goes back to court to get the bailiffs - they knock on your door, you have to get out there and then. But all this takes time - 3-4-5 months depending on the length of the court list, and the bailiffs diaries. BUT, it is a very stressful time - do you want that ?

By not signing a new AST you still have the same legal protection as before, as, you then will be on a "Rolling periodic tenancy".

My best advice is, just dont sign it - once you do, you are legally responsible for the new rent, and he can take you to court to get it - individually or severally !!!!

Tassotti

Plus you then have a CCJ against your name and will have to pay court costs

Barcode

We're already on a rolling tenancy agreement (I went onto this as I was not about to pay £50 to the EA to be locked into something for a year). My understanding is that the new contract would be the same thing, but as I said, we're not signing anything at the moment.

As I understand it, the tenancy agreement is due for renewal on November 21st. The contract also says we have to give one months notice when deciding what we wish to do (I think they have sent us a letter this early to try and get the maximum ££££ out of us). That means, we don't need to bother responding to this demand until Oct 21st. Am I wrong?

I don't think I want to deal with the stress. Ideally, I just want to continue where I am, perhaps paying a small increase that I can realistically afford. If not, I will put up with the inconvenience and just move. It will just come back on the landlord, as our notice will likely coincide with the Christmas/New Year period, and let's face it, nobody is going to want to move then.

Cassa

Hi Barcode,

Let us know how you're getting on.