Need Advice - Tenancy Agreement / Rent Increase

Kris2011

I really need some advice and hope someone can help me out

I have been a private tenant for 10 years, having only ever signed one Tenancy Agreement when i moved into the house in 2001. It was an Assured Shorthold Tenancy with a fixed term of 6 months.

On April 18th, 2011, i received a letter from my landlords agent, stating that the rent was to be increased by £26 a month, which took the rent to £376. I didn`t mind this at all, so i emailed the agent and told her that i`d pay the new rent at the end of the month.

April`s month was paid, then i paid next months rent on May 25th, both at the increased new rent.

On May 26th, i received a new Tenancy Agreement through the post, and noticed that the rent on the tenancy agreement stated £421 pcm. This is an increase of £71, not £26 as i had already agreed to. Also, the £421 started from April 20th.

I`ve already paid April and May`s rent so what happens now? Do i need to pay the extra rent for those two months, or is the agent trying it on?

Also, since i was told of the rent increase on April 18th, then the increase actually started 2 days later on April 20th (even though i got the new TA a month later) this doesn`t count as one months notice, does it?

I haven`t signed the new agreement, or contacted the agent about it yet, because i feel a bit shocked by it all to be honest.

Any advice would be appreciated, Thankyou..

BitterAndTwisted

You don't need to sign this new tenancy agreement, you are on a periodic tenancy and have been since the original fixed-term expired. The landlord needs to issue you with a Section 13 Notice to increase the rent. Just carry on paying the £376 as agreed. You need to bear in mind that if you don't accept the rent increase you are in danger of receiving a Section 21 Notice by return. The landlord can issue you with one of these, notifying you that they intend to apply to the court for repossession for any reason they like, or no reason at all.

G_M

You have a choice:
1) do nothing. Sign nothing. Say nothing. You have a perfectly valid periodic tenancy
2) agree. Sign the new contract and pay the new rent. When the new agreement ends (is it 6 months?) you might get another......
3) speak to the landlord. Explain you're happy with the 1st rent increase (£376) but can't afford the proposed new contract. See what he says.

As Bitter says with options 1 & 3 he may decide to evict you (S21) by giving 2 months notice, but he may prefer to keep an otherwise good tenant. Better the devil you know..... plus changing tenants costs landlords money.

Kris2011

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

You don't need to sign this new tenancy agreement, you are on a periodic tenancy and have been since the original fixed-term expired. The landlord needs to issue you with a Section 13 Notice to increase the rent. Just carry on paying the £376 as agreed. You need to bear in mind that if you don't accept the rent increase you are in danger of receiving a Section 21 Notice by return. The landlord can issue you with one of these, notifying you that they intend to apply to the court for repossession for any reason they like, or no reason at all.

Thanks for your reply.

I will take your advice and stick to the original increase and see what happens. I was more concerned with the way in which this was done

Thankyou

Kris2011

G_M wrote: »

You have a choice:
1) do nothing. Sign nothing. Say nothing. You have a perfectly valid periodic tenancy
2) agree. Sign the new contract and pay the new rent. When the new agreement ends (is it 6 months?) you might get another......
3) speak to the landlord. Explain you're happy with the 1st rent increase (£376) but can't afford the proposed new contract. See what he says.

As Bitter says with options 1 & 3 he may decide to evict you (S21) by giving 2 months notice, but he may prefer to keep an otherwise good tenant. Better the devil you know..... plus changing tenants costs landlords money.

Thanks, i`ll pick option 1 for the moment, but i`ll maybe also have a word with the Landlord, as he only lives a street away. I didn`t really want to have to see him, as he`s getting on a bit and not in the best of health, but i`ll have to see him sometime about it, it can`t really be put off.

tbs624

Kris - welcome as a newbie. B&T & G_M have made good posts.

Don't ever be surprised about the errors made by LAs: you need no training, qualifications or specific expertise to be able to set yourself up in business as an LA and some of them know the law but try it on anyway and some are just downright ignorant of even the most basic tenets of LL& T law and seem to like to make the rules up as they go along. Many LLs have no idea what their LA does in their name.

It was good of you to begin paying the first increase notified to you, by the end of April as you had not actually been given appropriate notice for the rise to fall due on that payment.

You are legally entitled to know the name and address of your LL btw - do you already have it? Edit- your follow up post wasn't there when I posted, and I see now that you do have contact info.

Is this the first rent increase you have had since signing the original tenancy agreement?

Kris2011

tbs624 wrote: »

Kris - welcome as a newbie. B&T & G_M have made good posts.

Don't ever be surprised about the errors made by LAs: you need no traing, qualifications or specific expertise to be able to set yourself up in business as an LA and some of them know the law but try it on anyway and some are just downright ignorant of even the most basic tenets of LL& T law and seem to like to make the rules up as they go along. Many LLs have no idea what their LA does in their name.

It was good of you to begin paying the first increase notified to you, by the end of April as you had not actually been given appropriate notice for the rise to fall due on that payment.

You are legally entitled to know the name and address of your LL btw - do you already have it?

Is this the first rent increase you have had since signing the original tenancy agreement?

Yes i know the LL`s address, he`s just along the road from me. We have always been on good terms, and yes, this is the first increase of rent. He always said the rent would never go up, even when the LA was trying to persuade him to put it up last year, he refused. Not that i would mind an increase really, because he`s been more than fair with me over the years. He even mentioned me having first choice in buying the house should he ever sell it, which was very kind of him.

I must say, all of this is out of the blue, totally unexpected. It all started because the LA sent me a Rent Statement at the beginning of April saying i was in arrears (from 2009, when i was claiming Housing Benefit) and she asked for a cheque to cover the arrears. When i looked at the statement, we were actually in front with the rent. We went to the office to point the mistake out, and she suddenly tapped away on the computer and produced another statement, which showed us still in front but by £300 less. She then said her Accountant would take a look. A week later, we received another statement which showed we were back in arrears. When i checked the statement, it showed that a HB payment for £308 was missing from March 2009 (the previous 2 statements showed it was paid..but it had disappeared from the accountants statement) I asked her where the payment had gone, to which she said it was `inadvertently entered on the 30th March 09` whatever that means?

I`ve been in contact with the HB section, and asked them for details of what was paid, just so we can clear things up, but heard no reply yet, and i`ve told the agent that if i owe anything, i`ll gladly pay it..anyway, ever since then, i`ve received the new rent increase plus the new TA..

She doesn`t seem too happy with me for querying this missing payment.

tbs624

I wouldn't worry whether an LA is happy or not You are entitled to have an up to date correct SoR from her and you should then send a copy of it to the HB officer and ask them to confirm in wriitng that the HB payments are listed correctly. Did they pay the LA/LL direct or did the HB/LHA come to you? If it came to you do you not have bank records that you could check?

Remember that if you *do* sign up for a new Fixed Term then your tenancy deposit should be scheme registered at that point and a copy of the scheme's "prescribed info" passed to you. Watch out for the LA trying to charge both you and the LL for a "renewals fee".

Kris2011

tbs624 wrote: »

I wouldn't worry whether an LA is happy or not You are entitled to have an up to date correct SoR from her and you should then send a copy of it to the HB officer and ask them to confirm in wriitng that the HB payments are listed correctly. Did they pay the LA/LL direct or did the HB/LHA come to you? If it came to you do you not have bank records that you could check?

Remember that if you *do* sign up for a new Fixed Term then your tenancy deposit should be scheme registered at that point and a copy of the scheme's "prescribed info" passed to you. Watch out for the LA trying to charge both you and the LL for a "renewals fee".

The HB payments were sent to the LA direct, so i don`t have any records of that. I do have a document from the council from March 09 stating that i was on full HB for that month though (all of 2009 too)

Thanks for the info on the deposit too, i vaguely remember paying a deposit all those years ago! £350 i think..

So, *if* i sign a new TA, am i then classed as a new tenant? Is there anything else i would need to know about?