Help Needed: eviction rent increase/homeless

theoldcastle

Hope someone can help
I live in central London and have been a private tenant for 3 yrs this Sept,I am getting housing benefit, I am disabled and live with a son of 17 that is in college, and an adult son who works, the LL increased my rent 6 months ago by nearly £40 pw, now they have increased it again by £60. My son has been paying the xtra 40 for the past 6 mnths.
I called my local council asking what I should do, and they said that I could stay where I am until I get an eviction order ( i have already been given a section 21)

But when I told the council I will be telling the LL that I cannot afford the xtra rent they said I shouldnt do that , just stay where I am until I am evicted , but what should I tell the LL then ?
Or just not sign a renewal ? and stay and pay the rent I can afford ? I am confused, if I only pay the housing allowance that I am getting now, will this mean when it is time to get out will they keep my tenants deposit because I have broken the tenancy agreement ?
Thank you for any help

neverdespairgirl

Is your rent (after the rise) the market amount? Could your housing benefit go up to meet it? Have you tried negotiating with the LL about the rise?

Which LA are you in? Camden, Westminster, Islington?

ceridwen

Well - a side issue on this is that this Council (and presumably others as well.....) is telling OH to stay where she is until evicted.

Errr....hellO - but by then that means the landlord will be owed money they will never recover doesnt it?

So that advice could be rephrased as "Its okay by us for tenants to go off owing money to landlords...in fact we are telling them to":eek:

*emmaaa*

I was under the impression from other posts that to increase the rent the landlord had to serve correct notice, has he done so? How much does your contract say you should be paying, have you agreed in writing to either increase? I believe that if the answer is no, he is not entitled to the extra £40, let alone more. But I'm sure someone more knowledgeable will be along to confirm / correct me! I hope you get this sorted!

DizzyDasher

This sounds like a good question to go to the CAB or phone Shelter with (ideally the Council would help, and maybe it's worth trying them again? But it sounds like they are not being very helpful in explaining the process to you, and if that is the case then try CAB or Shelter).

I am not an expert, but from what I've read I believe the following is likely to be the case. This is just to give you some first ideas: before taking any action I would definitely check this with the experts - I've put the Shelter phone line and website at the bottom of this post!

My understanding is that the Council is not suggesting that you stop paying rent or do anything else that would break the terms of your tenancy. They just want you to keep paying your current rent, and not move out at the end of the tenancy. The Landlord would then (assuming he has served the S21 correctly) go to court to get an eviction notice. The S21 is just notice that they want the property back. If you don't go voluntarily they cannot force you physically to leave - they HAVE to go to the Court to get an eviction notice (which would take another couple of months I think), and that is the point at which you have to go.

I believe the Council advise this because they have rules that they will not house you if you have made yourself intentionally homeless, and they would count moving out voluntarily at the end of the tenancy as making yourself volutarily homeless - which sounds a bit crazy I know, but I guess from a practical point of view they are right to postpone the "problem" of rehousing you for as long as possible, and keep you in your current place with low rent for as long as possible.

Personally I don't see why you shouldn't tell your landlord that you can't afford the rent, and what the Council's advice has been, and that you are very sorry but if you want to get rehoused there is nothing you can do about it. HOWEVER, I am not an expert, and I do think it would be worth talking to somebody at CAB or Shelter to see if this is good advice or not, and see what they advise. There may be a good reason the Council is telling you not to say anything, as impolite as this may feel.

As long as you keep paying rent (at the amount agreed in your existing contract - assuming you have not signed anything new) I don't think there is any reason for any of this to affect your deposit. Is your deposit in a protected scheme? If so then you could also ask them what the rules are on this. If not then the S21 notice is, I believe, invalid and the Landlord would have to start again after protecting your deposit (giving you more time at your current rent). Again, I would check all this with the experts!

There is a free number to call Shelter's advice line on tenancy problems here: 0808 800 4444 (9am-5pm Monday to Friday)
And you can also try their website here to read up before you phone them: http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/renting_and_leasehold/private_tenancies
If you prefer to talk to somebody face to face, they also have advice centres around the country, you can find your closest one here: http://england.shelter.org.uk/get_advice/advice_services_directory/
If you are in Scotland the national number is the same - and the website is the same address but replace "england" with "scotland".

RAS

theoldcastle wrote: »

the LL increased my rent 6 months ago by nearly £40 pw, now they have increased it again by £60. My son has been paying the xtra 40 for the past 6 mnths.

There are precise circumstances when a LL can ask for an increase in rent and you have the choice of accepting the increase or declining. If you decline the LL can choose to ask you to leave.

You need to check whether the LL was actually complying with the legasl requirements for a rent increase before you do anything else. Speak to Shelter.

theoldcastle wrote: »

I called my local council asking what I should do, and they said that I could stay where I am until I get an eviction order ( i have already been given a section 21)

But when I told the council I will be telling the LL that I cannot afford the xtra rent they said I shouldnt do that , just stay where I am until I am evicted , but what should I tell the LL then ?

Have you actually checked what the current LHA for your area is now (not what it was when you moved in)?

theoldcastle wrote: »

Or just not sign a renewal ? and stay and pay the rent I can afford ? I am confused, if I only pay the housing allowance that I am getting now, will this mean when it is time to get out will they keep my tenants deposit because I have broken the tenancy agreement ?

Renewal is one of the times when the LL can increase rent and if you do not agree to this, s/he can issue a S21.

The Council are gatekeeping, basically deliberately forcing you to wait until the bailiffs are due before they consider you homeless. They are not supposed to do this, but it appears to be commmon place in London.

Speak to Shelter, not least because the Council may not count your older son as homeless and you need advice if your younger son is going to reach the age of 18 before you are moved out.

theoldcastle

Thank you for the replies.
I will continue to pay the rent until I am evicted, I am not in arrears and have always paid on time, so the landlord hasnt got any reason to get me out other than they want to increase the rent.
The letting agency rand me and said over the phone that they will be increasing the rent.
I would like to thank Dizzy Dasher for the information you have posted and will be phoning Shelter regarding my situation to see if they can clarify things for me.

Hump

Have the Council seen both your latest tenancy agreement and the s21 notice? Did you pay a deposit and was it protected? Have the Council offered an opinion as to whether the s21 notice is valid? If the answer to these questions are all 'yes' then what date does the s21 notice expire on?

It's pretty universal for Councils to delay dealing with people as homeless until a valid notice has expired. They often start talking to people about their 'housing options' at an earlier stage.

What is wrong, and others have mentioned 'gatekeeping' is forcing you to wait until you get the inevitable 'warrant of eviction'. If they insist on this then get them to confirm in writing that they will pay the landlord's court fees, the landlord's legal fees and the landlord's costs in obtaining the eviction warrant - as the landlord will be asking the Court for you to pay most of these charges.

If they won't then make a 1st stage complaint and take a look at the Homelessness Code of Guidance http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/housing/homelessnesscode see para 8.30 - 8.32a on pages 73 - 74

None of this replaces sound representation from an agency like Shelter

dcems

L/L can only do a rent increase once every year.

By either serving a Section 13, or issuing you with a new tenancy.

If you dont agree with the rent increase you dont have to pay it.

If you had a rent increase 6 months ago, he cant put the rent up again. Its not lawful, and you need to get some advice on this from either CAB or your LA Housing advice centre.

Do not pay any extra rent this time around.

erdd2

ceridwen wrote: »

Well - a side issue on this is that this Council (and presumably others as well.....) is telling OH to stay where she is until evicted.

Errr....hellO - but by then that means the landlord will be owed money they will never recover doesnt it?

So that advice could be rephrased as "Its okay by us for tenants to go off owing money to landlords...in fact we are telling them to":eek:

What a refreshing take illustrating the "oppositions" POV!

erdd2

erdd2 wrote: »

What a refreshing take illustrating the "oppositions" POV!

OP, I truly empathise with your situation, have no knowledge on how you can deal with it and my previous comment is by no means directed at anything other than how insightful I found the comment of the poster I quoted. I truly wish you well with your dilemma.