Landlord increased rent without us signing a new tenancy - is this allowed?

Johnhowell

Brit Chick,
You are aware that you do not have to sign a new tenancy agreement. Your present terms and conditions continue - all that may change are the notice periods for you and LL - (you one month, LL two months).
Obviously, the Agent what a new agreement signed because they get more fee out of the LL.

It is my understanding that the rent can only be increased under a new agreement or under Section 13(?) of an Act (Housing or Landlord and Tenant). Both of these are obviously negotiable. It would appear the Agent has done neither of these so therefore the rent can not increased.

Good luck,
John

jjlandlord

Brit_Chick wrote: »

Just out of curiosity - why is is not a good idea to let the landlord know that I'm pregnant? They don't know but it hadn't occured to me that I should avoid them finding out - any reason why, just for reference?

I think that DVardysShadow fears that either the landlord might try to evict you, or might request your first born as payment for any arrears. I think that the former is more likely to be his concern.

tbs624 wrote: »

The OP is still in the property thus the tenancy can not have ended, although the Fixed Term apparently has.

He might have meant the fixed term, since it is a separate tenancy and it has indeed ended in OP's case.

tbs624

Brit_Chick wrote: »

Since then we have pretty much been waiting for the repairs to be completed, only one of the jobs has been carried out and we ended up getting so fed up up of constantly having to ask the agent to carry out the rest of the repairs that we paid for them to be done ourselves (in hindsight, this may have been a stupid move but we were fed up of tripping up over the broken kitchen floor all the time).

So did you notify the repairs issues *in writing* to the LL/|LA? What sorts of repairs are they? Does the LA/LL know that you have covered the costs of the repairs yourself? Did they agree to this and did you follow the right procedure to be able to deduct the costs from future rent? ( see Shelter's "guide to getting repairs done")

Are there any repairs that are still to be completed?

If LL & T agree an increase then a notice does not need to be served.
If a S13 notice is served then T can apply to Rent Assessment Committee for the increase to be assessed. If you are on a stat perioidc though there is nothing to stop the LL serving you with a "no fault" S21 notice of intent to repossess the property.

If you write to the LA formally requesting the name and address of your LL they have 21 days from receipt of the request to provide you with the information. Alternatively check via the HMLR site what current address is recorded for the LL - small fee to pay)

DVardysShadow

Brit_Chick wrote: »

.... Just out of curiosity - why is is not a good idea to let the landlord know that I'm pregnant? They don't know but it hadn't occured to me that I should avoid them finding out - any reason why, just for reference?

jjlandlord wrote: »

I think that DVardysShadow fears that either the landlord might try to evict you, or might request your first born as payment for any arrears. I think that the former is more likely to be his concern.

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

More or less the former. The Agent may view your pregnancy as something they can use to increase pressure on you. It is more that it can amplify any threat or pressure that they might apply. I forget exactly how notices of rent increase apply, but they are more or less immediate unless you take an option to move out within a timeframe IIRC. So they might just increase the rent on you, knowing you don't have the ability to move for a while.