Am I paying too much rent?

CMcW

Hello everyone, this is my first post. I had a wee look through the forum but couldn't find what I was looking for so I hope someone can advise.

According to the local Council website, my home is valued at £57k. It is on the market with an agent for £75k. I am renting it through the same agent and paying £450 per month on a 12 month contract. As we're in Northern Ireland the landlord pays rates but we pay all the other bills. The property needs lots of work doing, tradesmen have informally told me it needs a rewire too. We've reported MANY issues, some of which are unresolved.

We're starting to think we're overpaying considering the quality.

I'd love to know if there's an easy way to work out what we should be paying? I've tried checking rightmove and primelocation to see what others in the area go for but I struggle to work out how to equate the values considering the merits of each property.

Any advice you can give is much appreciated, thank you!

BitterAndTwisted

The only way to make an informed decision is to compare the property you rent to other properties of a similar size and condition in the same neighburhood. There's no magic formula I'm afraid so the asking-price or Council valuation are completley irrelevant.

As it's currently up for sale it appears that you might not be renting it for much longer, so start your searching asap.

There are ways and means to encourage your landlord to carry out necessary repairs and the very first step is to put all of your observations in writing, which I am assuming you have done already. If they're not strictly necessary, don't expect anything to be done any time soon.

CMcW

Thank you for your reply. As far as I can tell the house has been up for sale for quite some time. Tradesmen and locals are telling me the asking price for sale and the rent she's charging is way over the mark - I know they're not experts but it is a good indication.

I've put it all in writing but got the standard reply "the landlord says she'll sort it out" and that's all.

I'm looking for ways to prove they've breached so I can just move out now - I have found a couple of breaches but not sure if they're significant enough to allow us to leave early. That's a whole new discussion though, I'm sure!

hardworking_mummy

Unfotunately it is market forces that decide private rent levels - not the cost to purchase the property itself, or even the condition of the property. If there is a lot of demand the rent will be higher than if the landlord was struggling to get it let. I have a friend who lives in Brighton and the cost of his rent for a very small and decidely ropey property makes my eyes water! If you feel your rent is too high, when you contract is nearing renewal (if you are in the fixed term of an AST) you could always approach your landlord with the offer of extending your lease for a reduced rent. The landlord therefore avoids letting agent fees (if s/he uses one) and any potential void costs. If they flat out refuse then you can take it that the landlord is pretty confident of getting it let again quickly at the same or even higher rent. I can't speak for your circumstances, but if I was living in a property that I felt the landlord wasn't maintaining to a reasonable standard I would be looking to move. There are ways to force a landlord to fulfill their repairing obligations, but you can be sure in the majority of situations where that occurs, a section 21 will be winging its way to the tenant post haste.

CMcW

Thank you. What you say makes sense of course, supply and demand. I just don't feel we're getting our money's worth. I would like to just move on, I feel I can't relax and enjoy my home because I'm wondering what will go wrong next!

Unfortunately though we have another 8 months of the contract left so like I said, I need to prove they have breached the contract enough to warrant us leaving early without penalty. The repair issue is probably debatable in a legal sense but as they didn't provide a copy of the contract or a rent book (legal requirement here in NI) until I'd nagged for three months after moving in, I wonder if that would be sufficient.

hardworking_mummy

CMcW wrote: »

Thank you for your reply. As far as I can tell the house has been up for sale for quite some time. Tradesmen and locals are telling me the asking price for sale and the rent she's charging is way over the mark - I know they're not experts but it is a good indication.

I've put it all in writing but got the standard reply "the landlord says she'll sort it out" and that's all.

I'm looking for ways to prove they've breached so I can just move out now - I have found a couple of breaches but not sure if they're significant enough to allow us to leave early. That's a whole new discussion though, I'm sure!

Unless the property is uninhabitable, you will not be allowed to leave the tenancy agreement early without the agreement of the landlord. The best that will happen is someone like the EHO (depending on the "breaches") will enforce the repairs.

BitterAndTwisted

"I'm looking for ways to prove they've breached so I can just move out now"

The issue of non-repair is not necessarily a breach of the tenancy, so you won't be able to get out of your agreement that way unless you negotiate a surrender with the landlord. That is, if you are still within your fixed-term.

You either have an issue with the rent not being a fair, market one, or you have the landlord not fulfilling their repairing obligations. These two things are not inextricably-bound, but completely separate.

CMcW

hardworking_mummy wrote: »

Unless the property is uninhabitable, you will not be allowed to leave the tenancy agreement early without the agreement of the landlord. The best that will happen is someone like the EHO (depending on the "breaches") will enforce the repairs.

Really? Urgh! I'm just about at the end of my tether with these people, we've had nothing but trouble and excuses since the day we moved in, and I really dread something major happening.

Is there any way I can ask for a safety report or assessment? I mean things like the electrics?

BitterAndTwisted

Read you tenancy agreement extremely closely to see whether there's a break-clause at six months.

I'm afraid that you may be grasping at straws with your safety report/assessments.

Do you have any reason to believe that the property or its services are unsafe? If you have, your next step should be to contact Environmental Health

CMcW

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Do you have any reason to believe that the property or its services are unsafe? If you have, your next step should be to contact Environmental Health

I suspect the electrics aren't up to scratch. When we moved in there was a socket and lightswitch hanging off the wall, with exposed wires. When the socket was fixed three months later the man who came said the electrics looked very suspicious. The switches and sockets look very old, and when BT had to replace the internal phone cables the engineer said he though the sockets looked a bit dodgy too.

CMcW

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Read you tenancy agreement extremely closely to see whether there's a break-clause at six months.

There isn't a 6 month break but it does say that if the landlord is in material breach of any clause or condition, we are entitled to leave.

I believe they breached the clause which states "the landlord ensures that at the beginning of the tenancy, the property is fit to be lived in"

We had no heating or hot water for a week and no shower for a fortnight when we first moved in. They also breached by not providing a rent book for three months. There's also a clause about the electrical sockets.

But as those have at last been fixed, I suppose that's not much use now?