Section 13 was never received by tenants

smarlene

My husband and I have privately rented the same property for 3 years and 2 months. When our tenancy agreement ended on 1st August this year, we had no communication from the LA or LL so assumed our tenancy to have become an AST which was on a rolling month by month basis. Then in the 3rd week of August, we were sent a letter from the LA advising that we were in arrears on our rent. We were confused by this and immediately contacted the LA to query this. We were advised that our rent had been increased by 28% (!!) as of 1st August. The LA claimed to have sent a Section 13 notice at the end of June via Royal Mail. This item of post has never been received by us, and no follow up communication was attempted by our LA in relation to this subject, until our notice of arrears.

We are now in a dispute with the LA. They are adamant that the letter was sent. We have STILL not received a Section 13. We are still paying the rent amount as agreed in our most recent contract, which expired on 1st August, 2012 but now the LA is claiming arrears of the amount of the increase for 2 months.

It is worth pointing out at this time that had we received a Section 13 in June, we would not have agreed to pay the increase, and would therefore have moved out by 1st August. We are currently planning to move out now as we have been advised the rent increase is non negotiable.

I feel that we are being duped in to paying this increase in a very underhanded manner.

Our neighbours (who have the same LL and LA) also had their rent increased, a little time after us. They received their Section 13, along with follow up communication prior to the date of the increase to confirm that they were in receipt of the information. We received neither the initial nor follow up correspondance that they have?

Are we obliged to pay this amount even though we A, cannot afford it, and B, did not receive the legal documents necessary to implement this rise?

We are awaiting advise from a local housing advisory board, but I'd appreciate opinions from clued up MSE's if possible!

Thanks for reading.

Yorkie1

Edit:

I've just noticed you've posted this in the DIY forum.

I suggest you re-post in the House Buying and Renting forum. There are a lot of experts on that forum (there will be some here, of course, but that's the right forum for this) and mention that you've been redirected from here.

Or ask the board moderators to move this thread over to there. It can be really difficult to keep track of two duplicate threads in different forums at the same time!

Good luck.