Tenancy rent renewal - how to avoid rent increase?

Poq

Just got a letter from the letting agent that my 1-year tenancy is coming to an end. I would like to renew, but the letter also emphasizes:

"Please be advised that your landlord may look to increase the rent in line with current market rates."

I have two choices:

1. Say that I would like to stay and mention nothing about rent.
2. Say that I would like to stay provided that the rent isn't increased.

This is a generic letter they send out, so option 1 avoids bringing any rent increase to their attention. (They are pretty sloppy and have forgotten stuff in the past — they may not notice this too.)

Option 2, however, brings it directly in their field of view, but makes a no-nonsense stand right away - that I don't want to stay if the rent is increased. (I want to avoid that at all costs — pun intended.)

What are your thoughts?

BitterAndTwisted

Third option: do and say nothing until your current AST expires. Then wait for a Section 13 Notice that your rent is increasing.

Poq

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Third option: do and say nothing until your current AST expires. Then wait for a Section 13 Notice that your rent is increasing.

Thanks. What kind of message does that send?

Forgot the mention, they said I should let them know ASAP (of course they did). And they've also served a s21(b) notice, and said:

"Please note if the renewal has not been finalised prior to the start of the last month of the tenancy the property will be placed back on the market for re-letting immediately."

ognum

it is unlikely that they will simply forget a rent rise if they are planning one!

My suggestion would be to contact them and say that you cannot decide whether you are staying or not without full information as to how much a rent rise may be. then you have the facts and you can negotiate!

Getting a new tenant has cost implications for landlords, they mostly use an agent and agents charge about half a months rent to find a tenant! they are likely to have a void, depending on the area this could be from a few days to months. they will also probably have some redecoration and maintainence costs.

consider the cost of these to the landlord, of course they would rather keep a tenant( as long as they are a good tenant).

Just because they say they want a rent rise of x doesn't mean you can negotiate that down, but first you need the facts!

G_M

Ending/Renewing an AST (what happens when the Fixed Term ends?)(What is a Periodic Tenancy?)(How can a LL remove a tenant?)(How can a tenant end a tenancy?)

Rent increases (how and when can rent be changed)

G_M

Poq wrote: »

"Please note if the renewal has not been finalised prior to the start of the last month of the tenancy the property will be placed back on the market for re-letting immediately."

How will they place it on the market unless you agree to let prospective new tenants inspect? You don't have to.

Have you spoken to the landlord? What doe he want? Agents have different agendas!

gozaimasu

Thank you to G_M for that useful and informative post.

If the S13 notice served to increase rent, has an address on it that does not match the landlord's address on the AST, will that then be invalid?

G_M

gozaimasu wrote: »

Thank you to G_M for that useful and informative post.

If the S13 notice served to increase rent, has an address on it that does not match the landlord's address on the AST, will that then be invalid?

Nice question!

The address on the AST is presumably the official address (Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 ) "for the serving of Notices". This does NOT have to be the LL's address - it can be an agent, his mum, wherever he chooses. The point is that a letter, Notice etc served at that address is deemed served for legal purposes (whether he actually receives it or not).

If the address on the S13 Notice is his actual address, it is valid.

Indeed, Notices for demands eg rent have to show the LL's actual address. See

Written demands (for rent etc: LL's actual address needed) Beitov Properties Ltd v Martin

chewmylegoff

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Third option: do and say nothing until your current AST expires. Then wait for a Section 13 Notice that your rent is increasing.

or a section 21 instead.

Fire_Fox

Poq wrote: »

Thanks. What kind of message does that send?

Forgot the mention, they said I should let them know ASAP (of course they did). And they've also served a s21(b) notice, and said:

"Please note if the renewal has not been finalised prior to the start of the last month of the tenancy the property will be placed back on the market for re-letting immediately."

Your tenancy is not expiring, only the fixed term is ending. Plenty of tenants roll onto a statutory periodic tenancy, they don't all only move exactly at the end of six months or a year!

Write directly to your landlord using the address at which to serve notices on your tenancy agreement and clarify what you would like to happen. That you are happy to go onto a, SPT or renew as the landlord prefers but you are not willing or able to pay a rent increase and admin fees. Further you are disappointed that, as a responsible and reliable tenant, you have been served with notice to quit and threatened with eviction.

BTW they can put the house back on the market but you DO NOT have to permit viewings, you have the 'right to quiet enjoyment'. You may need to change the barrel of the lock to enforce this. So if you want to be awkward they would have to wait for you to either move out or evict you through the courts and THEN show to new tenants, which means a void with no rent coming in. Is that what the landlord really wants? Or is that what the letting agent wants because they get fees from both the landlord AND the new tenant when the place is relet?

gozaimasu

G_M wrote: »

Nice question!

The address on the AST is presumably the official address (Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 ) "for the serving of Notices". This does NOT have to be the LL's address - it can be an agent, his mum, wherever he chooses. The point is that a letter, Notice etc served at that address is deemed served for legal purposes (whether he actually receives it or not).

If the address on the S13 Notice is his actual address, it is valid.

Indeed, Notices for demands eg rent have to show the LL's actual address. See

Written demands (for rent etc: LL's actual address needed) Beitov Properties Ltd v Martin

Great, thanks for that info.

The reason I ask is that my landlord recently replaced a broken appliance, and the address on the invoice is different to that on the AST, which I think is a family address. Therefore, if the landlord serves an s13 notice to increase rent and it does not have his ACTUAL address (presumably the invoice shows his address as he is the cardholder who purchased the item), but the address on the AST (which is a family member's address), then is it valid?

And what does one do about the validity of the notice? Simply ignore it and not pay rent?

My landlord wants to increase the rent but has only mentioned this via email, and not served an official notice. Therefore I can just ignore all correspondence until a proper notice is served?