Landlord is increasing our rent too much! Advice needed.

Jimby509

We moved in to our house in early 2011, via letting agent, paying £420 pm. The house has no central heating and needed totally decorating and extensive work hence the low price. We saw its potential and did not mind doing the decorating as repairs as it was cheapish rent for the area.

After a few months the Landlord aproached us asking us to deal directly with him as he wantted to get rid of the letting agent to save the £40 per month fees, he felt we were trustworthy. He said that if we did this he would protect us from a rent rise for the foreseeable future, he would also make needed repairs on the house (fix leaking guttering causing damp and insects, extensive re-plaster, replace old threadbare carpets, remove polistirene ceiling tiles, fix dangerous cracked patio that our 2 year old injured himself requiring medical attention, fallen down fences, the list goes on and on).

We agreed and signed a 'Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreement' he provided. He never did the work on the house promised. We paid for new carpets ourselves, new laminate and other things needed (to be fair he made a £40 contribution, but it cost us £100s in materials and several weeks work). After not maintaining the house, bar plastering one uninhabitable room, he turned up(against his word) after 12 months demanding a rent increase. We complained that we had spent our own money on the house but he still insisted in an increase to £440pm.

He then added another £20 raising rent to £460 after replacing a bathroom suite as the old one was leaking and infested with woodlice/silverfish.

He phoned again recently to tell us that later in the year he intends in raising the rent to at least £500pm. We can pay it or move out.

We are really angry and fustrated that we have turned a run down house into a nice family home with our own money, now are being forced to pay extra for the privilage.

The contract we signed states that 'The rental due will be reviewed annually on the tenancy anniversary and may be increased in line with the Retail Price Index at that time.

My question is... Can he legally increase the rent above the Retail Price Index since the signed contract states that the rent ' may be increased in line with the Retail Price Index'?

Any advice would be very much appreciated. Thanks for reading. J

J_i_m

I think he can set the rent at pretty much what he likes, whether he can find anyone willing to pay it may be another matter.

The work you have done/funded on the house could be viewed as "betterment" but you're unlikely to get anything back.

martinsurrey

If you are not in a fixed term and everything regarding deposit protection is in order he can ask you to sign a new contract with whatever rent he wants, you can refuse, but he can evict you if you don’t, with a s21 notice, (2 months notice and potentially a court date needed).

I’m sure GM will be along to point you in the direction of his often used post about rent increases and evictions.

k0sh

If you have not signed a new agreement after the first 12 months are up, then you are technically in a "periodic" tenancy. (not having read your contract).

He cannot now increase the rent without filing s.13 unless you both agree the new rent.

You can fight it.

However, tenants should NEVER spend their own money on a house. It appears you have learnt the hard way.

G_M

Read:

Rent rises (how/when can rent be increased)

Jimby509

Thank you both for talking the time to reply. Much appreciated.

The thing I can't understand is... What is the point of signing a contract that states ' 'The rental due will be reviewed annually on the tenancy anniversary and may be increased in line with the Retail Price Index at that time.' if the reality is that the landlord can increase the rent by any amount he sees fit, even if it is higher than the retail price index?

I thought a contract was there to protect both sides of an agreement???

G_M

k0sh wrote: »

If you have not signed a new agreement after the first 12 months are up, then you are legally in a "periodic" tenancy. (not having read your contract).
Correct

He cannot now increase the rent without filing s.13 unless you both agree the new rent.
Not necessarily true. See link in previous post.

You can fight it.
Perhaps!

Also remember the risk of being given a S21 Notice.

However, tenants should NEVER spend their own money on a house. Wise advice!It appears you have learnt the hard way.

Rent rises (how/when can rent be increased)

Jimby509

However, tenants should NEVER spend their own money on a house. It appears you have learnt the hard way.

K0sh... I can't tell you how right you are.

We own a property in Spain, they do the maintence and then we knock it off their rent. We have reduced their rent when they have had money problems. Both sides are happy, I think we innocently thought we could come to the same agreement with our landlord.

Still, you live you learn

laptop80

Unfortunately some landlords don't realise the value of a good tenant until they've had a really bad one. For the sake of £40/month they might well get tenants who trash the property rather than improve it or don't pay the rent on time / at all. Moving settled tenants out also increases the likelihood of having spells where the property is empty - one month unoccupied will eat up a year of any extra profit they are chasing; a couple of months and they're significantly down on the equation.

Good tenants are worth their weight in gold. I've seen landlords with £££ signs in their eyes & chasing higher headline rents move people in because they agreed to pay £100/month over the odds but who in reality had no intention of ever paying anything. After months of getting no rent at all they finally got them out to discover the place had been absolutely wrecked (they had treated the house with total disdain and less than friendly visitors had taken baseball bats to the doors). Plus they intentionally flooded the ground floor of the property before they left.

Don't forget that any carpets and laminate you bought belong to you - if you decide to leave you can ask him if he wants to buy them from you or they will be going with you. If he gets funny about it or insists the old flooring goes back in place it may be worth invoicing him for the repairs that were needed and that he agreed to carry out but never did. If he's going to be unreasonable there is no point in making things too easy for him.

G_M

Jimby509 wrote: »

Thank you both for talking the time to reply. Much appreciated.

The thing I can't understand is... What is the point of signing a contract that states ' 'The rental due will be reviewed annually on the tenancy anniversary and may be increased in line with the Retail Price Index at that time.' if the reality is that the landlord can increase the rent by any amount he sees fit, even if it is higher than the retail price index?

I thought a contract was there to protect both sides of an agreement???

If that is what the contract says, that is when and how much the rent can be increased.

A S13 Notice will NOT be applicable, and canNOT over-ride the contract.

Note also (as per my link) that

* a Full Tenancy period written notice must be given
* that notice must be in writing
* the rent increase can only be implemented on an anniversary of the original tenancy ( so the notice must be received before the anniversary
* it must state exactly how much the rent will go up to, with reference to the RPI
* It must use the RPI for 2 months preceeding the implementation of the increase (since the amount must he calculated in advance and included in the notice

Note also:
* If the above are not complied with, the rent increase cannot be enforced
* but if the tenant starts paying the new rent, even if the above is not complied with, he will be deemed to have agreed to it so it then becomes legally binding
* if the tenant does not pay a new rent requested (eg on the grounds the above conditions were not met) the LL still has the option to end the tenancy (Periodic - see below)

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?)

Fire_Fox

Doesn't even sound like it should have been let initially, really you should have gone to Environmental Health at the local council or simply rented something in better condition. Tenants should not spend money on a property unless there is a watertight legal agreement, depending on the area that increase is not that bad - some places have increased by crazy amounts even without work.