Rent up 11% in one year!

butterfly72

Our tenancy is due for renewal in a couple of months. The LL is putting the rent up £100 per month.. that's an 11% increase which I feel is a bit steep.

I know the LL can put the rent up as much as he likes as its a private property, but are these kind of increases the norm? I see no justification for the increase, especially as IR are so low. He's been doing minor maintenance and tidying the outside spaces up, but nothing major. Indeed some promised improvements such as an alarm, internal spaces painted haven't happened.

We are model tenants, pay on time, obliging, don't push to get jobs done (until we need to!) and have been here 7 years without complaint or concern. The same size/layout flat downstairs pays £45 less per month.

any thoughts?

thanks

lighting_up_the_chalice

Discuss it with him. Gather evidence of similar available properties in the area and the rental they charge, remind him of what good tenants you have been, that a void period may take many months (if not years) to recover and be prepared to move if he sets the rent higher than you feel is justified.

TheSurface

I'm afraid that rents are going up mostly due to high demand and people not being able to get mortgages so having to rent.

I am currently looking for a place and everything gets snapped up so quickly because there is such high demand. So looks like it is more of a Landlord's market nowadays...

G_M

Rent increases (how and when can rent be changed)

It's all up for negotiation. If you refused and moved out, the landlord would have

1) one or maybe 3 months without any rent
2) all the costs of finding a new tenant

How does that cost compare with the 11% increase? It might take 2-3 years with a new tenant at the higher rent to make up those costs....

junglejim2

What were the increases in the preceeding years of your tenancy?

butterfly72

G_M wrote: »

Rent increases (how and when can rent be changed)

It's all up for negotiation. If you refused and moved out, the landlord would have
1) one or maybe 3 months without any rent
2) all the costs of finding a new tenant

How does that cost compare with the 11% increase? It might take 2-3 years with a new tenant at the higher rent to make up those costs....

Thanks. Trouble is, its SW London and a desirable location. It would be taken before we moved out! Downstairs was filled a week after the old tenants moved out.

I've emailed the estate agents putting our views across and requested the LL meets us halfway. Tbh, i think this might be the kick up the *rse we need, its high time we bought. A mortgage would probably be cheaper lol.

butterfly72

junglejim2 wrote: »

What were the increases in the preceeding years of your tenancy?

£50 over six years, so we've done ok. I dont mind mind paying more, its the big leap of 11% in one year.

Lou67

What a be-atch! My neighbour's LL has just put hers up from £650 to £725, although it was an 18 month contract, so I guess that is why he felt the need to put it up so much! It's a 3 bed, with the garage converted into a bedroom, (so sort of a 4 bed,) but it's still a lot of money.

She has had one child leave home, and only has her and hubby and the twins there now, so they my downsize, but she will still pay £630 to £660 for a 3 bed around here. The private rents are flying up now. I envy people on social housing; I truly do. The woman opposite me pays £360 for the SAME property as us, (3 bed.) Annoying.

My rent is £640 per month and it's due to go up September.

Turnbull2000

Supply and demand my friend, supply and demand.

Interest rates have no relevance to what a landlord can extract from his/her tenant.

dtsazza

butterfly72 wrote: »

Our tenancy is due for renewal in a couple of months. The LL is putting the rent up £100 per month.. that's an 11% increase which I feel is a bit steep.

I know the LL can put the rent up as much as he likes as its a private property, but are these kind of increases the norm? I see no justification for the increase, especially as IR are so low.

The yearly percentage increase is broadly irrelevant. If you'd had over three years for example 0%-0%-11% increases, that would still be less overall than 4% rises each year. In a similar vein, if your rent was (for whatever reason) 25% below market when you moved in, then even a couple of years of 11% rent rises would leave you paying less than someone who had 0% rent rises.

All that matters in judging whether this is steep, is whether the new (proposed) rent is reasonable when compared to the price of what you could get instead. Do you think other people would be prepared to pay it? Would you rather pay it than rent somewhere else?

If the new rent is sensible when compared with other places, it's justified. Otherwise it's not - and you can demonstrate this to the landlord by showing them the aforementioned other places, while explaining that you think the proposal is optimistic.

EDIT - just seen your later post. Cumulative rent rises of 16% over six years sounds entirely reasonable, offhand. It seems likely that you've had the benefit of below-market rents for a few years that are now catching up. Still worth checking that the proposed rent is defensible, of course, but average rents have risen much more than that 16% since 2007.

butterfly72

Just thought I'd report back and let you know that the LL agreed to a £50 rise! Reckoned the estate engine made a typing error on the renewal letter.. Yeh right!