Help please

Freefromdebt_2

I live in rented accommodation with my 2 kids and have lived here for 6 years. I signed a tenancy agreement for 12 months at the beginning but have signed nothing since....... The house was a new build and did have teething problems. The showers all leak. I cannot use the electric shower as it scalded my daughter. The boiler broke down and I had to fix it. It has been impossible to contact the landlord. I received a letter on Saturday stating that due to annual increases in rates he has no other option but to increase my rent from£520 to £606 per month from February. Excuse me whilst I pick myself up off the floor. There are two other properties in the development which are rented and are both 4 bedrooms. Mines is 3 bedrooms. They are both DHSS tenants and one is owned by my landlords business partner......should I try and negotiate a lesser increase or say nothing and pay ? I haven't missed one payment with the exception of him changing his bank and not bothering to tell me. £606 is two thirds of my monthly salary:(
Thanks for reading this.
Any ideas greatly appreciated....

qwert_yuiop

One thing for sure - rates didn't go up that much.

rolo1_2

Tell the landlord to sort out problems ASAP -keep written records, if you paid to fix boiler send him the bill.

You could look to sue landlord for the scalding incident, that's not on.

Question rent hike, I sympathise with you, but take control of the situation, you will feel much better for doing so.
Good luck

Old_Git

when was the last rent increase .Last year or 6 years ago ?
Are you getting help from NIHE with your rent . if not ask .

How much would the rent be in a similar property .Is £600 the going rate .

Landlord dont like to loose good paying tenants .
They dont like to pay to advertise and loose the rent in the meantime .

What do you think a fair increase would be .

warmhands.coldheart

^^^^ I Agree with Old Git...
if it's been 6 years without an increase, that's not bad.
Again, what is the going rate in the area? Sorry if this sounds harsh but I'm just trying to be honest... at the end of the day the landlord is running this as a business, not a charity..... Ask yourself honestly if you were in the landlords shoes, would you rent out your house for £520 if you could easily get £600 (The rates thing is just a fluffy way of trying to justify the rent rise... probably not the real reason)

Anyway.....
Try to be practical and pro-active about it ...
Do a search of the local area for similar suitable houses that are up to let. Get all the details, make a note of them and if they are a similar rent, you'll just have to bit the bullet or move elsewhere.
If they are cheaper you can go back to the landlord with your finding's ask to pay a similar fair rent as you've found from your research (It might still be a bit of an increase) or if they are not open to it, again be prepared to either just pay what the landlord is asking or move!!

Personally I think the landlord would be mad to loose such a good tenant by the sounds of it........

saverbuyer

I agree with all above.

Also OP if this is 2/3 of your salary, check that you are claiming everything you can. Housing Benefit, rates allowance, working/child tax credits.

qwert_yuiop

Whereabouts are you? That's a fair bit to pay if you're outside the dearer areas, as you probably are. Lurgan/Portadown area it's around 450/500 for a house like that.

Cherryscone

Go to C.A.B for advice to pay any rent for a house which a landlord doesn't maintain is wrong if you do get any Housing Benefit you may be entitled to apply for discretionary housing benefit as well as said above check your claiming all your entitled to and good luck do let us know how you get on .

warmhands.coldheart

qwert_yuiop wrote: »

Whereabouts are you? That's a fair bit to pay if you're outside the dearer areas, as you probably are. Lurgan/Portadown area it's around 450/500 for a house like that.

I agree, being an "accidental" landlord for want of a better description, I let out a 4 bed detached in that area for around that...

Depends on where you are... I had assumed on those figures the OP was quoting they were in Belfast somewhere ..

Freefromdebt_2

Thank you all for your replies. I am in BT45 where the average rent on a 3 bedroomed townhouse is anything between £450 and £520 pcm. If I accept this increase I will be paying way over the odds......I am not entitled to housing benefit. Apparently I earn too much....the difficulty is I'm not sure whether he would get £600 per month in rent when a 5 bedroomed detached house across the road is £700 per month...

qwert_yuiop

Looks like he won't be getting any increase in rent from you or anyone else.