Landlord is delaying new contract, expects backdated increased rent

J0sh_2

I am on a rolling contract (our 1 year AST term lapsed in 2011 and we have been effectively on a rolling monthly contract since).

Last month our Landlord wrote to us saying he wants to increase the rent and asked us to confirm we are OK with the amount and that as the new rental month would start on 14th June he wanted to get it finalised asap.

After some negotiation where we managed to reduce the requested rent somewhat I replied with "please proceed with the paperwork as you suggested". That was on 1st June.

We then heard nothing from him. I chased him up twice by email and left a voicemail.

Last Saturday evening, two weeks after I asked him to prepare the paperwork and the day before the new rental month started, he emailed us a contract.

There were many problems with it as it was markedly different from our original contract (e.g. he expected 2 months notice when in our current agreement it is 1 month, he removed a clause in the landlord's obligations regarding being responsible for repairing mechanical and electrical items that belong to him (dishwasher,..), etc) so I asked him to make changes to it to keep it as the existing contract.

He said he will make to those changes but that as I "agreed in principal" I should already pay the new rent as from June 14th.

In reply I told him the new rent is defined by the new contract and that it wasn't our fault it got delayed. As a compromise I told him to add the difference (£55) to July, assuming we sign the new contract by then, so that he wouldn't lose out any money, and that until we have signed a new contract we are still on the existing one.

Question: Where do I stand legally? Did I really agree "in principal" to start paying rent from the 14th June and am I obliged to start paying higher rent from this month even though we have not agreed a contract?

My worry is that he is messing us about and that by paying more rent now we are effectively legally binding ourselves without having seen what the contract would look like. He may yet refuse to change the contract to reflect the changes I requested so if he ends up giving us notice or we give him notice then we would be paying the additional rent for that time, which seems wrong as it ought to be as per the existing contract?

Sorry for the ramble, hope I explained it OK. Any help appreciated.

Guest101

J0sh wrote: »

I am on a rolling contract (our 1 year AST term lapsed in 2011 and we have been effectively on a rolling monthly contract since).

Last month our Landlord wrote to us saying he wants to increase the rent and asked us to confirm we are OK with the amount and that as the new rental month would start on 14th June he wanted to get it finalised asap.

After some negotiation where we managed to reduce the requested rent somewhat I replied with "please proceed with the paperwork as you suggested". That was on 1st June.

We then heard nothing from him. I chased him up twice by email and left a voicemail.

Last Saturday evening, two weeks after I asked him to prepare the paperwork and the day before the new rental month started, he emailed us a contract.

There were many problems with it as it was markedly different from our original contract (e.g. he expected 2 months notice when in our current agreement it is 1 month, he removed a clause in the landlord's obligations regarding being responsible for repairing mechanical and electrical items that belong to him (dishwasher,..), etc) so I asked him to make changes to it to keep it as the existing contract.

He said he will make to those changes but that as I "agreed in principal" I should already pay the new rent as from June 14th.

In reply I told him the new rent is defined by the new contract and that it wasn't our fault it got delayed. As a compromise I told him to add the difference (£55) to July, assuming we sign the new contract by then, so that he wouldn't lose out any money, and that until we have signed a new contract we are still on the existing one.

Question: Where do I stand legally? Did I really agree "in principal" to start paying rent from the 14th June and am I obliged to start paying higher rent from this month even though we have not agreed a contract?

My worry is that he is messing us about and that by paying more rent now we are effectively legally binding ourselves without having seen what the contract would look like. He may yet refuse to change the contract to reflect the changes I requested so if he ends up giving us notice or we give him notice then we would be paying the additional rent for that time, which seems wrong as it ought to be as per the existing contract?

Sorry for the ramble, hope I explained it OK. Any help appreciated.

Depends what you said.

If you said, yes no problem. Just pay the extra rent. But send a letter making it clear you are sticking to the original terms of the contract.

If you said, in theory this is ok, but please send amended contract. Then no you dont owe anything, part of the deal was the amended contract.

stator

The rent increase and new contract don't have to be tied together. He can put up your rent by giving you notice and without signing a new contract. So if he has done this start paying the new rent.

J0sh_2

Thanks for the replies.

He did not give us notice of rent increase. He finished his email with "The next rent is payable on 14 June and I would like finalise the position by then." (I assumed with "finalise" he meant get contract out and signed before then)

I replied only with: "please proceed with the paperwork as you suggested"

I then chased him up few times with "we have not yet received the paperwork"

My stance is that if the contract is unagreeable to us then we/he will have to give notice. In that case I want to serve the notice on the existing rent as we have not come to an agreement. If I were to pay the additional amount now before we arrive at that stage then I would be expected to keep paying the higher rent until the end of my/his notice, which doesn't seem fair because if this had happened when he had first tabled the notion of rent increase and we said "No" then we would be paying the old rent for the duration of our notice.

bebewoo

Why are you signing a whole new contract, surely you can stay rolling without any new contract.
If the landlord wants to increase the rent he should issue a section 13, which just increases the rent when an AST has gone periodic.

jbainbridge

Do you want a new 6 / 12 month contract? As others have pointed out you could just pay the increased rent and stay rolling.

J0sh_2

Yes, we'd like the protection and peace of mind of a new fixed term. We are not insisting on a whole new contract, a 1-page renewal doc would be fine also.

Pixie5740

Then don't start paying the new rent amount until you have a new document for a fixed term tenancy with terms and clauses you are happy with.

jjlandlord

You were happy to have a new fixed term tenancy with a higher rent start on the 14th.
Arguably, that fixed term tenancy has started on the 14th.

What is the problem?

If the document contains new clauses that were not previously discussed and agreed you cross them out.