In arrears for unknown rent increase

helphelphelphelp

My friends problems with her landlord and letting agent are still ongoing. She has been advised that she is now over £1000 in arrears with her rent despite her not knowing anything about this rent increase.

In summary she moved in back in 2009. Her landlord has not protected her deposit. She is paying £750 a month most of which is paid for via housing benefit. The property has recently been managed by a letting agent who wanted her to sign a new contract which she refused saying she would stay on her periodic contract.

The rent was to be increased but nothing more was heard until the agent called advising of the arrears. Apparently a recorded delivery letter had been sent which records show has been returned to sender, proving the tenant did not receive this

Is this the correct way for notice of a rent increase to be served, ie letter form or is there a section notice that needs to be served?

Can she be held liable for these arrears if she was not aware of the rent increase or had not been served proper notice?

Thanks for any help.

Pixie5740

Assuming this is in England or Wales have a read of G_M's link:

RENT INCREASES: How/When can rent be increased in an AST?

In short it depends what, if anything, is said about rent increases in her tenancy agreement. If there is no rent increase clause in her tenancy agreement then the landlord can serve a Section 13 notice. However, if that what was in the letter sent "Signed For" then that notice has not been served.

The deposit issue is something separate but might come in useful if your friend is ever served a Section 21.

G_M

Does the tenancy agreement say anything about rent increases?

Was the letter in the form of a S13 Notice?

Potentially courts can assume service of court notices if a Recorded Delivery is sent even if returned unsigned for.

It is likely however a court would not accept this for a notice such as this.

Pixie5740

G_M wrote: »

Potentially courts can assume service if a Recorded Delivery is sent even if returned unsigned for.

I did not know that, every day is a school day.

helphelphelphelp

I will have to confirm re the rent increase. With regards to the content of the letter, that can't be answered as the original was never received and the agent has not resent anything.

How is the best way to proceed? Check the tenancy agreement for rent increases and then write to the agent disputing the arrears?

Pixie5740

Reading the tenancy agreement would be a good start. Asking for a rent statement could also be useful.

G_M

Pixie5740 wrote: »

I did not know that, every day is a school day.

But schools are such unreliable sources of information. Doubting myself, I googled a bit:

The statutes and the rules

Service of notices under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (LTA 1954) is governed by s23 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1927 (LTA 1927), which provides for service by registered post. Many leases require other notices to be served in accordance with the Law of Property Act 1925 (LPA1925), which also provides for service by hand or registered post (s196). The Recorded Delivery Act 1962 states that a document authorised to be sent by registered post may be served by recorded delivery.

A notice sent by recorded delivery is validly served on the intended recipient even if it is subsequently discovered not to have been actually received by the addressee. The purpose of s23 is to fairly allocate the risk of a failure of communication. If the serving party follows the statutorily prescribed process, the risk of not receiving the communication shifts to the addressee.

http://www.practicalconveyancing.co.uk/content/view/7770/0/

helphelphelphelp

So her best hope is that the format of the notice is incorrect. Thank you for your help. Will start by checking the tenancy and asking the agent for a copy of the increase letter and taking it from there. From reading the links it need to be a section 13 to be valid?

G_M

helphelphelphelp wrote: »

So her best hope is that the format of the notice is incorrect. Thank you for your help. Will start by checking the tenancy and asking the agent for a copy of the increase letter and taking it from there. From reading the links it need to be a section 13 to be valid?

Depends if the TA specifies when/how rent will increase.

[Deleted User]

I suspect that the new tenancy agreement that the tenant refused to sign would have shown a rent increase. It may be decided in court that a new tenancy agreement with a rent increase will serve as notice of that increase.

But to be honest, rather than having a friend come on here I suspect she needs to go to the CAB or call Shelter.

However, she also needs to think about what's going to happen. If she can't pay the rent rise and is on HLA.., can she afford to move? The answer to this should influence her actions (if she agrees to pay the arrears over time she might be able to keep a roof over her head), if she can move on, fine, no problem with LL evicting her because of arrears, but she may still get a CCJ, affecting her future credit rating.

xHannahx

Check her tenancy agreement, our last property had a section that the rent would increase 3% per year, current property has no such clause.