Please Help New Landlord Increasing Rent

cheekylu

Hi all


I desperately need some advice please. Ok so we currently live in a very small 1 bedroom flat and we pay £525 a month, the rent was increased from £500 to £525 just 5 months ago. We've been here 4 years.


Our current landlord has just sold the flat to another landlord, after it being on the market for over a year and I now have received an email from my letting agent saying the new landlord is happy to keep us on as tenants but has sought advice about the rent and wants to increase it to £600 a month. Then the letting agent said but as you are such good long term tenants we advised the landlord to only increase it to £575 a month. They asked me to confirm whether this is affordable to me.


We really cannot afford it and are struggling at the moment.


I'd also like to add the other tenants in this block (with different landlords to me) pay between £500-£525. I really feel this flat is definitely not worth £600 despite the letting agents saying it is.


Just a bit of background info for you all, the letting agent and landlord have treated us pretty badly since we have been here and have taken months to do repairs and ignored emails every time we have a problem, as well as the letting agent sending us rude emails on a few occasions. We've always been told the landlord has no money. We are looking for somewhere else to live but are having no luck finding anywhere so we have to stay put at the moment. We have been perfect tenants, never missed a rent payment and always kept the place clean and tidy.


My question to you guys is can they do this? As I thought you could only increase rent by 5% every 6 months, or because this is a new landlord do they have the power to increase it to whatever if its a new tenancy agreement or something?


I was told the new landlord is just keeping my old tenancy agreement, although not 100% sure, though I found it strange as surely I need a new agreement with my new landlords name etc to sign? My current tenancy with the old landlord states "The landlord cannot increase the Rent under this provision by more than 5% or within six months of the commencement of the Term or within six months of a previous increase."


We are on an Assured Shorthold Tenancy which is just a rolling month to month one.


Sorry for the long post and thanks for reading, any advice you can give is greatly appreciated.

bigfreddiel

You don't like the flat, it's not worth £575/month

Move, find something you like and can afford

Don't bother fighting your landlord, he doesn't care what you do or want, to him it's just a business.

Move, be happy and get on with your life fj

G_M

* you do not need a new tenancy agreement. The change of landlord does not affect your current tenancy agreement. It just continues, but with a new landlord

Q1) has the new landlord complied with his obligation under the Landlord & Tenant Act 1985 ?

3 Duty to inform tenant of assignment of landlord’s interest.

(1)If the interest of the landlord under a tenancy of premises which consist of or include a dwelling is assigned, the new landlord shall give notice in writing of the assignment, and of his name and address, to the tenant not later than the next day on which rent is payable under the tenancy or, if that is within two months of the assignment, the end of that period of two months.

(2)If trustees consititute the new landlord, a collective description of the trustes as the trustees of the trust in question may be given as the name of the landlord, and where such a collective description is given—

(a)the address of the new landlord may be given as the address from which the affairs of the trust are conducted, and

(b)a change in the persons who are for the time being the trustees of the trust shall not be treated as an assignment of the interest of the landlord.

(3)A person who is the new landlord under a tenancy falling within subsection (1) and who fails, without reasonable excuse to give the notice required by that subsection, commits a summary offence and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale.

Q2: is your current TA a fixed term? Start/end dates please. Or Periodic (rolling)? If so, was there a Fixed term originally and what (exact) date did it end?

Q3) how was the rent increased last time? A new tenancy agreement? A letter/email? Or a Section 13 Notice?

My current tenancy with the old landlord states "The landlord cannot increase the Rent under this provision by more than 5% or within six months of the commencement of the Term or within six months of a previous increase."

* That is clear. So the rent cannot be increased within 6 months of the previous rent increase which was 5 months ago.

* if the rent was increased last time via a S13 Notice, it cannot be increased again for a year (except with your agreement).

* However, if you are not in a fixed term TA, the landlord could use a Section 21 Notice (2 months) to evict you and find a new tenant.

* But this costs the landlord money. There will be a gap between tenant (no rent) so he'll lose £525 at least, plus advertising/marketing costs. Not worth it for him for the sake of an extra £50 a month, assuming he finds a new tenant at that rent

Read also:

* Ending/renewing an AST: what happens when a fixed term ends? How can a LL or tenant end a tenancy? What is a periodic tenancy?

* Rent increases: when & how can rent be increased?

cheekylu

bigfreddiel wrote: »

You don't like the flat, it's not worth £575/month

Move, find something you like and can afford

Don't bother fighting your landlord, he doesn't care what you do or want, to him it's just a business.

Move, be happy and get on with your life fj

We cannot find anywhere at the moment, we've been searching for 5 months but we cannot find anything suitable and anywhere that will accept a pet.

theartfullodger

Forget freddie, listen to G_M. You don't have to accept a rent change or any other change, nor to sign any new tenancy. Do nothing, don;t reply.

Eventually the new landlord will be able to evict you, but it will take months... if he even bothers

cheekylu

G_M wrote: »

* you do not need a new tenancy agreement. The change of landlord does not affect your current tenancy agreement. It just continues, but with a new landlord

* has the new landlord complied with his obligation under the Landlord & Tenant Act 1985 ?

Q1: is your current TA a fixed term? Start/end dates please. Or Periodic (rolling)? If so, was there a Fixed term originally and what (exact) date did it end?

Q2) how was the rent increased last time? A new tenancy agreement? A letter/email? Or a Section 13 Notice?

That is clear. So the rent cannot be increased within 6 months of the previous rent increase which was 5 months ago.

* if the rent was increased last time via a S13 Notice, it cannot be increased again for a year (except with your agreement).

* However, if you are not in a fixed term TA, the landlord could use a Section 21 Notice (2 months) to evict you and find a new tenant.

* But this costs the landlord money. There will be a gap between tenant (no rent) so he'll lose £525 at least, plus advertising/marketing costs. Not worth it for him for the sake of an extra £50 a month, assuming he finds a new tenant at that rent

Read also:

* Ending/renewing an AST: what happens when a fixed term ends? How can a LL or tenant end a tenancy? What is a periodic tenancy?

* Rent increases: when & how can rent be increased?

Hi, thank you very much for your reply.


No the new landlord hasn't given me his name or address, everything is managed by the letting agent and they didn't even give me the old landlords address.


Our current tenancy started 7th November 2012 on a 6 month tenancy and when that ended they said it will carry on a month to month contract. They didn't give me a new tenancy agreement when it ended, they just said to keep the old one. Whether that makes a difference I don't know.


The rent increased last time via an email they sent me and a letter giving me a few months notice that the rent would be going up. I don't think it was a section 13.


I'm not sure what I should reply back to them saying. We really cant afford the increase and its such a large jump.


Can they legally increase it by that amount when my tenancy says you cant increase it more than 5%? Or does that not mean anything now if he has to do a new tenancy agreement?

G_M

cheekylu wrote: »

No the new landlord hasn't given me his name or address, everything is managed by the letting agent and they didn't even give me the old landlords address.

You could ask the council Housing Office to prosecute then: "A person who is the new landlord ....who fails,.... to give the notice required.... commits a summary offence and is liable on conviction to a fine "

Our current tenancy started 7th November 2012 on a 6 month tenancy and when that ended they said it will carry on a month to month contract.
That is fine. You have a Statutory Periodic Tenancy. The terms ar exactly as before but it runs from month to month (if you pay rent monthly)

The rent increased last time via an email they sent me and a letter giving me a few months notice that the rent would be going up. I don't think it was a section 13.
Then you could have ignored it and continued paying the previous rent. You chose to agree however.

I'm not sure what I should reply back to them saying. We really cant afford the increase and its such a large jump.
As explained, options are:
* pay the new rent (which you cannot afford
* give notice ( 2 months ending with a tenancy period) and move elsewhere
* negotiate. eg offer to increase the rent by 5% as per tenancy agreement
* do nothing. Do not respond. Continue to pay £525. The landlord might then:
a) give up and do nothing
b) serve a S13 Notice to increase the rent
c) serve a S21 notice to evict
d) wait till he believes you are in arrears by 2 rent paymetns (a long time at £50 arrears pm) and serve a S8 Notice (eviction for arrears). You defend this in court on grounds there are no arrears.


Can they legally increase it by that amount when my tenancy says you cant increase it more than 5%? Or does that not mean anything now if he has to do a new tenancy agreement?

You are right. 5% maximum.