How big a rent increase is fair?

graceygirl

Also surely you might have a clause in the contract that they can only increase it by RPI ?

catkins

We took the house because it was in the area we wanted and the landlord was ok with us having pets. The rent when we took it was the going rate.

The house was in a state inside when we moved in. The previous tenant's children had drawn over a lot of the walls and her dog had obviously been frequently weeing on the living room carpet as it stunk. Also the toilet was absolutely disgusting and the bath not much better.

We are not the sort of people to just live in a dump and as the landlord made it clear he was not prepared to do anything we did work. We put in a new bathroom (the cheapest we could get), tiled the walls etc. We decorated every room as it looked as though the rooms had not been decorated for many years.

The living room carpet had to come up as it was soaked and stunk and the carpet in all other rooms was threadbare and just awful. We told the landlord about the living room carpet but he was not interested.

We were not particularly happy about spending money but the rent not going up was some consolation.

We are definitely going to move out and are taking almost everything we have bought. This will be the oven and hob as the ones here when we moved in packed up quite a few years ago (in fact we are on the second oven bought since we moved in), most of the carpets (not the living room one as too large to bother with, the decent curtains (we will leave the awful shabby ones originally here).

I am not sure he will find new tenants easily. There are a lot of things that need doing:-

The kitchen cupboards are falling apart and the worktops are badly stained. Almost all the double glazed windows have condensation in between the panes. The outside wood such as front door and surround, patio door frame, fascia board etc is rotten (most of it has no paint or varnish left on it). The bathroom and toilet has terrible black mould over the outside wall, some of the ceiling, some of the tile grouting and the silicon along the bath and sink. I have bought many things to try and get rid of it all and painted the wall and ceiling several time but it still comes back.

Outside the paved patio, which is quite large, has lots of cracked or broken stones. The garage leaks like a sieve and the window in it has fallen out as the frame rotted so badly.

Also some of the roof tiles on the house have moved although there have been no leaks and the gutters are blocked.

We haven't done any decorating for several years so most of the rooms could do with freshening up especially the ones that we decorated when we first moved in.

catkins

graceygirl wrote: »

Also surely you might have a clause in the contract that they can only increase it by RPI ?

We only have a standard form which he gave us in 2015 when he put the rent up which was for 12 months! That is only the second agreement we have ever had. It doesn't seem to mention rent increases.

He has never done anything properly. We had to pay him cash and we have never had receipts or a rent book. I guess because he is not declaring that he rents the house out.

We started renting before deposits had to be registered so ours isn't. Pretty sure we won't get it back because he will moan about the oven, curtains etc

Smodlet

Crashy_Time wrote: »

Why would a landlord take "below market rent" for years, is it because they are kind hearted, or just couldn`t fill the place long term at a higher rent? Rents falling in general just make it easier to walk away if you don`t like the deal the landlord is offering.

Great point, Crashytime. Are rents really falling in general or mostly just in London, do you know?

Crashy_Time

Smodlet wrote: »

Great point, Crashytime. Are rents really falling in general or mostly just in London, do you know?

Spending in general is falling, that includes rent.

G_M

catkins wrote: »

We started renting before deposits had to be registered so ours isn't. Pretty sure we won't get it back because he will moan about the oven, curtains etc

* Deposits: payment, protection and return

Where a tenancy was created before 6th April 2007 the deposit does not need to be registered in a scheme. However, if it is not registered, a valid S21 Notice cannot be served by the landlord unless it is first either returned or protected in a scheme.

Any tenancy created (whether fixed term or periodic) since 6th April 2007 requires the deposit to be registered & the PI served. This includes tenancies that existed before 2007 but where the fixed term was renewed, or became periodic, after 6th April 2007.

1) What date did you first take out your fixed term tenancy and pay your deposit ?

2) what date did your last fixed term contract end, and become periodic?

catkins

G_M wrote: »

* Deposits: payment, protection and return


1) What date did you first take out your fixed term tenancy and pay your deposit ?

2) what date did your last fixed term contract end, and become periodic?

We signed a 12 month agreement in 2004 then no agreement until 2015 when we again signed a 12 month one.

ognum

Crashy_Time wrote: »

Spending in general is falling, that includes rent.

I am a LL, I have good quality Property, always well maintained. I don't tend to increase rent during tenancies. Most of my tenancies last 2-3 years. I let to young professionals who save and buy or move on to different areas.

I have just had two tenant changes, a one bedroom flat, ( tenants left because they had a baby and wanted another bedroom) this was void for 5 days. Rent increased by 15%, let to the first viewer.

A three bedroom house, tenants had been there for 21/2 years. Professional couple moved for work, let to first viewer. Void 10 days. Rent increase 20%.

I increase rents when void to around or slightly below market value.

There is no evidence here that rents are falling!

Crashy_Time

ognum wrote: »

I am a LL, I have good quality Property, always well maintained. I don't tend to increase rent during tenancies. Most of my tenancies last 2-3 years. I let to young professionals who save and buy or move on to different areas.

I have just had two tenant changes, a one bedroom flat, ( tenants left because they had a baby and wanted another bedroom) this was void for 5 days. Rent increased by 15%, let to the first viewer.

A three bedroom house, tenants had been there for 21/2 years. Professional couple moved for work, let to first viewer. Void 10 days. Rent increase 20%.

I increase rents when void to around or slightly below market value.

There is no evidence here that rents are falling!

Do you have links/postcode to the general area? Not asking for specifics.

ACG

The landlord can put the rent to whatever they like, you have an option of staying or leaving. Not ideal but that is the world we live in.

With no contract I think they can up the rent with little notice (but I stand to be corrected there - I was a nice landlord when I was a landlord).

I would ask who your deposit is saved with and the details. If it is not, I would use this as a bargaining chip to keep the rent as it is whilst you find somewhere new to move in to.

I suppose arguably you could try to blackmail him and keep the rent artificially low for a lot longer, but I doubt you will relax knowing your landlord wants rid (aside from the fact it is illegal).

If the rent has been £200 less than the market rate for a year thats over £2k. More than enough to pay for a bathroom, I did a bathroom on a house I renovated and it cost me well under a grand. Likewise if you have low rent for some time, I am sure that would have more than paid for the works you have done - I would be surprised if you are out of pocket, and if you are it probably means you have been spending too much on a rented property.

I would have been pocketing the low rent to save for a house deposit if I were you.