Rent increase against letter saying no increase

Jessiecacar

Hi, I am just after some advice before I challenge my landlord.

In august my landlord put a letter through my letterbox saying that they were selling the house and I had 6 months to leave. During this period until 22nd February 2022 my rent would be maintained at £600per month,

Last night I received a text from my landlord saying that they are now not selling and will be increasing my rent at Christmas to £750 per month.
Can they do this if they have put in writing that they are not increasing the rent?

Thanks 😊 

p00hsticks

Are you still preparing to leave in February ?

Jessiecacar

I have had an offer accepted on a house and currently waiting to hear back from my mortgage. So yes I plan on leaving before February but they are saying they are increasing my rent from Christmas against this previous letter. 

saajan_12

Jessiecacar said:

Hi, I am just after some advice before I challenge my landlord.

In august my landlord put a letter through my letterbox saying that they were selling the house and I had 6 months to leave. During this period until 22nd February 2022 my rent would be maintained at £600per month,

Last night I received a text from my landlord saying that they are now not selling and will be increasing my rent at Christmas to £750 per month.
Can they do this if they have put in writing that they are not increasing the rent?

Thanks 😊 

What did you give up in return for fixing the rent? If that formed a contract, then both sides have to give something up ("consideration"), otherwise they have a right to serve notice and guarantee nothing about rent. 

If you didn't give anything up, then the letter was just a gift / info only, not a contract, so they can change their mind. 

How are they increasing the rent - if they're just asking for it then you can decline until they serve a Section 13 notice. At that point, you can agree / negotiate / refer to tribunal, who would decide if the £750 was in line with the market rent. 

canaldumidi

Are you in a fixed term tenancy, when does it end, and does the tenancy agreement mention rent increase?

Or is your tenancy periodic (rolling), does the TA mention rent increases, and/or have you received a S13 Notice?

As an aside, don't forget when you purchase/wish to leave you need to serve proper notice, and should not do so till you've Exchanged contracts on your purchase. See also

Post 4: 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?

Post 5: Rent increases: when & how can rent be increased?

Jessiecacar

So the letter they gave me giving me 6 months notice to leave is a gift?

I am on a month rolling tenancy, I appreciate that they can increase my rent I just didn’t know if they could seeing as they already issued me my notice and an agreement to keep the rent at £600per month until February 2022.

obviously I am not going to accept the rent increase and will argue this but I am currently not able to tell them I have found alternative accommodation or am planning on leaving until I am further forward with my house purchase,

thanks 

canaldumidi

Jessiecacar said:

So the letter they gave me giving me 6 months notice to leave is a gift?

I am on a month rolling tenancy, I appreciate that they can increase my rent I just didn’t know if they could seeing as they already issued me my notice and an agreement to keep the rent at £600per month until February 2022.
 

As Sajaan_12 pointed out, the 'agreement' was not contractual as you received noting in return. Being given notice to leave is not a gift!

You've not mentioned whether your tenancy agreement makes allowance for rent increases or not - that would determine whether a S13 Notice was required or not.

Incidentaly, was the 'notice to leave' letter a S21 Notice, or just a private letter with no legal force?

theoretica

Jessiecacar said:

obviously I am not going to accept the rent increase and will argue this but I am currently not able to tell them I have found alternative accommodation or am planning on leaving until I am further forward with my house purchase,

Why the need for secrecy?  Certainly don't give them notice, but telling them that you hope to be in a position to give them notice in the next few months and expect them to honour their previous letter if you are out by the date given seems the straightforward way of proceeding.

ShinyYellowBoots

theoretica said:
Why the need for secrecy?  Certainly don't give them notice, but telling them that you hope to be in a position to give them notice in the next few months and expect them to honour their previous letter if you are out by the date given seems the straightforward way of proceeding.

I can completely understand OP's caution. If she tells her landlord that she plans on leaving soonish, then landlord may decide to just give her two months' notice now and hope they can relet at a higher rent. 

Snookie12cat

Yes, your landlord can increase the rent if in periodic. He has now said you can stay so he's renegotiating the terms.

He must give you one month minimum notice of rent increase in form of section 13 notice. 
When is your next rent due? I suggest you pay it and then inform him of the above as he needs to issue the section 13 in line with your rent due date. If he misses that date for November/December then he will need to increase it from the month later. 

canaldumidi

Snookie12cat said:

Yes, your landlord can increase the rent if in periodic. He has now said you can stay so he's renegotiating the terms.

He must give you one month minimum notice of rent increase in form of section 13 notice. 
When is your next rent due? I suggest you pay it and then inform him of the above as he needs to issue the section 13 in line with your rent due date. If he misses that date for November/December then he will need to increase it from the month later. 

S13 is not applicable if the original tenancy agreement laid out terms for rent increases.OP has not yet clarified.

As for advising the LL to issue a S13, why on earth? All that (might) do is facilitate the increase which the OP is trying to avoid!