Form 4 - Assured Periodic Tenancy - Has Landlord made a mistake?

Taiko

Trying to help a friend of mine here, and I've no experience renting myself as purchased my property. What I know is as follows:

- Tenancy started in 2015, now rolling month to month. Believe this to be an Assured Periodic Tenancy having gone past the initial fixed term.
- LL arrived at friend's house in October unannounced. Informed verbally would be looking to increase price.
- Friend was not prepared to agree this, due to issues with leaking roof/damp walls. Said would sign and agree any increase if these issues were rectified first.
- No works undertaken, but LL sent over a Form 4 Notice. Landlord's Agent is listed as the address on this. 
- Form 4 was sent to friend on 16th November 2022, posted below.



The current rent they pay is £1050 a month, with the landlord wanting to increase this by £100 a month. What I've noticed on this form though is that the agent has transposed these figures, and has put the old rent in the new rent section, and vice versa. 

Given this, would the correct course of action be for them to continue paying £1050, based on the above? Or would a simple transposition in this case, which is a bit obvious, make that irrelevant? 

If this form error is an issue, can the landlord simply issue a new form straight away to take effect from the same date, or would this then potentially be extended further? Or are they prohibited from issuing a new form for a period of time? 

macman

Context: has the rent not been increased since the original fixed term in 2015?
Repairs should be done if required, so I wouldn't be linking that to a rental increase, otherwise the LL will be encouraged to seek further increases every time a repair is needed.
The LL can reissue, then the commencement date will then be min 1 month from the new date  of service, starting at the first day of the tenancy period. He can't backdate it to the date of the first Form 4 service.
Tenant can either accept it, or decline and go to tribunal.
But, assuming the clueless LL hasn't even noticed his error, why not just accept the generous offer of a £100 rent reduction though? LL cannot revise it more than once a year, so in theory he'd get a year on the reduced rate. Though probably along with an S21...

theartfullodger

Friend should challenge increase - there should be details how with the form.  Also see
https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/private_renting/rent_increases/challenge_a_rent_increase

It's entirely legal for him to propose a rent reduction.

Suggest he also documents all required repairs & issues in a calm, polite letter, keep copy.  Draft letter example here...

https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/repairs/how_to_report_repairs_to_a_private_landlord

propertyrental

Worth checking: Did the original (fixed term) tenancy agreement contain a clause related to rent reviews or increases? If yes, then that takes priority and the LL can only alter the rent in line with the relevant clause. The Form 4 (or S13 Notice as it's usually known) would be invalid.

I agree the repairing issues are irrelevant so far as the rent is concerned, but should be dealt with separately. See

Post 2: Repairing Obligations: the law, common misconceptions, reporting/enforcing, retaliatory eviction & the new tenant protection (2015) plus the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018

Taiko

macman said:

Context: has the rent not been increased since the original fixed term in 2015? 
Repairs should be done if required, so I wouldn't be linking that to a rental increase, otherwise the LL will be encouraged to seek further increases every time a repair is needed.
The LL can reissue, then the commencement date will then be min 1 month from the new date  of service, starting at the first day of the tenancy period. He can't backdate it to the date of the first Form 4 service.
Tenant can either accept it, or decline and go to tribunal.
But, assuming the clueless LL hasn't even noticed his error, why not just accept the generous offer of a £100 rent reduction though? LL cannot revise it more than once a year, so in theory he'd get a year on the reduced rate. Though probably along with an S21...

Doesn't appear to have been any increase, at least since 2018. Probably is reasonable in all honesty. 

Obtained this from an email she sent the LL:

"I've received the email regarding the new tenancy however before I sign are you able to come over and have a look at some work and repairs I think need doing? Mainly the damp/mould issue downstairs that I've shown you previously. It's definitely getting worse despite keeping the house well ventilated, the walls are quite often wet and are producing mould spores. <Daughter>'s been having stomach issues for the past two years and we saw a specialist last week and they asked if we had any damp or mould in the house so now I'm quite concerned it's linked."

This was sent a few months ago, no actions taken other than clearing the gutters. I have suggested, based on reading the Repairing Obligations propertyrental linked to, that if they don't resolve the damp informally then they need to refer this to the council for inspection. 

The Form 4 was signed by their agent, so not sure how much awareness the LL will even have of this. To be perfectly honest, I missed it on my first read through, as did my friend. It was actually her 8 year old that noticed it, so if I were to go on an older TV show asking if I'm smarter than one, the answer is likely to be no! 

Required repairs have been documented by whatsapp/email, and screenshots being kept from now onwards. Thank you all for the clarification, as this is definitely not my area of expertise.

propertyrental

theartfullodger said:

Friend should challenge increase - there should be details how with the form.  Also see
https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/private_renting/rent_increases/challenge_a_rent_increase

It's entirely legal for him to propose a rent reduction.

though the fact that the 'existing' rent is wrongly entered makes it pretty clear it's an admin error. Tribunal/court would probably agree, dis-regard the S13 Notice, and LL could serve a new one.

macman

If that email has been ignored for months, then I'd up the ante. Say that the rent increase will be disputed at tribunal unless the damp problem is resolved, and EH will be informed of the possible risk to health.
In the light of what happened in Rochdale recently, the LL would be a fool to ignore any such warning.
LL has had a reliable tenant for 7 years, why not take care of them?