How to inform Tenant of rent increase

qwertyqwerty

Hi there, my tenants are currently on a rolling tenancy with the understanding that it would be reviewed after a year.  i am now just over 3 months away from that year and due to an increase in costs for me I need to raise the rent. What is the best way to inform them of this raise, is it in person or does it need to be something formal?

Thanks,

RAS

The best thing is not exactly "tea and cakes", but an informal chat with your tenants explaining why you are going to have increase the rent.

Try to agree a figure and date of increase with them and write to them to confirm. If they pay the agreed figure, that is legally binding.

If not, let them know you are sending a formal S13 notice, and do it promptly. 

MultiFuelBurner

How much do you think you will have to raise rent? Is it comparable with local rents?

So they have an existing 12month AST?

If so in one months time you should.issue the following 12 month AST with the rent increase to start when the existing one ends. 

Is this going to be a massive surprise to them the amount hence my first question?

qwertyqwerty

i'm trying to keep it a minimum as I like the tenants.  They have been there 4 years and there has been no rent inrease in this time.  I'm thinking a £50 a month increase, which I feel is still below local rents in the area.

gazfocus

qwertyqwerty said:

i'm trying to keep it a minimum as I like the tenants.  They have been there 4 years and there has been no rent inrease in this time.  I'm thinking a £50 a month increase, which I feel is still below local rents in the area.

To be honest, with the increases home owners are having to cope with, I think £50 per month is negligible enough that the tenants should cope with it quite easily.

The house I was renting out to family would need to have gone up £500 a month to cope with an increase in interest rate. 

propertyrental

Two pronged approach.

1) informal. A chat as friendly as possible with explanations of a) your increased costs and b) examples of other local rents for similar properties, leading to an agreed amount.

2) a formal follow up. This depends if your tenants have a Contractual Periodic Tenancy or a Statutory Periodic.
If contractual, what is the exact wording in the most recent tenancy agreement? Implement that.
If statutory, serve a S13 Notice.

See

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?

MeteredOut

Any tenant who has not had an increase in 4 years and has been anywhere near the news should be expecting "the chat", and I suspect they'll be inwardly pleased its only £50/month (assuming that is a relatively small increase as a % of what they already pay).