Rent increase advice

sofaless

Hello you lovely lot, I wonder if anyone could maybe give me some advice.

My sister has been renting a room in a 2 bed flat for 7 years from a family member. She initially paid £600pm, increased to £650 about a year ago. This price included bills and was a pretty accurate reflection of market value, given the condition of the property. She has never had a tenancy agreement but has paid rent in full and on time for 7 years without issue.

Her flatmate, landlord's daughter, is leaving at the end of the month and the landlord has verbally advised my sister that she will be increasing her rent by £100 a month, bills will be payable on top, and in addition there will be service charges payable, all in all increasing her outlay by about £300pm. The property has recently had some superficial improvements made to it (basic decorating) but this will still push the the rent up to above market value for the location and condition of the property. In addition her landlord has stated that if she is unable to rent the other room by September she will be serving my sister notice to vacate.

My sister intends to leave but obviously needs time to find a new home, in the meantime her landlord is pushing to agree to the new rent which is not only unreasonable but would entail signing a tenancy agreement and accepting responsibility for all bills and service charges for as long as the other room remains empty.

I'm unsure what to advise my sister, I'm wondering if anyone has any knowledge or experience that they could share?

Many thanks in advance.

propertyrental

There is a little ambiguity as to whether she is a tenant, renting from the owner/landlord, or a lodger, sharing with her landlord the daughter.

Who does she pay rent to? the 'landlord' or the daughter?

However, on the face of limited information she appears to be a tenant.

Does she currently have a fixed term tenancy agreement with the landlord? If yes, what are the start and end dates? And what clauses are there, if any, relating to rent increases?

If no fixed term, and her tenancy is Periodic (ie monthly roling), how has the LL proposed the rent increase? Via a formal S13 Notice? 

Unless there is a clause in her most recent tenancy agreement, or a S13 Notice, then her LL is doing nothing more than suggesting a new rent. The tenant can agree, decline, or indeed totally ignore the suggestion.

See

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

Does she currently pay for bills (utilities?), or a contribution towards them? Or is this a new introduction?

Likewise the 'service charge'. Is this new?

But bottom line is that if she signs the new agreement she will be bound by it. But she has no obligation to do this.

sofaless

Hi @propertyrental thank you for replying.

She pays directly to the landlord and has never had a tenancy agreement of any kind. She has not received an S13 just communication verbally and today via text message asking for her agreement. All bills are currently included in her rent and the service charge is new.

Should she decline the rent increase and new terms, or indeed if the landlord asks her to vacate in September where would she stand then?

Many thanks!

propertyrental

She could either
1) decline the new rent or
2) simply ignore the LL and continue paying as before

If the LL wants her to vacate in Sept he would need to serve a S21 notice. If that happens, post here with details as many S21s are invalid.

Note that if she agrees the new rent,or simply starts paying it, then it will automatically become the established legal rent.

But she does not have to agree.

sofaless

@propertyrental thank you so much, really appreciate your help.

anselld

"Service charge" sounds like an illegal fee under the Tenant Fees Act unless this is some form of serviced accommodation.  If it is the normal service charge on a Leasehold property it should be paid by the Landlord (leaseholder).

saajan_12

sofaless said:

Hello you lovely lot, I wonder if anyone could maybe give me some advice.

My sister has been renting a room in a 2 bed flat for 7 years from a family member. 
She initially paid £600pm, increased to £650 about a year ago. This price included bills and was a pretty accurate reflection of market value, given the condition of the property. She has never had a tenancy agreement but has paid rent in full and on time for 7 years without issue. - given this and the flatmate being the LL/family's daughter, the key question whether its a tenancy or a licence. Does she have anything signed? Who was the initial conversation / verbal agreement with? Who does she pay rent to?  

Her flatmate, landlord's daughter, is leaving at the end of the month and the landlord has verbally advised my sister that she will be increasing her rent by £100 a month, bills will be payable on top, and in addition there will be service charges payable, all in all increasing her outlay by about £300pm. - are the service charges a fixed amount more as an explanation of the rent increase (eg I would like to increase to £750 plus the service charges are £50 so overall rent will be £800) or is the proposal to pay whatever the variable service charges are?
The former might be passable, but the latter is a prohibited fee. The tenant is only liable for the rent and THEIR bills - eg utilities, council tax, broadband as those should be in the tenant's name. The service charge is a LL's bill. 

The property has recently had some superficial improvements made to it (basic decorating) but this will still push the the rent up to above market value for the location and condition of the property. In addition her landlord has stated that if she is unable to rent the other room by September she will be serving my sister notice to vacate. - assuming tenant, that would give sister quite some time to move (2 months notice + time for possession order etc). If lodger, then it can be much shorter, probably 1 month and no court. 

My sister intends to leave but obviously needs time to find a new home, in the meantime her landlord is pushing to agree to the new rent which is not only unreasonable but would entail signing a tenancy agreement and accepting responsibility for all bills and service charges for as long as the other room remains empty. - she doesn't have to sign anything, can agree to a smaller increase in line with the market, or just stay as is. Note the LL may still evict via the process. 

I'm unsure what to advise my sister, I'm wondering if anyone has any knowledge or experience that they could share?

Many thanks in advance.

Comments in line. However the key will be if this is a licence / lodger relationship, whereby the notice etc is shorter. In either case, they cant force a rent increase without further notices and the best outcome will probably be finding a new place sooner or later, just depends on what the time pressure is.