Help! Contract renewal and rent increase

Kkml1961

Hello all, I have been following this forum for long and need your help now please with a situation I'm currently facing with my landlord's estate agents.

I am a disabled tenant, and the estate agents are insisting that I visit their office in person to renew my rental contract and discuss a rent increase. However, due to my disability and the agents' somewhat dismissive attitude, I would prefer to handle this matter remotely, either by email or post. 

Could you please help:

1. Is it legally acceptable to request to sign the renewal contract via email or postal mail, given my circumstances? Are there any legal protections for disabled tenants that might support this request? 

2. How much of a rent increase is legally permissible? I live in London, and I am unsure of the regulations surrounding rent increases here. 

I would greatly appreciate your guidance on these matters to ensure that my rights as a tenant are protected. I don't have anyone around me to ask.

Thank you for your time in advance.

Bookworm105

1. there is no law that says you must go there,
nor is there a law saying you can require post or email (disabled or not)
disability law probably means there is some general requirement to make "reasonable adaptions", but i have no idea if you can play that card in terms of a tenancy contract signing

2. there are no restrictions on the size of rent increases, either you agree in full, agree something lower or you move out

RHemmings

Bookworm105 said:

1. there is no law that says you must go there,
nor is there a law saying you can require post or email (disabled or not)
disability law probably means there is some general requirement to make "reasonable adaptions", but i have no idea if you can play that card in terms of a tenancy contract signing

2. there are no restrictions on the size of rent increases, either you agree in full, agree something lower or you move out

I'm not a lawyer, but I would expect that for a disabled tenant reasonable accomodations should be made. And, allowing a contract to be signed by email or post seems to be reasonable to me. But, I'm not a judge who would actually decide that. It seems to me that sending a request for this, noting your disability, in a brief polite email would be entirely sensible. There is a lot of information about EAs and Landlords' responsibility to follow The Equality Act (2010), but online information is mainly about changes  to the property itself. https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/guidance/business/guidance-businesses/equality-law-estate-agents-letting-agents-and-property

If a rent increase is due to a section 13 notice, then it can be challenged at tribunal. Note that it is most likely only worth taking the case to tribunal if the new rent will be significantly more than the market rent for the type of property  in that area. That needs to be established first. What are other similar properties letting for in the area? 

More info here: https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/private_renting/rent_increases/challenge_a_rent_increase 

saajan_12

Its permissible to request demand no signing at all. In that case you would simply move to a periodic tenancy which continues month by month on the same terms.

So if the LL / LA wants you to sign, they can adjust to whatever you request with the alternative being stay rolling. I'm not sure about specific disability protections if you wanted the renewal, generally would be based on what is considered "reasonable", but I'd suggest there's little in in for you. 

Re rent increase, check what it says in your tenancy agreement. If there's a limit, then the increase should follow that. If not, then its more open.. they can offer whatever as part of a new contract, its up to you to accept, decline or negotiate. As part of a rolling tenancy, they can serve Section 13 notice to increase to market levels - the process is they serve notice for whatever but you can challenge via tribunal and anything above market levels should be knocked back. 

_Penny_Dreadful

RHemmings said:

Bookworm105 said:

1. there is no law that says you must go there,
nor is there a law saying you can require post or email (disabled or not)
disability law probably means there is some general requirement to make "reasonable adaptions", but i have no idea if you can play that card in terms of a tenancy contract signing

2. there are no restrictions on the size of rent increases, either you agree in full, agree something lower or you move out

If a rent increase is due to a section 13 notice, then it can be challenged at tribunal. Note that it is most likely only worth taking the case to tribunal if the new rent will be significantly more than the market rent for the type of property  in that area. That needs to be established first. What are other similar properties letting for in the area? 

More info here: https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/private_renting/rent_increases/challenge_a_rent_increase 

It’s fairly pointless for a tenant with an AST to challenge a section 13 at tribunal. Don’t want to pay the increased rent? That’s fine here is a section 21. It really only works for someone with an AST when they know their landlord has fluffed up the paperwork and can therefore not issue a valid section 21 and the new proposed rent is not in line with the market rate.