Paulo P

My wife and I have lived in the same place now for exactly 3 years on the 19th. About a month ago I spotted the letting agents outside taking a photo so I approached my landlord and asked him what was going on because we had no plans to move just yet. He explained that they'd just done a valuation on his house and our place too and he might have to adjust our rent.

Last week he said he'd had the figures back from the letting agent he wanted to discuss them with us so I agreed to chat to him on Friday evening. Friday evening came and he came round. He explained that the letting agents had valued it at £100 a month more than we are paying but how can they have done that when they didn't enter the property and see what we live in?

Our landlord disconnected the old boiler from our kitchen in September 2005 and only removed it a few weeks ago, since then the old boiler has sat on our driveway and it's still there now They installed a new boiler (on the wall this time) and it took us around a year to get the wall re-plastered but all of the wires etc are still exposed, the wall isn't painted etc & we've just lived with it with him always promising to fix it. Now he wants more money he's agreed to fix the mess he caused in Sept 2005

That £100 increase is an increase of 15.5% which isn't really in-line with inflation and the rise in energy costs but he demanded the increase effective from the day after (Sat) which is when we pay our rent Our rent has always covered council tax, water, gas & possibly electric but the electric has always been vague.

Firstly I don't agree with the increase given the state of our kitchen & the rate of inflation & energy costs but it seems from reading up that he can't legally demand a higher rent without notice He is saying it's valued at that amount but there's no way anyone would pay it and it'd cost him £1000 in fees plus it'd sit empty We've been perfect tenants for the 3 years, never caused any damage to the property, enhanced the property and asked permission to make enhancements & we've never given any of our neighbours cause for complaint or missed a payment.

Does anyone know exactly what our rights are?

christianh3

get legal advice. i think you're up shit creek though as fas as the landlords concerned, he can increase the rent reasonably as he see's fit. dont matter if they didnt come inside....i bet the value & therefore rent of the property has gone up over the last 3 years.

feel sorry for you as you're obviously good tenants, hopefully he will get idiots next time.

sorry i couldnt help but DEFFO go to your CAB (free) and maybe get some dialogue between you and your landlord about a reducing the increased.....rent will go up mate as does everything in life. I'd say you've done well to escape it for 3 years, ive known some to increase every 12 months.

Martyn

I know it would be a pain in the arse to move, but tell him you will have to if he puts up the rent as you cant afford it.
Just remind him that you have caused him no trouble, and the next people he gets could do.
Would he rather risk that and have the extra money, or a good long term tenant that doesnt fuck him about?
Could you afford a compromise of £50?

Mr RS500

iTrader: (6)

I would tell him you are willing to pay an increase in line with inflation

if he says no , tell him your gonna stop paying the rent all together and claim squotters rights and live there rent free for about 2 years ( that is roughly how long it will take him to get you out )

This will work as a good friend of mine owns some flats and this is exactly what happened to him and he tells me that the tennant has more rights than he does when it comes to squotting and it was the biggest nightmare of his life and there was nothing he could do other than go through the courts and it cost him a fortune in fees and lost rent , he tells me know that having a good tennant who pays on time is the most important thing rather than an extra £20 a week

He will shit himself

rssteve

has the rent been increased in the last 3 years, if not then 15% increase seems fair enough to me. 3 years at 5% and that. if the walls need plastering then constantly call him until he gets the jobs done.

rssteve

or like the majority of landlords and get the heavys in one night

picky775

my landlord has just put my rent up to

Csm

They might think well if you can afford to run cossies and engine rebuilds you can afford some more rent no problem

Chip

iTrader: (3)

Fucking right, if a tenant tried that on me, I would find it FAR cheaper to send a few lads round to burgle them a few times and generally harass them etc and make them want to move out than to miss 2 years rent and go through the court, if they arent going to be reasonable they dont deserve to be treated reasonable.


That said, I wouldnt just put my rent up by 100 quid with no notice, wether thats legal or not, its certainly immoral to not at least give you some warning IMHO.

nilrem

im 99% sure that by law the rent cannot increase until you renew your contract with him! a friend recently had this argument when his GF moved in with him. you are renting the space between the walls.

http://england.shelter.org.uk/advice/advice-2932.cfm

just searched on google and this looks ok... it explains your rights etc.

good luck!

dumped

Read your lease, it must state that he has the right to do this, Your original terms apply no matter how long you have been in as long as you have not accepted anything else. What is the period until your lease can be ended?

Iain Mac

I'd expect you are on a Short Assured Tenancy (or whatever the English equivalent is).

That means it runs for a minimum of 6 months but can be extended thereafter, either informally on a month-to-month basis till one party gives the other notice, or formally by way of a new Agreement.

There will be a clause that allows your landlord to give you notice to quit, and normally one that allows for rent increases too.

Find your copy of the lease and get down to CAB with it asap.

focusv8

http://www.thesite.org.uk/homelawand...as/rentalrises

.

Paulo P

Sorry I've only just got online, been busy all day. Thanks for the advice and links

We can afford the increase in rent but it isn't really about that, it's the fact that he wanted the increase to come into effect from the next day that has pissed me off the most. Looking around at other properties in my area I think that a £50 increase would have been fairer because we are good tenants and he's certainly not given us a formal notice of increase. It seems to me that if we leave it'll be his loss and it'll cost him quite a bit to get new tenants in here and the loss of rent while it's empty plus he wouldn't know who he was getting in here.

Drunken Master

It's bound to happen. If he's had to re mortgage the house recently he'll be paying more due to interest rates. Not mention the increase in value of the house since you've been there. I would think yourself lucky it's stayed the same for 3 years.

If I were in your situation though I would just speak to him and try and get a slight reduction. I reckon he'll come down if you've met all your payments and looked after the house as thats more important than the extra money, and not to forget the loss of letting fees and rent.

PhilM

Just check though, rental rates for a similar property, before you flick him the bird and do one, and find that anywhere else of a similar standard is £200 more

Paulo P

It's really hard to do that because it's quite a unique property It's only a 1 bed place and we could get a 2 bed for anywhere between £100 less than we pay now up to what we pay but you have to take into account the bills etc. For a 1 bed place it's easily the most expensive in the area but it's in a very nice area & the bills are paid for.

It's a tough one.