How To Increase Your Tenant’s Rent The Right Way (Section 13 Notice)

Have been a tenant in same house for 25 years! Rent goes up every few years but landlord has just said rent going up but by 30 a week!! To me that's far too much, is he allowed to increase that much in one go?

''It’s also generally better to gradually increase rather than holding back for a couple of years and then increasing it by a significant amount- that will be a lot more difficult for your tenants to accept.''

Try changing ''accept'' to ''afford'' , every time you increase someones rent you decrease someones ability to afford to keep their home.

Also, maintenance costs should not fall on your tenants, its your house, your responsibility to maintain it, if you cannot afford to do this, don't become a land lord.
For instance, you hire a car for 7 days, after day three it breaks down, the hire company repair it but tell you you now owe them more money because of ''maintenance costs'', you wouldn't be very happy would you?

Brilliant information

I set out with the intention of having non-smoking, non-pet owning tenants. My tenants are cat and dog owning smokers! The seemed like a decent couple, who ask me could they have a dog a few months after moving in. They had a couple of cats already. I agreed as they have been good tenants. My property is well looked after, there are no problems with neighbours either. I don't hear a peep from them and they have paid their rent on time for over a year. I want to keep these tenants and will therefore not be increasing their rent.

All very well!
You have made a business decision that you are seemingly able to make.
I wonder if you would make a different decision were your rents insufficient to meet your increased costs caused by C24 etc!?
Many LL are being forced to uncreasecrents above the amounts they would normally increase by
Charging tax on mortgage debt interest is a major upset to the business model of a leveraged LL who trades in his own name
It is reckoned that about 25% of leveraged LL are sole traders
Most if them will have little alternative than to increase their rents massively to cope with the new taxes
If interest rates increased they would have to increase rents even more though if course this is very unlikely
Tenants will always have to pay for increased business costs
If they don't the LL will go out of business
If all the some trader leveraged LL were bankrupted tomorrow there would be massive negative effects on the housing market in general and certainly on the PRS
Therefore your nice tenants would have to pay increased rents or you will be out of business
Of course every sole trader LL has unique individual business circumstances
Your tenants should count themselves very fortunate that they seem to have a LL immune from the travails that are affecting most of the remaining some trader LL
Have you completed the spreadsheet on property118 to determine your viability
Many slie trader leveraged LL are ignorant as to the ramifications of the new Budget Taxes
Many believe that if they are currently a BRT that they are safe from becoming a HRT
They couldn't be more WRONG!!!
They urgently need to review their status through the prism of the new taxes
LL and tenants are in for a shock at how much costs and consequently rents are going to go up
LL are effectively going to become tax collectors for Govt
A Tenant Tax if you will!!
The only way currently to avoid legally these new C24 tax charges is to incorporate
This is not so easy for a wide variety of reasons
Which is why many leveraged some trader LL will either have to increase rents or go bankrupt
The solution for many of them will be to avoid bankruptcy by reducing leverage on their properties usually by selling properties
This will mean lots of evicted tenants with nowhere to rent as there will be hardly any new supply coming to market
So my advice to tenants is to ascertain from their LL if he is leveraged and whether he has worked out what rent increases might be necessary just to meet the costs of C24 etc
The last thing a tenant needs is for his potentially leveraged sole trader LL to not even be aware of C24!!
The tenant obviously wants to know his LL could survive C24, usually by a tent increase
A tenant can budget for this if he knows what it might be
Too few LL let alone tenants are even aware that this calculation urgently needs to be made

It is a personal choice for each landlord.

No it isn't a matter of personal choice
Did you not read my above post;?
Many LL will have no choice at all
They will need to increase rents or go bankrupt
Being taxed on losses is a bonkers concept
If you truly believe increasing rents is a matter of choice then you have absolutely no understanding of what the Budget taxes on the PRS mean.I suggest you educate yourself rapidly

Not everyone shares your views - did you not read all the posts above?

Let's qualify the comments
Very few sole trader leveraged LL will share your views
These are the ones subject to C24 which forces LL to increase rents by more than they would normally do
As indeed I am doing
I am not going to run my leveraged business model at a loss or suffer reduced net income
Therefore the tenant has to pay what is effectively a TENANT TAX!!!!
Very few LL are able to escape this iniquitous C24 tax and so they have little alternative than to increase rents
You will also find that those LL increase rents in line with sole trader leveraged LL
So all tenants will find their rents will be increasing
I have already seen LL selling up because of these new taxes and the tenants cannot find anywhere to rent in the locale
This will also force rents up
Scarcity of an asset will always cause the price to increase
The fatuous idea that LL won't increase rents unless they need to is bonkers
LL are in this game to make as much money as they can
Osborne has now cost LL some of the profit which will now have to paid for by the tenant
LL who don't increase rents are just plain stupid
Unless of course they consider they are part if the charitable housing sector, which is admirable
Most of us exist to make profit and to have that reduced by Osborne and his dopey taxes will he paid for by increased rents like me it or not
Tenants have little choice
In case you hadn't noticed the rental demand increases by about 350000 per year
One of the many supposed benefits of MASS UNCONTROLLED IMMIGRATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!???????

Landlords who are leveraged to the point where this hurts too much are already sailing too close to wind. Reap what you sow. Raise the rent on the Tenants by all means, but if you go too far then other Landlords who don't have the same need to do that will look all the more attractive to prospective Tenants. I do raise the rent each year, anyway, but I have no special plans / emergency measures as this new legislation comes into force, I'll just keep on with modest and regular rises, ones that Tenants have never balked at (yet).

The taxes cannot be described as "dopey", I think. It's more money for the Treasury at the end of the day, from nowhere, so it has to be "clever" instead. He's targeted a population that don't act together and who the general public dislike - it's win-win. As you say, it's just down to where that new tax money really comes from at the end of the day... Landlords or Tenants. In reality I suspect it will be a mixture of both.

I doubt you have a need to get so worked-up if you have a plan to handle it anyway.

Irrespective of whether leveraged d LL are sailing close to the wind they will have to respond in a way to sustain their position
This will usually mean increasing rents.
Of course only about 25% of LL will be subject to C24; but they still house a significant percentage of tenants
It is irrelevant if LL who aren't in this position don't need to increase rents
Tenants won't be able to source another supply of LL who atebt leveraged and therefore they will have to pay the increased rents for renting from a leveraged LL
With continuing mass uncontrolled immigration there will be no lack of demand and consequently leveraged sole trader LL should have no difficulty in sourcing tenants who will heve to pay more rent than to a LL not subject to C24 etc
However whilst such LL could restrain their rent increases as they wouldn't be subject to the C24 tax pressures they are unlikely to stand idly by and watch leveraged LL increase rents albeit for tax paying purposes only
There it is my contention that ALL tenants will be affected by C24
Few LL will disclose their financial position to tenants and therefore as far as any tenant is concerned their LL will be subject to these new iniquitous taxes
They will then more readily accept the position the LL has been forced into
Rents were always going to be increasing because of mass uncontrolled immigration irrespective if C24
C24 has just made the situation worse
If there were significant amounts of property supply brought to market then that might cause a softening of market rents
It will take decades for that to occur if ever.
So in my investment timeline I can expect to see only ever increasing rents, which suits me just fine
Supply problems have also been exacerbated by the the additional SDLT issue along with lenders being required to be even more stringent in the amounts they are prepared to lend
Essentially this means that those LL who with say £60000 may have bought 2 properties they will only be able to afford 1
1 is still better than none but supply will be severely constrained because there will be insufficient mortgage credit available
None of these circumstances of course assists the poor old tenant who will he made poorer by having little alternative than to pay ever increasing rents
That is what a stupid RTB and mass uncontrolled immigration policy gives you
It is those who voted Labour that have caused the problems
Before the dopey Labour Govt allowed the EU A8 accession countries uncontrolled access to the UK there was no housing crisis
We also have an ever increasing birthrate amongst immigrant communities the pressure of which hasn't occurred amongst the traditional indigenous white British population
It must be obvious to anyone that if you have an increasing birth rate and open door immigration something has to give!?
For housing this means insufficient supply and consequently increasing rents on those properties that are let out
I just can't see this situation changing anytime soon
It will NEVER change if the UK votes to remain in the UK
It will just get considerably worse
Tenants will be paying the price whether they like it or not!
My rents will be increasing every year by about £50pcm
If thectenants don't life he it they can leave
I have more than enough demand from other prospective tenants

If your thinking is like your writing you have no chance. It's full of vitriol, sprinkled with what sounds like some casual racism and a political agenda trying to peek its way through. £50 per month per year increases might be absolutely fine, who knows? It all depends on the property and the market. A £50 increase is exactly what one of my properties increased by in 2016 (from £850 to £900), another by £100 (from £1,100), another by £10 (from £590). It's horses for courses. You seem to be doing it as a reaction, whereas I'm doing it because I manage my properties well. No Tenants moved because those increases were kinda expected and not exorbitant. I won't be going to them again claiming I need to increase the rent again because of new taxes, because I hope I've not been caught with my pants down and that's why I say your contention is wrong. Anyway, best of luck.

Err!!hardly vitriol or any casual racism
These are market realities whether you like it or not
Demographic realities are not racist they are simply realties
Your contentions just aren't realistic
The market will dictate
Demand affects everything especially unsatisfied demand
One has to consider where this demand is coming from which is affecting so many people
To describe the reality of this as racist is just bizarre
If non white British are the ones that are causing the exponential demand then that is it
Had they not been allowed access to residence in the UK then we wouldn't be facing the issues we currently do
It goes back as far as the Nationality Act in 1947
The EU has just exacerbated the circumstances even more
Obviously political choice have been made over the years and that is why we have the housing issues that are currently being experienced
We need to reduce immigration to about 15000 per year excluding genuine students
We need to stop immigrants from having so many children, they need to follow the white birthrate
2 children per family is more than enough
Immigrants tend to have far more than that and tend to rely on benefits
Hopefully this will result in a gradually declining UK population
This will mean less demand and less resultant housing pressures
Demographics no matter how comprised will exert pressures on the housing market
It is a fact that if you got rid of all the EU migrants from the EUA8 countries the housing market would be transformed
There would be an excess of housing supply enabling many to buy plus there would be millions of jobs made available to those currently unemployed BRITISH citizens
We would genuinely have BRITISH jobs for BRITISH workers
EU migrants have been of no net benefit to the UK
If that means many LL have insufficient tenants then so be it
They can sell up to FTB
A smaller PRS would benefit many
We need to massively depopulate the UK
Getting rid of immigrants is a first step
Then we need to adopt an Australian type immigration points system, so that we have the immigrants we need and not these that ate just foisted on us
But for any of this we need to leave the EU
I don't expect this to occur which is why I know I can carry on increasing my rents
Great for me, not so good for the rest of the UK
Plus my rents will be more than usual as I am subject to C24 with no way of escaping it
My tenants will be the ones paying for the ridiculous C24 taxes
With swarms of migrants flooding to the UK every year I know there is no shortage of demand especially in the South where my properties are
Tenants would be wise to factor in a rent increase of £50 pcm for the coming years
From a LL perspective I think UNCONTROLLED MASS IMMIGRATION is great news
It means for me I have a never ending supply of tenants forced to pay the rents I require
So exponential tenant demand is great news and it is highly unlikely that this situation will be changing anytime soon
Of course there are plenty of affordable properties but FTB don't want to live in those properties
Most of those are far away from desired locations
Well that is what will have to occur and then commuting will be required
That is what everyone has had to do for the past 100 years
There is no right to live where you want
Affordability is the determining factor for tenants and FTB alike
There can NEVER be sufficient supply with open borders
To ignore that simple reality is to show how naive one maybe
LL in the South will have no problems in increasing rents
People still desire to live there no matter the expense
So whilst some tenants will surrender tenancies because of alleged affordability issues there will ALWAYS be other tenants prepared to pay the asking rents
This has always been the case, but even more so now with the massive unfulfilled demand
In the South LL experience very few voids
They can easily increase their rents with plenty of takers
Something that existing tenants should be aware of
There are plenty of replacement tenants waiting in the wings
It only takes a stroppy tenant to refuse paying increased rents and he will be given his marching orders
Osborne's dopey taxes will just cause less rental properties to be available which will means rents being increased
It is how a market operates!!
For LL who take on HB tenants their business model will be coming to an end
HB is insufficient to support their business models as HB is being constrained
Therefore better tenants not reliant on HB will be the desired by former HB LL
This will enable them to increase rents easily whilst retaining existing tenants
The costs for tenants to move is prohibitive
Better therefore from the tenant perspective to remain with a LL even though paying increased rents
Down South the LL is in charge
More tenants than there is supply gives opportunity for LL to increase rents

Nope, I can't read all that. Try to be concise.

Eh a few line and you struggle to read it
Do you have learning difficulties, if you do then fairplay
If you don't then my post is very simple to understand
It tells you everything you need to know as why LL will increase rents whether they need to or not
I would question how do you determine want is need
As you should know running a business is not just about day to day costs
You have to build in revenue increases to cope with costs, some unexpected
The classic one being boiler replacement costs
Each property has to be a self sustaining business unit
So rents have to include future deductions for future costs
Not sure what a reasonable percentage of net rental income that should be
For LL subject to C24 it makes the costing even more onerous as they could be paying tax on losses
A truly bonkers situation
If you are a LL that doesn't have the average 75% LTV mortgage and is a sole trader then this thread doesn't really apply to you
You seem to believe that LL with that LTV are over leveraged!
A truly bonkers perception
Most homebuyers are far more leveraged than that and yet Osborne doesn't seem minded to tax their mortgage interest as income
Funny that!!!
You know to level the playing field for poorer FTB!!!!!
C24 is the most bonkers tax policy to come out in over 250 years
Hopefully it will following a JR be consigned to the dustbin of history along with dopey Osborne
Controlling BTL mortgage credit is a far fairer methodology of controlling the PRS market
Very few LL would object
It would just be the lending criteria
Nobody has the right to be a LL and if you don't have sufficient deposit or rental income projections to satisfy a mortgage valuer then tough you won't become a LL!!!
If overnight Osborne stayed that V24 and the stupid extra SDLT was to be abished but that from now on ALL BTL mortgages would only be allowed at 150% LTV you would see an almost cessation of BTL busness
As a LL I would find that annoying, but it would be something I just have to accept
I would need a far larger deposit to invest in another property so I probably wouldn't bother
That will leave the field clear for FTB
Trouble is with MMR they won't be able to afford property as well!!!
So where will all the new tenants live!?
The facts ate if you ate not increasing your rents in a ever burgeoning market you are not managing your business well
Your aim as a LL should always be to maximise profits
If you don't then why bother with all the hassle!!??
Most LL ate in this game to make as much money as they can as quickly as they can
The market presents great opportunity to facitaye that
You'd be bonkers not to take advantage of what the market allows

You spin around too fast, first you're representing this as some big headache and saying Landlords will be forced to raise rents, now you seem to be presenting it as an opportunity we should take advantage of... make your mind up. I, for one, have learned nothing from your comments, I will continue as-was, as-is.

If you decide not to raise a tenant's rent, do you think there is any merit in writing to them to tell them that you have decided NOT to raise it on this occasion?

My tenants are coming to the end of their fixed 12 month tenancy and it will now revert to a rolling one, so this would be the usual point to review the rental price.

It hasn't been increased for 2 years and give the market has risen nearly 4% I could justify a £50/month increase, however I like my tenants and they look after the property brilliantly, so I'm inclined not to raise it.
However I did think I might tell them this - would there be any risks/disadvantages of doing this?

I am a landlady and my tenants 12 month Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreement is up for renewal in a few days, they have said that they want to stay another year and i am happy for them to do so.

However, I have not increased the rent for the last 3 years, even though there is clause in my contract stating the following:

On each anniversary of the date of this agreement, if this agreement stays in force for more than a year, the rent may be increased in line with the retail price index or by 4.5%, whichever is the greater.

So I have proposed a 2% a month increase, (which i think is very fair) but how long notice period of this increase do I need to give them?

Thank you

Caron

Well if you read above from where it says "When
can a landlord increase rent?"

It says "Check your Tenancy Agreement, because there may be a rent increase clause in there which would have been agreed and signed at the start of the tenancy. The procedure in the agreement should be followed."

You did that and if you do not renew but go statutory Periodic then you can increase the rent in accordance with the agreement on the anniverary. For a SP they could query (section 13) it but at 2% you are not going to have a problem.

A stated above, the other option you have is

"Renew the tenancy agreement at the end of the fixed term but with an increased rent."

If for some reason they do not want to agree to sign a new tenancy and they remain in the property (assuming you did not serve them a Section 21 2 months ago) then you have to serve a Section 21.

Obviously you would want to make sure that you have protected the deposit in an approved scheme and issued the prescribed information before issuing a section 21.

All you need to do is email the tenant and say to them that in accordance with Clause X you propose increasing the rent by 2%, please would they be so kind as to confirm this is acceptable and that they still wish to renew the tenancy agreement.

If they say they are not in agreement say to them "so are you giving notice to quit, when do you plan to leave"? If they say on

It is a bit lastminute.com but I think all will be fine.

If they stay on beyond the expiry of the AST they become Stat Periodic and you have to issue 21.

I rented a property more than 5 years ago via an agent, during the first year the landlord stopped using the agent who we signed a lease agreement, on our renewal date the landlord and I agreed to continue on principle going forward. Its been relatively smooth and working. He also agreed for me to let out to a lodger to make up some income as I seperated from my husband so this could assist with costs. Landlord increased the rent last year April by £100 which I agreed to as he had no increased rent previously. But a year down the line he wants to increase it again by another £100 but this is putting financial strain on me being a single income household. I have never not paid rent and been a model tenant. How do I stand not having a current legal agreement with him and can I negotiate on the increase as it will put strain on me and my family? I have not had any cost of living increase in my income for several years so this is hitting me hard now? any advice whould be great.

A question. Me and my partner have been renting from our landlord for 16 months. We received a letter from him on Monday saying that he wants to increase the rent by £30. This in itself is not an issue and at the time we considered fair. The landlord also owns the shop below us, we have just found out that he is increasing their rent by £55 a month just to cover repair works which have been needed. Our flat also needed repair works (not due to us, water coming in from the roof which also went into the shop) so we are wondering if the increase to our rent is to cover the repairs. My question is can a landlord increase rent for the sole purpose of covering repair costs?

I am a landlord, I have issued my tenant with a section 13 notice back in April giving them 1 months notice of my intention to increase their rent.
My tenant agreed to this and took the notice to the council who pay the majority of their rent.the council said they needed a tenancy agreement but I have been unwell and have only just become well enough to deal with this .
My question is: Do I have to issue my tenant with a new section 13 or can I back date the tenancy agreement to May or can I just give a tenancy agreement starting from this month.

Is the tenant is on Housing Benefit and taking the agreement to the Council so they increase HB, or is S/He taking it for them to review?

You can backdate the tenancy agreement, otherwise if on HB they will not pay the higher amount. If it is the latter then it makes no difference as they will decide what they decide regardless of the date.

The mistake many Landlords who have DSS tenants make is putting the rent up above the LHA allowance for their area. You can find this out from gov.uk

If you have a DSS tenant and they are on Housing Benefit with a rent £100 per week and the LHA is £100, all is well. Then you put the rent up to £140 a week but the LHA rate is still around £100.

What happens is the Council will pay you the £100 LHA rate only, now the tenant may start off my making up the difference, but do the maths. If they are on JSA they get around £74 a week, so no way they can spend £40 of that on your rent and so come the arrears.

So before you do the rent increase check the LHA rate, if your new total is under LHA rate then fine, but if not you may as well issue a S21 because it will only be a matter of time before the tenant can't keep up with rent.

Benefits have been frozen for some years and Osbourne recently said they will be frozen for at least 4 more.

Meanwhile the LHA rates have NOT increased in line with rent increases and so we are at a point where people on low incomes or benefits simply can't afford to rent in the private sector. So they fall of the ladder but if they did not keep up with their rent it is their fault so they so not get housed or only a fraction do.

Meanwhile Landlords are getting stung with the tax increases so even those with old cheap mortgages are forced to put up rents just to stand still.

All this at a time when we have a massive shortage of rental property in the market.

This is what happens when you put people in charge of Government who have never run a business or had a proper job.

Before landlord ask tenants to pay higher rent, they should investigate the market. If property owner wants current tents to stay, the decision concerning rent increase should be reasonable. Comparing rental property to others in the area is a good place to start. They can use Craigslist or Rentberry for this purpose. The second one allows to see initial rental price submitted by landlord as well as prices that tenants are willing to pay for property.

Hello, I have rented my flat for almost eight years--never missing a payment.
The rental agent has now sent a letter telling all the tenants in the block that--
"There is a high volume of interest in the property and we are offering current tenants, a protected 6 month contract with a rent increase of £25.00 per month"
Basically they are saying " Pay the increase or we will kick you out and replace you with somebody else who will pay it"
Surely this is not legal?

This is a strange one. As you have been there for 8 years, I imagine you should be on a periodic tenancy; or do you sign a new tenancy agreement every 6 months? Actually a £25 pcm rent increase in 8 years is not bad at all! But if you sign a new tenancy agreement for 6 months with the agency, after 4 months they can give you 2 months' notice to leave, thus getting rid of you anyway. I think you need to give us more info about this.

I have a tenant that has been in the property for five years commencing on 21st Feb 2012. They didnt make any payment until the 1st of March 2012. The initial contract expired and went onto a rolling monthly periodic term.

They gave notice they intended to vacate on the 1st of October 2016 in September however they did not vacate and advised at the time they had no leaving date.

They have now given notice (30th November 2016) to vacate the property on the 20th Of December 2016. I have advised they are required to give notice of a full rental period but they are refusing. I have supplied the housing act legislation clearly showing this but they are still refusing and threatening to bring up various things like Gas certificates etc. They have all been done as required.

Now going through the original signed contract I have noticed that I included a clause that stipulated the rent would increase by the Retail Price index plus 2% on the anniversary of the renewal each year. They have never paid any extra since moving in (and regularly late). Doing the maths that makes a shortfall of nearly 4 thousand pounds over 5 years in rent.

what are my rights in this situation? I would not expect the full amount but it far exceeds the 800 pounds they owe for a months rent.

thanks

this is the clause from the signed contract as above ver batem

5.21
If the tenancy extends for longer than 12 months, the rent shall be increased on the
Tenancy anniversary by 2% over the Retail Price Index (RPI), subject to a maximum of
6%

Hi John,

I doubt you can do much with it: if you didn't make any effort to increase the rent at the time or alert the tenants to the fact that they should be paying more (assuming that term was even enforceable outside the fixed period of the contract) then there's not a lot you can do retrospectively. If their deposit is sufficient just deduct the £800 from that and let them argue it out with the dispute resolution service.

I have been a tenant for 20yrs with the ame landlord . My landlord has put up my rent by a whopping 50% in one swoop .....helpppppppp can he do this is it legal? surely not! . i am a single parent and have been a good tenant obviously otherwise i am sure i would of been out on my ear long time ago ....helpppp ! can anyone help me ?

Can a housing association landlord raise the rent to make improvements with the consent of the tenant ?
I've been informed that they can only lower but not increase the rent.

Hi there are lots of comments about how to increase rents, incomes for landlords etc.
But while 'agents' inflate the rental market they ignore the stagnant income of tenants choosing to line their own pockets at the expense of others. For the individual who 'did without' to buy his property his tenants are 'doing without' for the 'privelidge' of living there now.

I've been renting a lockup garage
For 15years after 8 years they put up the rent and never told me
7years later put a note on the the door asking for the extra rent £1000
Can they do that

Your agreement is common-law contractual, not protected by any of the various housing laws of which section 13 (this thread) is about.

You have a legal contract, they can only do what it says in the contract, subject to it not going against common law.

They would probably have had to have served you notice of increase and putting a notice on a door you infrequently visit probably does not suffice, but look at the contract.

I would fire off a letter saying you reject their assertion of allegedly increasing the rent 7 years ago as you were never served with any increase and you reject their attempt to retrospectively charge you.

You can expect a termination notice, you may want to move your stuff just in case. Having said that 7 years x 12 months is 84 months, so they are only claiming £11.90 a month extra. The issue is whether you were informed in accordance with what is in the contract.

Make sure they have your contact details in case they decide to take legal action and want to serve you with a claim, they may win a legal case by default if you did not turn up .

Get some proper legal advice to protect your position.

No, they can't: if the genuinely failed to inform you it would be regarded as consideration after the fact. Even if there were a clause in the original agreement allowing them to raise the rent arbitrarily without informing you, any judge would throw it out as an unfair contract term. And even if the judge didn't throw it out on that basis, the fact that they didn't point out that you were underpaying (as they saw it) for seven years, means that you'd have a defence of estoppel.

Hello

We have a three year contract with our landlord via an estate agency
In the contract it states that our rent can increase inline with RPI annually
We paid our rent at normal rate but have been told three days after paying the rent that our rent has increased by £40 as per our contract and that the estate agency wants that £40
There had been no communication from the estate agency advising of the exact figure increase until this day
Is that the norm?

Thanks

I'm sure they have to give you two months notice to increase any rent. you can dispute it and seek advice from your local council etc

I have lived in the property I am in since August 2004. When I responded to the newspaper advert, it was listed as a One Bedroomed property, with a dining hall which was an extension of the passage.

When I moved in, I took pictures of the state of the property, the rooms needed painting, the carpets were not new. There was mould on the walls, especially in the dining hall area, which has a lot of leaks from the flat above. I spent over £300.00 having the dining hall painted ... and it has been ruined by the leaks from above. The carpets are frayed out, and are dangerous now, another 15 years older. I keep tripping on the frayed edges. I kept slipping and falling in the high stepped shower, so Occupational Therapy helped me to have it replacedand a wet room was put in. The side of the house has a grass path, which became a complete quagmire, so I ended up having a slab path put in as well. I am disabled, and so the factthereis a placefor me to keep my scooter safely is a godsend.

My landlord died, and the Agency who responsible for the upkeep of said property, sold both my property, and the one above as "tenants iñ sìtu" ... the man who bought it sent out a lease which was incorrect, so I notified him. No further lease has been forthcoming,however he came by, and was insistent that the property is now a two bed property, even though when he asked his surveyor, she said no, at most it was a property with two receptions. I showed him the changes I had made. As well as showing him the issues the property still has, that have not been addressed over the years.

About 5 weeks ago, I received a one line email from the agency he is using, and he is claiming I agreed verbally to a rent increase of £100.00. I never did. My current rent started at £450.00 and over the years, with the various increases of £25.00 a time has risen to £625.00.

I take good care of the garden. The tenant upstairs never touches her section, which is a veritable jungle.

I am really desperate. I am alone, I am now 60 years old, I am disabled, and have no one to help if I am forced to move. I simply cannot afford this astronimical increase that is being proposed.

I have a 78 year old widow lady tennant who is not paying rent or taking responsibility. Her son lives nearby in a 4 bedroom home and daugther in a 2 bed. A section 6A was served but she has done a counterclaim for dampness and disrepair after living there for 18 years with her partner who died last year. Her husband died in Yemen last year and a facebook post was up on 18th June 2019 about his death and after his burial and property distribution she returned to UK in August 2019 and declared his death to be 17th September 2019 leaving landlords at risk of overpayment from Council. A ground 1 possession notice has now been served as well as section 48 for neglect and breaches of tenancy agreement but sadly her counterclaim can go eitherway since Community Law solicitors have exaggerated all sorts of information to make her case sound good. Shame on them for wasting public funds to support a client who has committed benefit fraud with the same public funds. You cant evict her even if you prove to courts that she committed benefit fraud, and is not paying rent and over 8 weeks in rental arrears and occupying a 3 bedroom home alone which she doesn't really need or justify on paper but filling up with 20 guests for 3 days every weekend. The law is too one sided in favour of tenants who have the upper hand over landlords. If you dry clothes on radiators and keep windows closed and cover vents with tape and fill home with 20 guests, leave home empty and cold for 5 months and go abroad then can you Sue landlords for condensation?

I’ve been served section 21 notice
The notice period is six months (we expect to be out in March)
In addition to this, my landlord has issued a section 13 notice to increase rent.
Can I refuse this increase or is my only recourse to apply to the tribunal?
Thanks

Far better to have a small increase each year in line with the contract to avoid needing big rises in future. Everything else is going up, including maintenance and insurance, so you need to get the balance right.

It completely depends on personal situation.

We have had a tenant for five years now paying around 20% below market. But, one I factor in that I don't pay a letting agent and the tax is slightly lower, the actual gap in net income is marginal (maybe £100 pcm) Vs potential hassle of finding new tenants and void periods.

But like I said, it really is each to their own.