Rent increase of 27.59%

[Pumpernickelsoup]

Simple question.
I am a single mum who rents privately and have lived in the same house for over 13 years.
Landlord has just informed me that the rent will be increased as of May 1st (so not next rent but the one after) by 27.59%.
The house needs some repairs doing which I have been asking for for years which he has said he will have a look at.
Is this a fair (and legal) increase if he is to do the repair work I have asked of him.
Thank you.

For context of cost the rent has stood at £725 pcm for a good few years with no increase but it’s now proposed to be £925 pcm as of 1st May.

How many years has it been without an increase? What are comparable rents in the area? And yes, it's legal. Whether or not it's unreasonable depends to a large extent on the answer to those two questions.

The landlord can set the rent as whatever he likes assuming a rent increase is permissable under the tenancy.

That does seem like quite a jump - I assume to make up for the time it has remained at the same rent price despite costs going up?

I have just been given a similar rent hike. I challenged it and am now being kicked out!

Be very careful. Landlords are utter scum!!!

How does it compare with similar properties locally? Has your LL kept your rent below the normal level for the area?

It sounds as though you too are a victim of the government's housing policies which has meant many landlords selling up resulting in poor supply and no drop off in demand hence higher rents.

There is a formal process for challenging a rent increase to a rents tribunal. It is a free process but unlikely to be successful if the ll has increased it commensurate with market rents in the local area.

If you are a good tenant try negotiating with the ll. For example if you've never missed a payment, keep the property well maintained, you act in a tenant like manner and are happy to carry out basic maintenance yourself, these may be good bargaining points for a lower increase.

I never increase my tenant's rent to market rent because I prefer to keep them longer term, and so any increases always keep the rent below market rates. Has your landlord done that and what are the market rates?

@Dobbysgotthesocks

I have just been given a similar rent hike. I challenged it and am now being kicked out!

Be very careful. Landlords are utter scum!!!

No they are running a business. And that means maximising profit.

The issue isn't landlords. The issue is the worldwide, aggressive commodification of essential services, the worst being housing. We have allowed extremely rich people to decide that water, housing, healthcare, heat and the rest aren't essentials which should be managed as public services, affordable to all. We have allowed laissez faire economics to take them over and the problem with that is that I can decide not to buy a gold bar unless it's a price I deem fair. But I have to have a place to live. REITs, zombie apartments, all sorts of things have been done to treat housing like gold or diamonds.

www.make-the-shift.org has some interesting films and information. Housing as a human right is long overdue. Keep electing rich public schoolboys though, you get what you get.

@Dobbysgotthesocks

I have just been given a similar rent hike. I challenged it and am now being kicked out!

Be very careful. Landlords are utter scum!!!

Some landlords are scum but equally some tenants are scum.