To be upset by landlord?

[DumbledoresArmy]

So we rent off my uncle.
When we moved in we were promised 'don't worry I'll look after you'.

We are renting a larger house for a bit cheaper, however, we have no tenancy agreement, he's not done a gas safety check for years, we had to really clean the house & get rid of some of his broken left belongings when we moved in. We've had to re carpet most rooms as the carpets were awful & had holes & mound on.
There's a hole in the porch going into the loft he won't fix. Windows upstairs don't open, French doors don't open, we had to supply our own fire alarms, we've put in a 6ft fence as the other was broken & we've changed the boggy mess of a garden into a nice lawned area.... I could go on tbh.
Yesterday he came around and has said he is putting our rent up. Again something he said he wouldn't do. He insists he needs to to cover costs & make it worth while for him.

I understand he's completely allowed to do this but I feel like we're being mugged off!

"feudal system run by the property owning classes?"

funniest MN guardian-swallowing post ever, amidst stiff competition. FYI Rachmann has been dead decades.

The OP was offered a cheap dump without any of the rights and protections, and chose to accept. Has now realised that it is cheap for a reason, in the same way that stolen goods are. Time to change the choice.

Not an expert but may the tenant not have in some ways more legal protection without a written agreement in that the landlord can't issue a 'section 21 notice' but has to have a court ordered eviction? Note well: I may be wrong - take legal advice! But I thought there were risks for the landlord in not having a written agreement.

Some of the responses here are so insulting to the OP. Yes she was offered a 'cheap dump' but she has made it nicer, using her own money and effort to do so.

She didn't know just how shit her uncle LL would turn out to be, but at least she felt she could make it a home and was expecting to pay a set amount. Now he's trying to renege on his end of the deal (out of greed - I hardly imagine his costs re: this property have risen) and she's getting slated. FFS.

Specialsubject Have you ever actually read The Guardian?

Re the rent increase - he can serve a section 13(b I think?) notice if you don't pay it, saying you have to. And if you disagree with the increase you can appeal to tribunal. But he can only increase it once a year.

And ciutadella- the landlord can serve 2 months notice, they don't need to go to court.

Regardless op, I think it sounds like t is time for you to move on. Will your uncle give you a reference? Maybe not as he doesn't want anyone to know he is a LL, I suppose. But perhaps he would do a character reference.

Never rent from someone who won't give you a proper tenancy agreement. Despite fees and hassle, I would move. You're not saving hundreds and he won't fix stuff. Take the carpets and go!

Thanks Dizzy - I think there is some procedure - the accelerated procedure? - that you can't use if you don't have a written AST. Which may mean you end up having to go to court? (though I realise that that can happen if you do have a written AST as well!)

Thanks for the responses guys.

He has no mortgage.
He has a lot of money tbf as he owns a few other properties which he rents out but to tenants on Benefits.
He doesn't spend anything on our property.

Ethelb

why is he owed a living simply because he is a property owner? It sounds like he couldn't shift this dump onto someone else so why does OP owe her uncle her tenancy?

Because it's his house, if the OP doesn't like the fact it needs work instead of being a show home, that was her choice to live in it. If she didn't take it, someone else might have, and been willing to do the work, or he might have done a bit more work for strangers where he had an actual written, official contract.

My parents own some houses in really dodgy areas of town, and invariably they can get trashed and people always wonder how they still make some money ... they have had houses before where they have had an agreement with someone who was willing to live in the place and do all the work on it for reduced rent. They often prefer that to doing the work themselves and renting, because when tenats have done the work themselves, invariablly they end up looking after it because they have done the work themselves and so fel real ownership of it.

They aren't as bad as the OPs uncle, in that my parents made sure that the gas safety check was done etc, but they have qualified friends who do those kinds of thing for cost price so they aren't out a lot of money. If the OP doesn't want to feel "owed" a tenancy, she can go and rent privately from another landlord instead.

If you feel this increase is still a bargain compared to other properties (and changeover/moving costs) then maybe agree to the increase on the condition that it is formalised with a lease/contract to protect both parties. I know he wants the property as his address (?why, does he need to live in the area for some reason, where does he actually live?), but that doesn't mean you have to agree to it.

I know he's your uncle, but I would be saying - if you increase our rental after all we have paid to improve the property, we want the protection of a lease. If you want this to be a casual arrangement/use our address etc, then we stay with the lower rental.

Sounds like he will cost you more money to stay in the long run (him not fixing things, and then you doing it just so it is safe/working) and not have anything to show for it... but sometimes you have to run with it in order to get things together for a move.

Ciutadella possibly, that rings a bell - not something I deal with personally at work as if tenants don't move out (rare where I work) then head office takeover.