New landlord is upping my rent by £250pm

[Snoophoggyhog]

My landlady passed away before Christmas and has left this house and a few others to her nephew. I'd heard nothing for months other than from a solicitor to say to now pay the rent to them which I've been doing. Yesterday I received a solicitors letter saying that my new landlord can't afford the inheritance tax and therefore proposes to raise my rent by £250pm! My rent has been a bit lower than other houses in my area because it is quite dated and the landlady wouldn't do any work on it. Over the 8 years I've lived here I've paid for a new kitchen, carpet and redecorated throughout, new windows, cavity wall and loft insulation, had a shower fitted, new radiators and boiler, new fence panels and other odd jobs. There's things that need doing but it seems he just wants to put the rent up and not maintain the house. It's never had gas and electric safely checks and I had all the fire alarms fitted. AIBU to say I won't pay more rent until the house is modernized and safety checks done or will he just hand me my notice? It says in the letter if I can't afford the extra money I will have to move out. There are no oother properties suitable nearby and my ds 5 is settled at his local school. TY in advance for any advice, experiences

as you will find it hard to pick those on here who are telling the truth from the 'it sucks tenants have no rights ' guardian swallowers, start by reading the how to rent guide online on gov.uk

if you are planning to leave soon anyway, write to your landlord pointing out legal holes, keep paying the current rent and give a months notice when ready.

btw epcs last ten years.

Contact the council. I'm a ll and I would never try an increase like that in a million years.
We are obligated to have gas certificates every year.
I'm not 100% sure but maybe what you can do is to keep paying what you are paying. Do not stop and stay in the property until he evicts you it can take a long time before he can get the property back.
He sounds greedy and mad.
Get proper advice.

I think the one advantage that you have here, is that he sounds like quite a caring character. The fact that he can’t look his cows in the eye might mean that he wouldn’t be able to do this if he knew what it meant to you Nd your family. Crazy as it sounds, I would invite him round for a cup of tea and a slice of vegan cake and to view the repairs and improvements and try and negotiate with him directly. You can discuss your concerns about the gas safety certificate and what you think wou,d be a fair and reasonable increase and maybe see about getting g a contract in place.

Hi thank you everyone. I've just spoken to the solicitors. The LL isn't the vegan farmer. It was meant to be left to him but for whatever reason someone else has inherited it and due to the way the will was written he has to find the money for IT and it can't come out of the estate. The solicitor was unaware of how much work I've completed and assumed the new LL won't know either. He's getting in touch with him today and also listing the things that need attention to bring it to current market value. The solicitor spoke to LL some months ago about the gas and electric safety checks and wasn't aware he hasn't sorted them.
In the meantime I've emailed shelter and as a back up have put myself on a housing list and have started looking at other options in case he sells.

Could you offer to buy the house? Is that an option at all?

If your relationship is stable would it not be better to move in with him as he has been made redundant and rather spend your rent on his place?

good update.

there is an official notification of new landlord and it is possible that without that, no rent is due. the rent WILL be due when they sort themselves out so keep it stashed.

electric check may not be compulsory. Gas check is if there are any gas appliances in the property. You could possibly play the loopholes, refuse access for the gas check and never get evicted but I wouldn't recommend that for obvious reasons.

Unfortunately I'm not in a position to buy and I can't afford to cover all of dp mortgage whilst he's out of work. ATM he is getting some of it cobered as he took out mortgage protection and he wouldn't get this if moved in now. He is making good progress in looking for something suitable though so might be an option to move once he's settled in a new job and I've looked at all the schools for my ds.
I'm worried if I appear awkward then he'll just sell up or sort his paperwork out and hand me notice. It's not going to happen over night though so going to use this time to declutter, look for a back up, read up on my rights etc

You should have been given a notice of rent increase which details what you should do if you think this is unfair. most letting agents can advise you. I believe that there is a percentage of increase allowable in one go. However, I do think you have had rubbish landlord so far and I would advise you to give a months notice that you are leaving. This landlord has broken the law in regards to your safety

minimum notice in England is 2 months. only valid with all the right paperwork and not actually a notice to leave.

You can be given 4 weeks notice too, or even just 14 days (but this depends on the reason you are being evicted, and under Section 8).

true, but it is a doddle to defend in court which is why no sane landlord uses it.

I can't see many people wanting to sell a house with a tenant... Unless it is as an investment property.

(well I wouldn't buy a house for me to live in with a tenant that it may take 6months plus and a whole lot of dosh to remove!)

correct. buy a tenanted house and you become the landlord. Fine if that is the plan, not so if you were expecting to move in.

I've just spoken to a neighbor who had the same LL and she hasn't received a letter about her rent going up!

*You can be given 4 weeks notice too, or even just 14 days
*
This isn't true.

You can be given notice that, if you haven't paid any arrears, a LL intends to seek possession through the courts after 14 days. If you pay up right up until the date of the hearing, it's cancelled & the judge won't hear the case.

A landlord can't ever give a "notice to quit". He can only give notice that he's planning on seeking possession...whether that's via S8 or S21. The only person who can ever give a true notice to quit is a judge.

Of course, most tenants leave after getting a S21 notice because they don't want to go to court and wouldn't win anyway, providing the paperwork is in order. But the notice they're responding to isn't a "notice to quit", which would be illegal...it's a notice letting them know that after a certain date (at least 2 months away) possession will be sought through the courts.

That's interesting about the neighbour op!

Have you heard anything back from them following your last update?

Not heard anything back off solicitor. Going to give it until Friday then ring them again. The neighbour has done work on her house too and paid for it herself (even had the ceilings lowered) but it still looks very dated where as mine has been modernized and painted in neutral colours so probably would be valued as more. The neighbour was very kiss arsey with the LL to her face but moaned about lack of work behind her back. She even travelled an hour to her funeral to keep in with the family so maybe that's why they aren't charging her more

If your rent was a couple of hundred pounds cheaper than market value you have had it easy for a while and you can't expect it to last for ever. If he is now charging you excessively more than market rate it might be he is tying a short cut to eviction, in which case contact shelter for advice. Good luck

Why wouldn't your partner get Mortgage protection paid out if you moved in? He is the name covered by the policy, nothing to do with anyone else who lives there.

I assumed they take into account other income but saying that I'd be unemployed at first as I'd have to give my business up where I am now and start again if I move in with dp.
Has anyone else moved there child to a new area and new school? That concerns me but ds makes friends everywhere we go so I'm sure he'd be fine!

Is it possible you own the kitchen? Therefore you might be in a position to negotiate the rent increase down a bit, because if you leave with your kitchen, then he will have a capital project and no rent coming in until a new kitchen is installed.