To raise their rent every year?

[Fev11]

For various reasons I have recently started renting out a house and plan to keep doing this for a long time. The tenants have said they plan to stay for at least 10+ years if possible.

What is reasonable as far as future rents are concerned? If they were only planning to stay for e.g. 2 years, I would probably keep the rent the same, but 10 years is a long time so my gut feeling is to put something in place where it rises each year in line with inflation.

The tenants are great but I suppose I am doing this on a business footing. For any long-term renters and landlords out there, what do you do, or think is fair?

My landlady deliberately didn't raise the rent regularly as I was a good rebrand and she wanted to keep me. She sold. Me the house at a discount as well.

Dh lets for a living and very rarely increases rent. In the majority of his properties the rent is below market value but we find if we have good tenants this makes them less likely to look elsewhere. He still makes enough tor us to live on comfortably and we don't want to be making lives difficult for people for a few extra quid.

He has just raised the rent in a few properties by about £25 per month as they were a bit too low but spoke to the tenants in advance and ensured they could afford it. This was after 4-7 years for various tenants.

In a 10 year period if they're good tenants I wouldn't raise it more than twice and only if you have to. You don't really want it in line with top rents if your yield is good anyway as it will make it far easier for them to decide to move on.

Lilmisstoldyouso new tenants every 6 months?! Even if you manage your own properties which we do you still have to redecorate if necessary, pay to advertise it, arrange viewings, pay for checks/references etc, potentially wait for people to move in for example if they have to give notice on current property. So what you will lose in voids and expenses every 6 months will wipe out any profit anyway. Awful advice.

We've rented our flat now for 7 years and had a rent increase twice. Went up £100 after the first year then another £100 in year 4 or 5 (can't remember which)

I out it down to paying on time and keeping the place clean and in order.

If you have respectful people living there then I wouldn't raise it too much.

Out good landlord didn't increase in 3 years and we bettered the place with (agreed) decorating.

The awful landlady raised our rent every year despite refusing to fix issues in the house. It was also dirty and shabby when we moved in. Due to circumstances we had to stay a year longer and had hoped to leave after 2 when it became clear, when the heating broke down in winter and a pipe burst and she left it 2 weeks to bother doing anything. Her next tenants refused to pay rent according to an old neighbour, due to H&S issues she avoided. It cost her a lot of money in the end, not least as screenshots of her emails and photos of dangerous botch jobs were put on the local social media site so no one in town wanted to rent it. Last time i saw she was still empty 14 months on.

Personally I'd review every 2 years but not necessarily increase. Look at your situation then.

Our landlord has upped the rent two times in nearly 9 years and both times I was straight on Rightmove looking at other rentals in the area. The only reason we didn’t move was hassle but I could of moved into a a new shiney referb for £10 more a month.

It gets annoying when the rent goes up as you haven’t changed anything, you haven’t made the property nicer by installing a new kitchen/bathroom/flooring you are just charging more for now an even older slightly going outdated property.

Gosh, this is awful.

I'm a single mum in a private rental earning £9 an hour. I've lived in my rental property for nearly 6 years and have never had my rent increased.

I understand that landlords want to make a profit but soon us lower earners who aren't priority for council properties aren't going to be able to afford to live if rent keeps rising.

Please don't increase rent unless you really need to.

A good landlord insurance is Alan Boswell

They're paying off your investment for you that will make a profit for you in the long run. Unless they are abusing their/your house why would you put the rent up?

I would reserve the right to review each year, but don't automatically increase and when you do the increase should be based on a mix of market value and a discount for the value of a reliable long term tenant.

My experience is that I have let my flat (I moved for work and haven't got home yet) for ten years. I have reviewed the rent three times
I think. It's currently around £200 under market value per month.

In that time I've had loads of work done, significant roof repairs, new front door, new boiler, drafty windows fixed, leaks, refurb of kitchen, redecoration...I'm a good landlord and I want the place to be maintained and be fair with the person who is paying rent to live in a nice place. I could not have left it at the rate I first started letting it out at ten years ago which is close to £400 less than current rent.

My costs have increased - in particular the ability to claim back costs from HMRC has changed. I've never made much if any profit, I now make a loss on it each year and pay a chunk of tax each year to keep it on (although I accept the value is increasing over time -Brexit permitting) I keep it on because I hope to move back there.

I don't expect anyone to feel sympathetic toward a landlord, but it's not always the case that the rent covers all costs and we are creaming off the tenant. Also I have to be in a position to cover unexpected bills like a new boiler at short notice and I take the risk that a tenant will not treat the property well. Its a headache I'd rather do without but I want to keep my home.

My landlord didn’t increase my rent for the first 3 years as the place was a shithole that I gutted it at my own expense so he agreed to this. Since then he has put my rent up by £25 a month at every renewal but covers the cost of the renewal on my behalf (thats now a legal obligation but it didn’t used to be). My letting agent says my rent is massively below current market value and he charges much higher rents for his other properties in the area despite them ‘not being as nice’ but its only nice because I’ve ploughed a shit tonne of money into doing it up.

From my perspective if you make them feel unsettled enough in their home to possibly move on then you loose a lot of admin time replacing them and usually at least a month of empty property so a months rent lost.
It’s not worth the risk for a small increment.