To ask my landlord to consider the current circumstances when renewing our tenancy and deciding on rent increase?

[BuzzOffMate]

We've rented the same property now for some years. Each year our rent has increased about £30 a month.

My tenancy is up for renewal and I've just had an email asking me to confirm if I'm happy to renew and also asking me to bear in mind that the landlord has the right to increase the rent etc etc... And they are taking his instructions on this.

I've just been furloughed. AIBU to ask the landlord to consider the current situation when considering the rent increase? They've increased it every year we've been here and we've never batted an eye and always paid on time. We get on well with them.

YANBU. I don't raise our tenants' rent yearly anyway, but even if I did I wouldn't be doing so right now!

I think he’d be unfair to increase it at the moment. (And I say this as an accidental landlord). It would be more in his interest to keep excellent tenants that pay on time than increase it and risk losing you.

You could go onto a rolling month by month contract instead of renewing. (called a periodic tenancy) You and the agents don't need to do anything it happens automatically (by law) when your contract ends.

The benefit of this is that you can serve notice to leave whenever you want (You do still need to give notice and in line with rental payment notice dates) so if rents fall in general you could move or if you want to move somewhere cheaper or in with family etc you could e.g. if you are out of work is the place you currently rent likely to be covered by housing benefit or far dearer than housing benefit allows?

The downside the (unlikely but of course possible) chance that your landlord could evict you without the security of a fixed term (although the government has banned evictions for three months I think).

I think I would email and say you are on 80% wage (I assume) and can you have a reduction in rent. It may may make them think that getting less will be better than you defaulting

Op l am a LL, and like many others l wouldn't dream of increasing rent under the current circumstances...in fact l would be jumping for joy that l was still getting my rent on time so that my mortgage was paid.
If you are furloughed and getting only 80% of your usual salary, then you are perfectly reasonable to ask for a slight reduction until you are back in work.
You may be no worse off with 80% if your usual commuting costs are high, but check first where this leaves you. Then offer what you can reasonably sustain.
Remember although most LL have bills to pay, almost without exception none want to try and find another tenant in this environment, estate agents are not conducting viewings, most people won't move. It is in their interest to be fair and meet you halfway.

Good luck op.

Echo what the others say above. Keeping good tenants should be 100 times more important to your landlord than an extra 30 a month.

Finding new tenants at the best of times is horrendously stressful. Right now, its virtually impossible. Just be honest and see where you get to.

Finding tenants will be hard at the moment so they would be nuts to increase for now, although some people are greedy bastards. Definitely explain your position to them.

Thanks. I'll email the agent back and ask them to let the landlord know my current situation.

As it stands I could afford the rent as it is on 80% as husband is still working (for now anyway). But I just want to minimise any increased outgoings right now as you can imagine!

They have always seemed nice enough so fingers crossed.

Ywnbu. I reckon rent prices will fall massively after this. There wasn't a shoe box for rent in Dublin, now AirBnb is dead in the water suddenly there's beautiful properties on offer for less than the market value. The government need to step in and freeze increases. The maximum increase here is 4%. If they are helping workers, mortgage holders, they need to help renters too.

My letting agents emailed me two weeks ago requesting my permission to raise the rent by 40 GBP a month. I emailed back and told them not to. I'd rather keep my tenants and keep my tenants happy. It works in my favour as much as theirs.

I think it's pretty rubbish they've been increasing it by £30 anyway. What's the purpose of that?
YANBU at all and I'd think very lowly of them if they did this. Worrying it wasn't mentioned in the email though.
Let us know what they say.

Interested to hear from those voting YABU? (Genuinely!).

@BaronessBomburst that's lovely to read
Thank you

We've never had tenants in for longer than 3 years, but haven't increased the rent at all, other than between tenants. Our agents asked us if we'd like to increase the rent during our last tenants time, but we didn't as I'd rather keep good tenants. Definitely can't imagine £30 a month, every year anyway, but especially not now!!

Yes, especially since other things have been frozen for a number of years now.

Does the increase reflect the current rental market? I’ve gone back to my letting agent before and said that other flats of the same size in the area are not renting for the increased amount so could the landlord reconsider.

I'd shrug and say no thanks, we'll go on to a rolling contract and move on once the current crisis is over.

Yes, that kind of increase would mean that our loyal and lovely tenants would be paying more than market rate. It would actually be punishing them for staying living in our house as they could move somewhere else in the same neighbourhood and pay less. I don't understanding this blanket increasing every year as surely market rent hasn't gone up by nearly £90 a month in three years?!

@BuzzOffMate

Just remember if you go on a rolling contract, your LL can boot you out at any time with only 2 months notice. If you sign for another year you are safe for that time.

No harm in asking him to not put the rent up £30 a month, but he is within in his rights.

your LL can boot you out at any time with only 2 months notice

Not for the next 3 months s/he can't :)

Thanks. We started off paying £600 a month 3 years ago and are now paying £690.

The house is in quite a nice part of our town so I was never bothered about paying more before as I want to stay here (quiet rural street) but I do think it's probably above market value yes. Unfortunately there aren't many houses on our road that are up for rent as there's only a couple of houses up here. I can only think of one in the whole time we've been here so I can't really say for definite.

I’d ask for no rent increase given the circumstances: presumably you’ll be paid 80%?

In five years, I haven’t increased my tenant’s rent. It covers the mortgage, so why should I?

It would be reasonable at the very least that they forego the increase this year

Where thevhell do they get this regular uplift from anyway ?

Hold on a moment, I'll get the .gov website that was updated a couple of days ago... it might help!

www.gov.uk/guidance/government-support-available-for-landlords-and-renters-reflecting-the-current-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak

Ask the landlord to reconsider. Anyone who increases the rent on their tenants atm is a complete arse .