Rent increase - fuck fuckity fuck!!!

[BlondeWaves]

Moved into my house 2.5 months ago and now having to move as had a letter from the landlord to say rent is going up by 150 a month. I KNOW I am being unreasonable but I am sat here sobbing because I've just settled here with my young child and the thought of having to go through all that upheaval again is so stressful. I can't afford the extra 150, I'm already stretched with the way everything has increased. This could happen again and again and I just hate our government and the way things are at the moment. I have no resentment towards my landlord as I know his mortgage has realistically gone up by more than 150 a month, but fuck, I'm so stressed. Don't even know what I want from this thread, maybe a handhold, maybe to be told I need to suck it up (weirdly I respond well to tough love) but I need something. Anyone there? 😭

i think you need legal advice. An AST is 6 month minimum tenancy and then a rolling contract. A landlord evicting you after 2 months is illegal.

Even if you haven't signed a tenancy agreement , you are still legally a tenant if you have sole use of the property and have been paying your rent and the landlord has been accepting your rent.

Have a look at shelter websites and housing advice and get proper legal advice. It will take months for a landlord to evict you formally via court etc and he/ she will not get a judge to even agree if you are still in the 6 month period.

I'm not sure why you care about the landlord's ability to feed her kids - it doesn't sound like she's too worried about you or your son if she only offered you a short term, insecure tenancy and raised the rent almost immediately.

This is the problem you have when you allow people's homes to become a business opportunity for all those greedy landlords, making a buck for their retirement.

Put the stock back in the market and allow people to own their own home, not be at the mercy of landlords.

Those people make up a tiny tiny percentage of renters. The majority want a stable secure home, more so families

So you are saying you have been there 10 weeks and have a monthly rolling contract.

Do you have an AST or are you actually on some kind of airBnB temporary contract?

Whilst it’s true that LLs costs rise and mortgage increases may well lead to rent increases, the norm would be for 1 rent rise per year. Increasing rent after 10 weeks is very unusual, but then, having a mo they contract is also unusual and I guess you don’t have the usual protections without a proper AST.

Op, can you confirm exactly what the contract you have is? Did you take the property on the basis you would be there for longer than perhaps a month as a stop-gap short term thing? Or was this something that the LL and yourself set up as a short term thing?

Some LLs do offer short term lets ranging from weeks to a month or two. Usually these are very expensive as people aren’t committing to pay for at least 6 months and there are extra turn around costs involved for the LL. People who are buying houses sometimes need them and pay through the nose for them.

Op says that she wouldn’t get a normal tenancy due to being a single mum. that’s not the case…the issue is likely to be income level. Op, what is your income? If it’s not high enough or you don’t qualify for housing benefit it will be difficult to secure a standard tenancy.

Can you tell us more about your income, work situation, benefits you receive and particularly the tenancy agreement you have? It’s possible the LL is acting illegally…but they might not be.

For anyone who is expecting their tenant to be there for more than a couple of weeks, imposing a rent increase of almost 20% within 10 weeks seems immoral, even if the contract nature means its not actually illegal. No-one finds out if the blue that their mortgage is likely to rise significantly and that the situation has totally changed from it was 10 weeks ago…..10 weeks ago we all knew mortgages would be rising.

I wonder if OP has a very temporary kind of agreement? Can you tell us more? The

When exactly have they said the rent will rise from?
What type of tenancy do you have?
What us your notice period and that of the LL?

I think that they know what they need more than you do.

They are very successful professionals, they are getting exactly what they want. You really aren’t making any sense here.

Would your parents be able to help OP?
It seems so unfair.

Our tenant has refused to allow us entry for essential repairs and inspections. He was given notice to leave by May. He’s still there and we have lost rent and goodness knows what state our house is in.
So ime you could probably stay there for another 10 months because we’ve done everything legally and are no nearer getting our house back.

In your situation I would appeal and then sit tight.

Hi,
As a few other posters have mentioned, regardless of the fact you've signed a monthly agreement, your tenancy is protected on the basis of a minimum initial 6 month tenancy, the Landlord cannot increase the rent in the first 12 months of a rolling periodic tenancy (which is what you've said you've signed) - when they are able to increase rent they should do so using a Section 13 notice with the relevant notice (for a rolling monthly contract this would be would a minimum of one months notice on or before your rent payment date). Rent increases should be inline with market rates - if you believe the increase is above market rate you should still pay the increase but can go to tribunal, whereby they would assess the increase and advise if this is acceptable. If not acceptable they will force the rent to remain the same, or can actually decrease the rent. Again as others have mentioned, have they taken a security deposit from you and provided you with details of the scheme they have used - you should have filled in prescribed information and been given a copy of the certificate within 30 days of you paying the deposit to them. If they haven't done this they are liable to pay you up to three times the deposit amount.

I work for a lettings agency and would be happy to offer further advise if you wish to PM me.

My mistake sorry, if it's an assured shorthold tenancy the LL can't serve a S21 and ask you to leave, put up rent etc until you been in the place 6 months. After 6 months then the tenancy can go on a monthly rolling one. Unless things have changed legally, I'd check your tenancy and get advice.

Your clearly not renting a normal average family home to an average family.
it is very different to compare just a normal family renting who want stability and for their kids to be able to stay in the same school.

All those defending landlords are positioning themselves in direct opposition to tenants.
The war between the haves and the have nots.
I have a house - you don't
Suck it up you poor waste of space loser.
you probably had kids - who told you you could? - and your dog and cat - what a fucking shitty benefit scrounger you are
Get yourself to a charity or the streets or a homeless shelter and rot - after saying thank you to said charity or homeless shelter.
My nan lived most of her life in a council house - safe and secure - she lived and died in abject terror of the 'poor house'
Despite the fact that they had not existed for a good many years.
This is what we are returning to.
As others have said it is NOT like this in many other countries in Europe - where laws govern the relationship in ways that respect the landlord's right to charge rent and the tenant rights to have and actual 'home' that they can actually live in.
We pay rent every month for a home - this is - or should be - unconnected to our landlord's whims and greed.

Why not? The mortgage is for £1.2m, it’s been fixed at 1.1% for the last few years.

Do you need me to do the calculations for you too?

I've not read all the comments so apologies if it's been suggest/you already get it/you don't qualify, but do you get help towards your rent through universal credit? I was staggered to discover basically ALL but 100 of the (average for our area) rent is paid if you earn under 43000..

Why "should" the tenant effectively pay the landlord's mortgage?

have you signed a licence agreement? That does have different rights and notice periods etc but the landlord will provide services such as cleaning. If you have sole use of the property (and it is not a HMO) and the landlord does not provide services (like serviced apartments, airB&B, hotels etc) then you could even have a tenancy agreement and be a tenant regardless of the bit of paper you signed (or did not sign)

You do need legal advice on the agreement you have however to know for certain.

Apply with your local council for Discretionary Housing Payment. They can help with rent shortfall for as long as you need it. Your council's team will ask for full financial information to make sure you definitely cannot afford this extra £150, and periodic update of your financial situation. They are unlikely to say no in your situation as a single mum on Universal credit renting private. Plus you have done them a favour securing a home yourself, and not walking up to them homeless needing emergency accommodation. They encourage this and will help to make sure you hold on to that property long term. Good luck OP.

See the gov.uk link below.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/claiming-discretionary-housing-payments/claiming-discretionary-housing-payments

@Lilithslove Have you not seen what has been happening with mortgage rates the last few months? It’s entirely plausible the poster has a 600k mortgage and rates have gone up 5% for example. Our small 2 bed flat is fixed at 1.7% interest only BTL, if we had to remortgage now I expect we would be looking at over 6%.

This is illegal in Scotland: no rent increases within 12 months of starting a tenancy, no monthly or minimum term tenancies and - currently - both an eviction and rent freeze imposed by Scottish Government due to the cost of living crisis.

Like it or loathe it, depending whether you are a tenant or landlord, tenants are very very well protected in Scotland. Seemingly that's not the case elsewhere in the UK

It wasn’t that long ago the long term capital gain was the reason to be a landlord. Not make a monthly income on it.

Hi OP, didn't want to read and run. My mum was a single parent and a renter in a much more renter-friendly market (Germany) where what is happening to you would definitely be illegal. Even so it was tough at times.

Clearly you don't want to piss off the LL but they are being grabby. I'd try all the options, Shelter, CAB, Universal Credit top-up, challenging the increase and/or counter-offer.

If they start quizzing you about your intentions, don't let them push you to jump one way or the other, just tell them you're doing the sums and considering your options. They can't just evict you. All the best.

What if it though? The posts I was responded to wanted a blanket ban on private rentals, so I gave an example of the sort of people for whom that wouldn’t work.

Sorry, the link's looking a bit strange.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/claiming-discretionary-housing-payments/claiming-discretionary-housing-payments

Why should tenants have to subsidise the landlord's mortgage?

Because they want to live in the landlord’s property.

The deal needs to work for both parties.