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AIBU?

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Original poster

Rent increase by £300!!! What do I do? Is this normal? Please help!!!!

266 replies

Lele101 · 31/01/2025 00:47

Just got a text from landlord

“mortgage gone up and I’m paying 300 more for service charges and insurance to the council I have no choice but to raise rent by 300”

we live in ilford, Barkingside. It’s a 2 bedroom flat. Currently paying 1400, now he wants 1700.

last increase was 16 months ago. (From 1225 to 1400)

im shocked. Is this normal?? Please advice. I don’t know what to do.

OP posts:
mantaraya · 31/01/2025 08:01

Being a landlord isn't a business. Landlords offer a service but no one is purchasing based on the quality of that service, that's why you can be an awful landlord and still make loads of money. It's basically just hoarding an extremely scarce resource that people cannot live without.

Unprofessional, idiot landlords like yours OP make me furious. Why is he messaging you at 1 in the morning? Why didn't he do any proper financial planning? Why didn't he communicate this before? This kind of incompetence is what makes people homeless.

Doggymummar · 31/01/2025 08:01

You have no idea of this person's circumstances. 1000 mortgage on an 800k property sounds improbable. We are looking at properties in that range and an 800k property over 30 years is 3600per month. Assuming you have 80k to put down.

InDogweRust · 31/01/2025 08:03

Mortgage rates rose this week by a noticeable amount so if your landlord has refixed recently it may well have gone up a lot.

Your best bet is to offer back eg "we can't manage £300 - can you take £200 until 2026?

It would cost him the 1200 or so difference to get new tenants in with fees and the like so he may accept this.

Anothermathstutor · 31/01/2025 08:04

Isittimeformynapyet · 31/01/2025 01:42

Your landlord gave you this information by text at quarter to one in the morning?!

That's rude.

Also not legal. You can ignore it if not performed legally.

Anothermathstutor · 31/01/2025 08:05

kasho5 · 31/01/2025 07:25

Has he given you a Section 13 form and 2 month's notice? If not, it's not valid.

There is also a Property Tribunal that you can apply to who will decide if the increase is fair or not.

Edited

I’m glad one person on this thread is talking sense.

THIS OP. You can’t raise rent by text.

JustRollWithIt · 31/01/2025 08:07

Our mortgage for our home is about to go up almost £300 per month due to an interest rate rise so his reasoning could be genuine, but the way he has gone about it is most unprofessional. He is maybe hoping you will just go along with it and then his own financial issue is instantly solved, I agree with others, perhaps at least try a counter offer in the meantime. Landlords who already own the property outright likely don't inflict such horrible increases.

InDogweRust · 31/01/2025 08:08

, we are paying £1k per month on a mortgage on a £800k house that will soon be ours.

If you're only paying £1k a month and the house will soon be yours, you bought it a long time ago and didn't pay £800k for it.

At best current rates you can barely borrow £200k over 30 years for £1k a month.

EdithBond · 31/01/2025 08:09

Floppyelf · 31/01/2025 07:23

What do you do? Too many people staying in lower end jobs, paying astounding rent when you can earn the same yet have a lower C O L elsewhere. @Lele101

So, a home isn’t necessary for people? A settled home, with neighbours, where you’re part of a community? It’s just a box to store yourself in?

And private tenants do have to move area all the time. Then move again the next year when they get priced out of that area. Then again. Then again. With kids. Some kids I work with have had to move numerous times to cheaper and cheaper areas in their short lives.

As for leaving lower paid jobs, have you logically thought through what would happen if everyone moved out of lower paid jobs? Uncleaned hospitals and schools. No one answering the phone at the doctors. Huge food inflation because people who unload the lorries at supermarkets demand higher pay. Think of all the low paid workers who keep your prices down or services going.

If you think lower paid workers should all be in better paid work, I’m sure you’ll be supporting them striking for more.

MidnightPatrol · 31/01/2025 08:12

ReadingSoManyThreads · 31/01/2025 03:36

Just to add, if you wanted to text them back something like, "Hi Gerald, I'm sorry but there's no way that we can afford another £300/mth increase, we're already struggling with living costs as it is I'm afraid. Would you please consider a £100/mth increase instead, to £1500, given that we always pay our rent on time and keep the flat in good condition?"

Or something like that. It's always best to counter offer a bit of an increase, it'll look better when you take it to Tribunal that you've at least tried to reason with the LL.

Another thing to add, if you haven't been good with paying rent and/or not been keeping the flat in good condition, this raise might be purely to get you to move out.

I agree with this.

If you’re a good tenant, it’s more valuable having you there at a lower rent than the flat empty / costs to find a new tenant.

At £1400 a month, if the flats empty for one month when you leave, that’s 4x the rent increase lost already.

RatalieTatalie · 31/01/2025 08:12

CerealPosterHere · 31/01/2025 07:03

Could well be this. Friend of mine is a landlord to multiple properties and has recently put hefty increases on all her properties. She doesn’t have mortgages so it’s not even a case of rising costs for her. She says she has to keep her properties in line with the market rate for that area.

I’m not sure that’s strictly true but guess it’s none of my business. I’d like to think if I was a landlord yes for a new tenant when I’m advertising an empty property I’d have it at market rate but I’d be reluctant to undertake large rent increases for a good long standing tenant. She has definitely had people do counter offers and accepted them though so worth a try.

shes had the odd tenant leave and find somewhere cheaper. Then when she’s advertised the property at the new price she is still inundated with applications. It’s supply and demand I guess and round here there aren’t many rental properties available and she will easily have over twenty applicants within a couple of days of advertising.

Show quote history

Your friend doesn’t sound very nice.

of course she doesn’t have to raise the rent to market value. She’s being greedy, she has no mortgage so all she’s doing is taking in more profit for herself at the expense of someone vulnerable. Yuck.

MidnightPatrol · 31/01/2025 08:15

Huckyfell · 31/01/2025 07:08

That is one massive increase, we are paying £1k per month on a mortgage on a £800k house that will soon be ours. Seriously start looking at options of maybe buying.
There will be an awful lot of knock on increases this year as labour costs rise with minimum wage and increased NI for employers, it will hit every single sector and increase landlords overheads when it comes to maintenance. A 20+ % increase sounds high to me.

That £1k mortgage isn’t on anything like £800k worth of borrowing is it though.

And you would need £200k of income be able to get a mortgage on a place of that value.

Thats why people get stuck renting.

EdithBond · 31/01/2025 08:16

CerealPosterHere · 31/01/2025 07:03

Could well be this. Friend of mine is a landlord to multiple properties and has recently put hefty increases on all her properties. She doesn’t have mortgages so it’s not even a case of rising costs for her. She says she has to keep her properties in line with the market rate for that area.

I’m not sure that’s strictly true but guess it’s none of my business. I’d like to think if I was a landlord yes for a new tenant when I’m advertising an empty property I’d have it at market rate but I’d be reluctant to undertake large rent increases for a good long standing tenant. She has definitely had people do counter offers and accepted them though so worth a try.

shes had the odd tenant leave and find somewhere cheaper. Then when she’s advertised the property at the new price she is still inundated with applications. It’s supply and demand I guess and round here there aren’t many rental properties available and she will easily have over twenty applicants within a couple of days of advertising.

Show quote history

Wow. People this greedy have friends?

Long gone are the days when greed was one of the seven deadly sins.

She has to keep her properties in line with the market rate 😂

amoreoamicizia · 31/01/2025 08:18

I'd love to know the reasoning and housing situation of those that voted YABU. I suspect most are part of the scrounging landlord class themselves.

This post represents everything that is wrong with the housing situation in this country. Landlords using tenants as indentured labour to pay their mortgages. Why shouldn't this capital be paying the OP's own mortgage?

We hear endlessly about benefits cheats but many landlords are some of the biggest freeloaders going.

Whatwouldyoudonext333 · 31/01/2025 08:19

ReadingSoManyThreads · 31/01/2025 03:33

Hi @Lele101 what a shocking late night text to be receiving from your Landlord, that's so unprofessional! I'm a LL myself, and that increase is shocking and astronomical. The saying is "little and often", when it comes to LL's discussing rent increases, so say up by £50/mth every 12mths for example. I'm one of the few who rarely increases rents for existing tenants.

I've just taken a look on rightmove, and it depends on the condition of your flat, but the lowest on there is on at £1500, most around the £1600 - £1800 mark, the brand new ones are on for stupid money £2K+. Whilst the LL can raise it by whatever they like (within keeping of any specific rent increase terms in the AST), you can absolutely refuse or negotiate, or take it Tribunal.

So, now, you should reply to your LL and tell them that you cannot afford that increase and either leave it at that or offer a counter increase say to £1500. If you do not accept the increase, then your LL will likely send you a Section 13 notice of rent increase, giving at least one full month's notice. Once you receive that, you have a small amount of time to take it to Tribunal. At Tribunal, they will look at market rents, and decide if the increase is reasonable or not. They will decide if the proposed increase is reasonable and stays, which then you must pay, or if it's too high (looking at current market rents), then they will set a lower rent for you to pay instead. There is the risk that the Tribunal deems that the increase is too low and may then set an even higher rent for you to pay.

So those are your options.

In my personal opinion, as a LL, I'm rather appalled at LL's who just decide to pass on their huge mortgage increase straight onto their tenants. Being a landlord is running a business, providing a service. It's a risky business when we have BTL mortgages and do not own the properties outright. It's a risk we choose to take, and I don't think it's fair that some LL's refuse to absorb any of these huge interest rate hikes themselves. Without wanting to give you my life story, my first rental was my own home, due to having to relocate, the house was in negative equity at the time due to buying in a peak and then experiencing a decline, so had no choice but to let it out. My mortgage was significantly higher than the market rent, then I had maintenance/repairs and insurance to pay on top. So for the first 3 years of being a LL, I was making a loss, but you know what, that's the property game, that was my problem, it wasn't my tenant's fault that I bought in a peak and had high mortgage repayments! I've since gone on to buy BTL's and have long-term tenants in all of them and don't give hideous rent increases like what you've had, because, I always think to myself, if I got a text like you've just had, and suddenly had to find another £300/MONTH, I'd probably have a heart attack. There's NO WAY I would put that on someone. Your LL needs to learn that they will make less money when the interest rates are higher, and shame on them for just passing the full increase onto you.

Sorry for the huge comment, I just get so irked when LL's do these massive rent increases, it's so awful.

I agree with you. I never pass on increases like this.

I would also say that your landlord should be careful.
if you move out, it could take a few months to find a new tenant- especially at the higher rate. He is risking the flat being empty for a while which will cost him far more the £300 a month

this is the problem with the whole BTL thing- lots of amateurs who don’t treat it like a business and think you are just there to pay for their investment. But it’s risky.

EdithBond · 31/01/2025 08:25

Huckyfell · 31/01/2025 07:08

That is one massive increase, we are paying £1k per month on a mortgage on a £800k house that will soon be ours. Seriously start looking at options of maybe buying.
There will be an awful lot of knock on increases this year as labour costs rise with minimum wage and increased NI for employers, it will hit every single sector and increase landlords overheads when it comes to maintenance. A 20+ % increase sounds high to me.

Do you know how much people have to earn to get a £800k mortgage? Do you know how much deposit they need? Around half of private renters have no savings because they can barely make ends meet.

You perhaps don’t realise you speak from a place of privilege.

Rosiecidar · 31/01/2025 08:33

I would suggest giving your Landlord some comparison rents for similar properties and use that to negotiate.
It's not just interest rates that increased and it could be the Landlord is coming off a fixed rate but interest paid by a landlord isn't treated as an expense anymore, there's loads more legislation and costs for everything has gone up. Many people are selling property but there's always a demand for rental property and then market forces come into play.
I think it's also important to set boundaries. If you have an emergency it's obviously fine to contact at odd hours but incredibly insensitive to do so to put a rent up.

m00rfarm · 31/01/2025 08:36

For some of us there are only two choices raise the rent or sell. My mortgage comes to an end in July at the low rate and will increase by around 500 a month. It is a large mortgage. Currently the rent already does not fully cover the cost of the mortgage, insurance etc. So in July, it will be way down. No increase for 8 years so far. I can either raise it by 300 or 400 a month (which still leaves me losing a significant amount of money) or I sell. I cannot keep going at such a loss. I have only 8 more years or so on the mortgage, which is why I have been struggling to keep the property. It is way under the rental value of properties in the area. But I don't think the tenants will be able to afford any increase. So I am stuck.

EdithBond · 31/01/2025 08:36

@ReadingSoManyThreads I wish you were my landlord!

Never met mine. Let through an agent, who recommend huge rent increases every year because the market can bear it. I don’t sleep at night worrying. My kids are happy in our home. I do all the repairs, and have made improvements, done up the garden etc. Get on great with all my neighbours.

In Ilford, there are so many desperate people, if the landlord put it on the market, people would be queuing up to pay 6 months in cash in advance to move in the next day ☹️

Beeinalily · 31/01/2025 08:38

"No choice " my arse, the greedy bastard. Could you claim any housing benefit, OP?

LadyLapsang · 31/01/2025 08:40

Looking on Rightmove this morning, there are 18 two bed flats to rent in Barkingside, priced from 1600 - 2500 pcm (the more expensive ones sometimes have two bathrooms); only five are being marketed for less than 1700. Only you will know how your flat compares with those on offer and whether the increased rent reflects the local market.

Cornishclio · 31/01/2025 08:52

I would check the costs of renting similar properties and go back to the LL to say you cannot afford that increase. He may have come off a fixed rate but that is not your problem and although legally he is able to increase rent (perils of renting unfortunately) you are within your rights to negotiate or move elsewhere although of course that is also prone to pitfalls depending on area. I would try and meet in the middle.

The housing situation for private renters is dire.

aphroditeflighty · 31/01/2025 09:01

I think if you intend to be a landlord, you have a certain responsibility too, especially towards your tenants. If acquiring a second property, simply don't stretch yourself too far, to the point that you expect your occupants to cover the shortfall.
In other European countries the rents are much more controlled, for example across the channel, if the lease is up for renewal I believe it can only be increased by 1.82%.

Miley1967 · 31/01/2025 09:09

amoreoamicizia · 31/01/2025 08:18

I'd love to know the reasoning and housing situation of those that voted YABU. I suspect most are part of the scrounging landlord class themselves.

This post represents everything that is wrong with the housing situation in this country. Landlords using tenants as indentured labour to pay their mortgages. Why shouldn't this capital be paying the OP's own mortgage?

We hear endlessly about benefits cheats but many landlords are some of the biggest freeloaders going.

Agree. And there seems to be plenty on MN.

Yesiknowdear · 31/01/2025 09:18

TBH I think it's fair enough, if they're a good landlord, and they're meeting an additional cost then they need to pass it on.
I'm a private renter, and my lovely landlord had to put up the rent because his mortgage had gone up. He's only upped the rent once in 8 years, and he gave us notice of about 4 months (see I said he was lovely!)

And we actually responded that it was fair enough, backdated the additional £200 to the previous rent payment and started making it on every payment moving forward.

I think if he's a good landlord you might need to just pay. The rental market is a blood bath and has been for quite some time and there are lots of really dodgy landlords, and I'd pay through the nose if I had to, to keep a good one.