If you rent, how much has your rent gone up by?

[Totallyfedupnow]

Self explanatory really, if you privately rent…has your rent gone up this year and if so by how much?

It hasn’t since we moved in, in February 2016. Quite lucky really!

We are in a 2.5 bed in SE London, Zone 4. Small house. Rent was £1400 - year 1 it was upped to £1480. Expecting another raise this year but if its excessive I am willing to negotiate with the LL - he seems a sensible chap who values a long sitting responsible tenant. Would weigh up additional cost against moving costs and what other properties in the area are going for.

Not at all, and we are extremely grateful. We’ve lived here three years without an increase. We are good tenants too though (never been even a single day late with rent, kept the place nice - improved even - not anti-social, fix things ourselves where appropriate etc) the relationship goes both ways.

I’m a LL and my tenant moved out last week. He had been there for 4 years and not had a rent raise in that time. With existing tenants I try to avoid it. As others say, good tenants are worth keeping and any void period of even a month costs more than most rent rises will deliver.

My property is now empty for 2 weeks whilst I spend £8k on a new kitchen and having it decorated. The old kitchen was okay but looks rather dated. After 4 years, some walls are scuffed and it needs painting throughout. That’s fine. It’s what I’d expect. The £8k is more than I make per year in rent after tax and agent costs, and that’s an a LL with no mortgage. It’s okay as my last tenant was there for 4 years, but if I’d had a steady change of tenants or anyone who had caused damage, it wouldn’t be very viable, and that’s as a LL without a mortgage.

When it goes back on the market, I’d imagine the rent will be £100 per month more than the previous tenant paid….bearing in mind that they had no rent rise for 4 years, that’s just £25 increase per year and there’s also going to be a brand new kitchen and fresh decorating. There’s a shortage of this kind of flat round here, so I imagine it will go quickly and I’d rather that happened than be a bit greedy about rent and it sit empty. Again, I wouldn’t expect to increase the rent for a tenant who stays. I know you can guarantee how long someone is around, but I’m keen to get people who look like they might be around for several years, but it’s their prerogative to go if they want to of course.

If I had a mortgage that was rising, I probably wouldn’t be fitting anew kitchen but it would need decorating. I would probably be considering selling as the numbers wouldn’t really add up. Add in several tenants who only stay 6 months and all the re-letting costs and work that needs doing between tenancies and you’re onto a loss.

@WombatChocolate £8,000 is a lot for a kitchen. Why did you spend so much replacing it if you’re not getting it back in rent? Is it a big house? I’m shocked with no mortgage you don’t make even £8,000 a year.

£8k covers the kitchen, full decorating and a couple of other minor jobs like a radiator replacement. Yes it’s a lot. It’s what workmen are charging. we had similarity quotes. We don’t do the work ourselves and want the work done quickly so the property can be back on the market. We are paying it because in order to rent the property it needs to be in decent condition - rightly it’s what tenants expect. They dont always realise the costs involved in providing a new boiler or kitchen or decorating - of course they are entitled to decent stuff when they pay high rents, but people often don’t realise that much if the rent goes on costs and isn’t profit.

I wonder how much you think LLs make per year. This property rented previously for about £850. Once you’ve paid tax on the income and paid an agent to collect rent, then yes, you are left with less than £8k per year…and that’s for someone without a mortgage. If there was a mortgage it would be hard to make money.

This is a point people keep making but some people struggle to understand. The difficulty is rents are high and very expensive for tenants. Costs of mortgages are high for LLs too and for some the numbers don’t add up anymore. I’m not asking anyone to feel sorry for LLs. They don’t have to be in this business whilst tenants do need somewhere to live and long term renting isn’t what most people would choose given other options. But the market and its future isn’t that great when lots of LLs struggle to make it add up and rents are so high lots of tenants can’t afford them.

£850 is not that much, so yes the cost of the kitchen surprises me. I’m pretty familiar with costs because I’m researching costs to build. A big house I wouldn’t he shocked at an £8,000 kitchen. Why would you do it if you don’t make any money?

Negligible increase when renewing contract early this year. LL reasoned they made a mistake and tried to further increase by £200. Told them their mistake was not our problem and there are so many issues that are illegal and that we are living with that we were not happy to pay an increase. Plus legally they cannot increase more than once in a 12m period.

Mentioned citizens advice and they very quickly dropped it.