UC PLEASE HELP. Need to prove housing costs, landlord refusing to give proof/tenancy agreement/letter? What to do?

[Lele101]

Landlord recently raised rent by a 300.

i reported this to uc and they need proof of housing costs.

but landlord doesn’t want to sign new tenancy agreement or give a letter about rent increase.

he says verbal agreement is enough.

im scared to explain to him too because im worried he’ll want to do an affordability check, when I first rented I wasn’t receiving universal credit.

the only thing I have is his text message.

what should I do???

Tell him to evict you he needs a signed tenancy agreement with the new amount as proof that you won't pay the new amount 😉

That's a pretty grim rule by insurers; I'd love to know the actual claim history for UC claimants.

I guess you can ask at the outset if a prospective tenant is on benefits (but beware of the risk of allegations of discrimination).

However there are any number of changes of circumstances that can make your tenant eligible for Universal Credit including sickness, redundancy or a having a child. Increases in the Work Allowance and reductions in the earnings taper have made significantly more people eligible.

And by the end of next months everybody on Tax Credits will have been migrated to UC.

This isnt lawful, OP wont be in breach of anything

Landlords often ask for proof of income so if that comes from a source other than salary so it would be obvious if a prospective Tenant was on benefits.
Even if it was illegal to refuse someone on benefits or someone with kids/pets etc its not hard for a Landlord to choose someone else as they don't have to justify it. They don't turn people down usually, they choose from a few applications and they don't have to give a reason for their choice so there is no evidence of discrimination.
I have a client who I am pretty sure has been discriminated against due to racism but to prove it I would have to wait and see who has got the tenancy on the house and then if they had exactly the same profile but were white go from there. Its not going to happen

For a LL to legally implement a rent increase he has to serve you a section 13 rent increase letter a month before the which you can dispute or agree to.

They can’t just verbally tell you the rent is increasing.

Your LL has acted illegally (I say this as a BTL landlord).

You can prove the rent you are paying by showing a copy of the AST (which shows the amount of rent you are paying). If the LL has increased the rent, the section 13 letter should accompany it.

Maybe things have changed but it used to be that rentals often stated no benefits in the ads…🤔that’s landlords choice though.

They don't do that but a lot of Agencies pre qualify before you can book viewings and part of that is income and its source. If The Agent doesn't like the profile you won't even get a viewing

They used to but it that practice has been challenged in court and is unlawful because it is discriminatory.

They aren't allowed a blanket policy of excluding people receiving benefits. In practice if a landlord has multiple applicants for a property they can choose someone who isn't receiving benefits over someone who is.

Its illegal to do this now.

Thats why i think the OP should tell UC the truth. She is doing everything she can its the landlord that is the issue.

It's totally understandable that OP is worried - the landlord can turn round and give her a S21 notice tomorrow if they so choose, for any reason they like.

This is why it's such a good thing that S21 is being consigned to history, because it creates these situations where tenants are scared of asking for basic things they're legally entitled to (like proper notice of a rent increase) because the landlord can wave the threat of eviction over them, as is happening here.

So landlord just texted me someone is coming to do epc certificate. Looking online, that is done when property needs to be sold. I also looked up and there’s still 2 years left till it expires.

does this mean he wants to sell? Could that be why he doesn’t feel like signing new agreement?

but then why raise rent? Would it make sense he is raising rent and planning on selling?

If he's in financial straights both make sense.

My landlord did this, got a new energy certificate and then evicted me on the basis that he was selling the property after hiking up the rent a few months before hand to cover expenses before he sold.

Landlord definitely needs to provide a s13 in order to increase the rent, it's a legal requirement, even I got one even though he was planning on kicking me out.

That is fraud.

Remember he does NOT need to agree to a new fixed term to raise the rent.

If he wanted to sell, yes it would make sense if he doesn't want to agree to a new fixed term. But you should only be asking him for a S13 notice that does nothing other than change the rent.

What's the current EPC by the way? The government is planning to bring in new rules that all rented homes must be EPC C or above so he might want to check the current rating - if it has 2 years left to run then it must be 8 years old, has he done any upgrades in that time do you know?

the current epc is C

No he has not done any upgrades I think

Huh interesting. No obvious reason he needs to get it done then. Is he definitely doing an EPC and not the gas safety certificate?

Maybe he's just trying to unsettle you and make you THINK he's selling.

Yeah it’s weird he said epc multiple times, but the guy just checked the gas meter and cooker for a few minutes then left

he’s never confused the two

Well that sounds more like a gas safety inspection

Maybe a gas safety inspection was just due (it has to be done annually) but I'm wary that you can't issue a S21 notice without having a gas safety certificate and given him threatening eviction, I'd be slightly concerned he is making sure he's got all the paperwork in place.