Tenancy Agreement Issue

[Unexpectedbaby]

Wondering if anyone can offer some advice.

We have been in our rental property 4 years this summer. We signed a new 2 year tenancy agreement in January which included a rent increase. This has been mentioned prior without an amount in conversation. When signing the agreement the rent was increased by £20 per month. Thought it was odd but read through it with the landlady agreed and signed.

One month on following the first increased payment and she has noticed she made a mistake and meant to increase it by £120.

We have had a number of problems here including on finally just having a boiler service for the first time this past week despite chasing for it and it being a legal agreement.

Most specifically when we moved in we were promised new doors as the current ones are not secure and are not insulated. It's been impossible to heat this house in the time we have been here and have spent winters under blankets wasting heating.

I have now said that we are not comfortable with such a substantial rent increase, whilst in this new agreement, with the doors in the condition they are in. The response currently has been that if we are not happy we should look for somewhere else to live.

Legally, can they insist on a rent increase now we have a new agreement signed, even with their mistake? Also legally are they allowed to break tenancy and make us leave?

100% think she is. We were put in touch through a friend of my parents when we were looking to go from a flat to house. Cheap rent and they seemed like genuine nice people that had been let down by previous tenants. Didn't go through an agency everything done between us with tenancy agreements drawn up by them officially with us then signing.

They have always been terrible and getting back to us on things. New boiler went in when we moved in (we found them someone to fit one reasonably) but then not serviced until this week (almost 4years later). When I out the pressure on more with the boiler I was told that if we have a carbon monoxide monitor we would be fine.

Yes, you should write to the landlord and remind them that they agreed to fix the doors, that they have a legal duty to maintain the property first and that if they don't fix them with a reasonable time you will make a complaint to the local EHO. Unless you already have ongoing correspondence about the issues.

There is an EHO who often posts on the property board, so maybe post there?

All correspondence has been by text and phone mostly. I am now trying to keep all conversations written in some way rather than verbal. I have their address, it's actually round the corner to us. I may write them officially this week. Thank you for your advice

New boiler went in when we moved in (we found them someone to fit one reasonably) but then not serviced until this week (almost 4years later).

Has the landlord being doing gas safety checks every year though? Do you have a current valid certificate?

Texts are fine. Send any letters signed for and get proof of postage. Email is the easiest way to correspond for record keeping though.

Nope they have done absolutely nothing. We are waiting to be sent a safety certificate for the service done this week. I have copies of nothing at all

Sorry, I'm not sure if this is tongue in cheek, but just to be clear, when previous posters are referring to clauses, they simply mean specific 'articles' or sections of the tenancy document. It doesn't need to actually say 'clause'.

Wasn't tongue in cheek so thank you for clarifying

I can't see anything at all about editing agreements early or changes to rent. Only that if we do not pay the rent in the outlined agreed amount I'm at the stated frequency we can be evicted.

It's literally one page front and back. The tenancy agreement I had on our old flat was huge and so clear. This looks like a basic one downloaded from somewhere

You're rightly concerned about your rights under your AST, but perhaps it's also worth looking for somewhere else, give 2 months notice for breach of xyz as outlined above as the LL suggested that you do.

What's the situation with your deposit? There are a lot of rules about the deposit these days, that a private LL may not comply with.

I am a landlord and if you have signed a fixed term at that rate, they can't change it within that period

If the contract then rolls on to a month by month after the fixed term, they could change it once every 12 months

No deposit taken when we moved in.

We are t going to be in a position to move until November realistically. We are looking to move in with my parents to speed saving either at the end of our agreement or this winter if we would be able to get out of our tenancy.

OP - it is clear that your landlord is not complying with the law. To be legal they should have done the following:

Protected your deposit, either with an approved agency or via insurance (you should have been give a deposit certificate)
Given you a copy of the government's How to Rent guide
Provided you with a valid gas safety certificate (less than 1 year old)
Provided you with a valid electrical certificate (less than 5 years old I think)
Provided you with a valid EPC (less than 10 years old I believe)
Install working smoke alarms and carbon monoxide monitor

If they have not done ALL these things they are not complying with the law and you can sue them. Contact Shelter or CAB on how to proceed. If you can't get through to either, try the DPS for advice - they are usually helpful.

They are acting illegally both with not taking a deposit and putting it in a protected scheme, and not having issued you annual gas safety certificates

They could be in massive trouble if you reported them so am thinking they won't push on the rental amount!

Out of interest, is the new amount in line with market values as it should be level with or below to be legal?

Just saw your update, so ignore my reference to protecting the deposit. But everything else still applies.

@jackstini - there is no legal requirement for landlords to take a deposit

Wow I knew that they were skirting around things but had no idea just how much trouble they could potentially get in here!

It is below for our area. If the house was up to standard and secure it would not be an unreasonable amount but the long and short is that we have signed £x amount and they made a mistake, not us. Before having had all of this advice I likely would have been open to a compromise of them fixing the doors and us then reviewing the rent mid agreement 1 year in but I feel like I actually should stand my ground further.

It's a criminal offence to let a property without a valid gas safety certificate. It has to be done annually.

Did the engineer just service the boiler or did they do a gas safety check (of all gas appliances)?

I'm assuming you are in England. Did they give you a valid EPC certificate when you moved in? Is it still in date? You can check here:

www.gov.uk/find-energy-certificate

Did they give you an up to date "How to Rent" booklet when you moved in and again when you renewed the tenancy?

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/942503/6.6642_MHCLG_How_to_Rent_v5.pdf

Are there smoke alarms on each floor that were tested when you moved in?

Does the house have a valid electrical safety certificate (EICR)?

Is your deposit protected in a deposit scheme and did the landlord provide you with the certificate within 30 days of moving in?

These are all required by law.

We do not have a single thing on this list

Also when searching for our house on the EPC link it doesn't even come up so assuming they have never bothered to get one

They can’t evict you without those things in place, they can get pretty large fines though. If there are things missing from the tenancy agreement, it falls back onto the implied terms in law.

If I’ve read it correctly, they don’t have to take a deposit if they don’t want to. We never took them when I worked for the National Trust, the admin wasn’t worth it on such a large scale.

It's also illegal to let a property with an EPC below E, which, if you can see your breath with the heating on, I suspect the property might be.

It looks like they have a lot of fines and possibly a prison sentence coming their way if you report them.

As I said before, they can't evict you for not agreeing to a rent increase if you have a fixed term contract unless there is a rent review clause. Even then, they can't evict you using a Section 21 notice if they don't have a valid EPC or gas safety certificate for the property.

Thank you all so much for your advice.

I felt sick with worry when writing the OP but feel a little better now. I don't want the conflict or to live somewhere with a terrible relationship with my LL but we need to stay here for right now and it's good to know my rights. Even if it's to help whoever they decided to rent to in the future, if they do, and to inadvertently protect any future tenants.

Everything @FlowerArranger amd @chesirecat99 said.

Sorry just seen they did not ask for a deposit so that's ok but they should have gas and electric certificates so they really don't have a leg to stand on when it comes to rental amount!

I would Re-request for your doors to be sorted!

I'd report this anonymously to HMRC to be honest as a side note to the housing issues

We used to rent a house with no end of issues we just moved in the end it was less hassle however the current landlords are lazy when it comes to repairs etc

If it was me I would just look forward another property