Rent hasn’t increased at all in five years

[Tryingtogetbacktomysize10s]

Probably a silly question but should it?

Are you a tenant or landlord? Just asking to get your perspective.

I’m a landlord of 2 properties. I’ve never increased the rent on either. My reason is that the rent more than covers the mortgage. And more importantly for me I’ve got 2 great tenants who have never given me any bother and want to keep on living there. The property I’ve owned the longest, my tenant has been there 16 years. He looks after the place, let’s me know as soon as anything goes wrong or needs looking at. So I see no need to risk pricing him out of it. I’m probably being very simplistic in my view but I just think if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Could be loads of reasons;
It’s already an over payment of their mortgage and their happy with it.
If it’s under a certain amount they don’t have to pay tax.
If your a long term tenant they are guaranteed the money.
Money could be going straight into their pension pot so it’s a good steady income as it is.
Loads of reasons really but I wouldn’t question it 😂

Ours used to go up most years but we had a pretty poor relationship with our letting agent and no relationship with our landlord. We were happy to leave. Nothing was ever fixed and they knew that if we didn't agree to their increases etc we would struggle to get anything else as it was a busy university city. We were good tenants but when the boiler broke for the 4th time that winter we were so happy to give them notice.

Only greedy unscrupulous landlords put up the rent when their costs haven't increased. Also if its a flat we're talking about, the price they are letting at is actually coming down at the moment because everyone is fleeing to houses or properties with gardens.

I'm in rented at the moment and when I leave in a couple of months there's no way the landlord will get what she gets from me now (though it was a reasonable price when I moved in 4 years ago).

Maybe it was high to start and covers all it needs to and the tenant (you?) is worth keeping?

I’m the landlord but the property is let through an agency. I was just wondering if they should be looking to increase it slightly as I noticed on Rightmove similar properties are going for quite a lot more. Please don’t flame me!

Do you need an increase to cover costs? Will the amount you need to increase if by bring it above the rate similar properties are letting for? Will the amount you need to increase it by cover a void of 2 or 3 months if current tenants decide they aren’t prepared to stay and pay that much?

I would increase with the market. You are running a business not a charity and costs do go up. Be mindful though that if your tenants choose to move, then voids can be expensive.

Me and DH are renting, we’re extremely happy here, been here 10 years in may. Our rent has never gone up - we’re excellent tenants and our landlord doesn’t want us going anywhere.

We hope to buy the house when our landlord comes to sell - it’s got happy bricks and we love it.

Ohh your the landlord! Increase it 😂

As an ex-LL, be careful about keeping the rent low under market rate for a long time.

While it’s good if you have good tenants, you can end up with a situation where the tenant never asks for repairs to be done because they are afraid you will increase the rent. This happened to me and minor repairs ended up causing bigger problems which I only discovered once the tenant moved out. Other LLs of my acquaintance have experienced similar issues.

Ask yourself if the current rent will cover any large repairs which need doing and if your tenants can be relied on to be straight with you about asking for repairs.

@PinkCookie11

Ohh your the landlord! Increase it 😂

Based on what?

Our friends have lived in a 5 bedroom rented house in a lovely area for 13 years. Their rent has never gone up in all that time. I think the landlord likes the fact that he has good tenants.
But the house has not been updated in all that time and is definitely looking dated and tired now.

@UhtredRagnarson as op said the rent on properties around her are a lot more.
Go with the current market.
Obv has its risks but what doesnt

Depends whether you want to risk your tenants handing their notice in and then you being left with no tenants.

I'd say leave it for now, given the pandemic and you have someone in your flat. Otherwise it'll lie empty for months.

Have you updated the house in this time ?

[quote PinkCookie11]@UhtredRagnarson as op said the rent on properties around her are a lot more.
Go with the current market.
Obv has its risks but what doesnt[/quote]
There’s far more to consider than just that though. It’s not as simple as “you’re the landlord- increase the rent”

@UhtredRagnarson
I think you’ve took my comment abit too far.
Obv there is a lot to take into consideration, that goes without saying.

What do you mean too far?

You just said

“ Ohh your the landlord! Increase it”😂

As if that’s all there was to it with a silly grin face.

An increase is reasonable, of course it's up to your discretion.

I've had large 15%ish increases a couple of times and left immediately each time. One time they increased my direct debit 15% and didn't even bother to tell me.

I'd probably stay and not complain for up to a 5% increase as long as property stayed at or below market rent.

If you want to keep your tenants I'd increase it slowly year after year rather than a big increase, even if the big increase just puts it to market rent you will likely irritate your renter and they'll move out just to get back at you. I'm sure it's cheaper to just spread the increase out over a couple/few years.

Mine hasn't gone up in 6 years. The house needs a LOT of cosmetic work. I don't ask for unnecessary work doing and they don't want us to leave (because then they would have to do the work). We seem to have an unwritten agreement.

It's not as easy as it going up because time has passed. You need to weigh up whether the house is a fair price for its condition, whether to risk the house being empty, the costs of updating to get new tenants in etc

@UhtredRagnarson you didn’t seem to like me saying your the LL increase it without going into why 😂 and telling me theres a lot to consider. But as previously said that goes without saying.
It was just an off hand comment. Nothing too serious

@UhtredRagnarson

You just said

“ Ohh your the landlord! Increase it”😂

As if that’s all there was to it with a silly grin face.

Oh come onnnn!!

Why haven't you increased it? Is it because the current rent easily covers all your costs?

Have you had the same tenants for this whole time and are they likely to stay for the foreseeable?

Have you been regularly maintaining and updating the property or are there any major or multiple works needing done that an increase in rent might be required to cover?

The simplest thing to do would probably be to reconsider the rent you're asking for next time you're looking for new tenants, assuming that the state of repair of your property reflects that of local properties attracting higher rents.