Rent hasn’t increased at all in five years

[Tryingtogetbacktomysize10s]

Probably a silly question but should it?

Ah okay pickle that makes sense. It’s wooden flooring throughout most of the house and there was a new carpet in the bedrooms and halls when she moved in.

It’s not about being ‘greedy’, it’s the fact I am quite reliant on it as a form of income at the moment. And when I do go back to work childcare costs are a lot too.

Discuss with the agent, they should have a good perspective on that.

Bear in mind some agents want fees for new contracts etc, paid for by the tenant, so don't rush the decision. As PPs have said, it's a balance- you could lose what you gain.

That doesn't mean you shouldn't, but think it through.

If you've never had a problem tenant then you have no idea how valuable a good tenant is!

Bolder the wrong bit!

I am an estate manager so manage houses for the estate owners. I always increase rent in line with the retail price index.

From April 2016 to April 2021 there has been a 13.58% increase in the RPI. So if the rent was £1,000 a month I’d rent review it now to £1,135. I’m sure people will take issue with this but I find it a fair way to conduct rent reviews.

That works both ways pickle

The agent will do what you tell them. A landlord friend of mine was quite shocked at the cost of getting new contracts issued when she wanted to increase the rent. Her tenants only reliably paid the housing benefit portion of their rent anyway. But it is worth baring in mind that the cost of changing the contract and risk of annoying your tenant need to be considered.

This is what I’m a little disappointed with sip, my letting agents

If my tenant decided to move out I’d just sell it to be honest, the only reason I’m holding onto it is not to put her in a difficult position.

@Tryingtogetbacktomysize10s I am directly employed by one person to manage their country estate so it’s a little different but I would expect if you are paying agents monthly that they would be letting you know when rent reviews are due. It’s pretty poor practice if you are paying them a percentage of the monthly rent not to at least let you know when reviews are due.

One thing that both tenants & landlords may in future have to bear in mind is the changes that are probably going to be put in place regarding heating & insulation - unless the government understands that for some (blocks of flats for instance, or older property) many private properties are going to have to have major & expensive revamps that are not really feasibly or necessary (NRLA).
If this goes through without these issues being considered it is going to cause real problems for many tenants & landlords -
Personally, I think if you & your tenant are happy leave it unless the expenses go up

Depends where you live, but right now I wouldn’t.

500 to 600 is a pretty big % increase. I’d probably start at £50 extra.

Also check the wording of your agreement. My recent agreement had wording like “the LL can increase the rent by X% per year” (can’t remember what X was but maybe it was linked to inflation). “If the LL doesn’t increase the rent then do not assume in future years the rent will not increase”.

I actually thought this was fairly reasonable.

In the property I lived before, my LL didn’t put the price up in 4 years (£1200). But he did live in NZ (me U.K.) so I think the effort of getting new tenants was not worth the extra £50/month. Also, we were amazing tenants. I consider myself a property sitter who pays extortionate rent, than a tenant. 😂

I’m certainly not thinking of a £100 increase. More like £30.

I'm a tenant and my rent hadn't increased at all in the past 4 years. Just renewed going into the 5th year and we got a 5% rent reduction...but it completely depends on your area, where I am there is a lot of supply of housing at the moment, so I figured the landlord wouldn't want to risk having an empty period/worse tenants

When I rented a room in an HMO our LLs letting agent arbitrarily put the rent up £5 a month every year for all tenants. Was annoying because our wages didn't necessarily keep track but at least we could plan.

As you know it's on your letting agent to sort this out. Maybe ask them to take the opportunity to agree annual rent reviews (which might result in rent staying the same!) annually at the same time?

@Tryingtogetbacktomysize10s

I’m certainly not thinking of a £100 increase. More like £30.

£360 a year. So if the tenant decides to leave (I wouldn’t pay another £30/ month for my place and it’s more than £500 a month currently) then a one month void totally wipes out the extra income for more than a year. A one month void is totally normal between tenancies to allow you to inspect and carry out repairs and painting and carry out viewings. Is it worth it?

If it's costing you money as well as being below market value then obviously you have to increase it ( I say that as a tenant) what you don't want is to do what my previous LL did, we were there 9 years, in that time they increased the rent by 30%, and wanted to increase it further, as there were other properties closer by renting for more - despite the fact that the house was literally falling down due to their reluctance to do minor repairs (eg if an old single glazed window has rotten wood then no amount of the tenant cleaning it helps, or not fixing broken guttering eventually means ingress of water) when we left they had a 6 month void period where they had to carry out significant works to make it fit to let out again - I am confident they will blame it on us ( not sure how we were supposed to repair a guttering that's 4 stories up without professionals!)

However, the property we are now in we have been here 18 months, plan to remain long term and there are no such minor repairs as well as it being in line with local market prices so we are maybe a bit more savvy now and wouldn't expect such major increases as we had previously.

My agent advises me to increase by about 5% each year. I didn't last year and I'm not this, because I feel it would be crass given the current financial situation a lot of people find themselves in, but will resume 5% increases in 2022.
The costs I carry for maintaining the property increase, tradesmen charge more, ground rent increases, etc.

I’ve already said I would sell it in that instance uhtred

Where are all these saintly landlords who never put up rent? I rented for over twenty years in four different countries and rent went up every year, despite me being an excellent long term tenant! Thank goodness we bought in the end.

Rather than just relying on the agent maybe have the courtesy to negotiate with the T it you want to increase the rent.

A while back when I was renting the agent wanted to put the rent up by £50 pcm in line with "current values".

I contacted the LL directly and told her that this was too much. My pension is not going up by £50 pcm nor am I getting anything for this extra £50. On the contrary very little money had been spent inside the house on repairs or improvements for the last 10 years I had been there paying your mortgage. If Im going to pay more money I want to "see" something for it.

I presented her with the alternatives:-

#1 you can increase it by £20 pcm and leave things as they are. Its affordable for me and I wont pester you unless things genuinely need repair.

#2 you can increase in by £50 pcm but I want the kitchen and bathroom updating to contemporary standards. Otherwise I move out.

I reminded the LL of how much she would have to spend on the property to re-let it. A complete new kitchen and bathroom at the very least. A complete paint job and new carpets for the entire house. Plus the cost of voids and the gamble of getting another tenant as good.

We settled at a modest increase of £20 pcm without any updates to kitchens or bathrooms.

I would have hated bloody workmen under my feet doing
the kitchen and bathroom but she didnt know that. I am not intetested in cooking and the kitchen and bathroom were adequate as they were,

I just realised I meant 3% not 5% increase. So the last increase was £900 to £925.

It’s not about being ‘greedy’, it’s the fact I am quite reliant on it as a form of income at the moment. And when I do go back to work childcare costs are a lot too.
So it has nothing to do with the local market rate and everything to do with fancying a bit more cash? It is a bit greedy to increase someone’s rent just because your personal circumstances have changed; your childcare costs shouldn’t impact on your tenants.

@Flappityflippers1

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.

What I should add here - as much as we love the house, it is getting dated now. It could really do with a new kitchen especially, some plastering etc. I wouldn’t pay any more for it at present, but would pay more if the kitchen got done.

If the LL put the rent up and we felt it unreasonable, we would move regardless of how much we love the house

Our rent has just gone up for first time in 10 years. The LL told the agent to put it up and only due to increased costs of repairs that need doing

In that case burrito I might as well let her have it for nothing.

Of course I wish to be fair but fair isn’t me losing money.