Unable to pay rent increase

[GoAgainstNicki]

I wonder if anyone is able to give some advice on what the next steps will be?

I had an email from the estate agents a couple of weeks ago to say that the Landlord is requesting a rent increase from 1180 to 1500 a month. He wanted this done effective immediately but as my tenancy doesn’t say anything about allowing rent increases, he’ll have to wait until my tenancy is finished this summer.

If I’m unable to pay the rent increase which I totally can’t, what happens next? I already bid for council properties and I know the council won’t help me at all unless I’ve been served with a section 21 notice. Do I just ask the Landlord to start the eviction process and still pay 1180 every month?

The Landlord isn’t open to negotiation at all which is quite silly because it’s probably not worth going to court over just to get an eviction notice but hey, ho! Thanks for any advice given:)

Does your tenancy say it goes to a rolling tenancy after the end of the fixed term? It might be worth speaking to shelter or similar - if there's nothing in the contract about a rent increase, they might be able to advise whether you need to sign a new contract for a rent increase or if the landlord can just enforce one.

Do you already receive UC?

Just had a read of my tenancy. It doesn’t mention anything about moving to a rolling tenancy once the current one is finished. I thought that happens automatically but us that not the case?

The estate agent’s have informed me that my current tenancy will end and that’s when the landlord will propose a new rent amount in the form of a new tenancy agreement. So if I can’t afford the rent then I’ll need to leave. However, I can’t just leave otherwise I’ll be deemed as voluntarily homeless

Yep my rent is already covered by UC. The highest amount I can receive due to the LHA is around 1346 however that’s not good enough for the Landlord

If it's in the form of a new tenancy agreement, if you don't sign a new agreement maybe you can just stick to the old one which automatically becomes rolling?

Definitely seek advice from someone at shelter or the council just in case, I'm just trying to remember from my last tenancy (a good 5 or so years ago!).

You need to move out into a cheaper property, which may mean moving area. Anything else is taking the piss.

That’s exactly what I’ll be doing. So I won’t sign the new tenancy but because I know the Landlord 100% wants 1500 a month, he’ll have to start the eviction process so I can leave. I’m more than happy to negotiate but he isn’t so that leaves me quite stuck.

Thanks so much for your advice! I’ll be contacting Shelter soon as I know they’re super helpful

Well thank you so much, where would I be without your helpful comment? NOT.

For your information, I came from temporary accommodation and was placed here through the homeless scheme. The council paid the deposit so that I could live here. Do I have money to pay a deposit elsewhere? No. Do most Landlord’s accept people on UC? No.

My 10 month old has a severe disability as he has a genetic disorder. He has weekly physio and occupational therapy at our house as well as having portage. Do you think I’m going to up and move area’s and take him away from his community care team which have been looking after him since the day that he was born? Erm, no.

So I will be making sure that the Landlord goes through the eviction process in order for the council to help me. I won’t be making myself, a 22 month old and a 10 month old intentionally homeless just because @dollymixtured on MN thinks I’m taking the piss.

If you don’t have anything nice/helpful to say then don’t comment!

These are your options at the end of a fixed term tenancy - our letting agent was not very honest and tried to get us to sign up for another fixed term instead of telling us moving onto a periodic tenancy was an option! I quoted Shelter at him and told him we wanted to move onto the periodic tenancy:

https://england.shelter.org.uk/housingadvice/privateerenting/optionswhennyourfixeddtermtenancyyends

These are your options if threatened with a rent increase:

https://england.shelter.org.uk/housingadvice/privateerenting/rentincreases

Good luck!

Yes I thought you went onto rolling automatically and also there were limits on how much they could increase the rent by.

My friend has just been through this and the borough council are stepping in to pay the amount that the rent has increased by, that might be worth looking into?

That's an obscene price increase! And people wonder why we hate landlords.

@dollymixtured you do know that some people lead very complex lives??!

Thanks so much! The first link didn’t seem to work but I can have a look at the Shelter website to educate myself a bit more.

Can I ask why you wanted to go onto a rolling contract as opposed to another fixed term one? I thought a fixed term tenancy provided more stability but is that not necessarily the case?

That may be a discretionary housing payment that the council are doing. I’ve had it before when the payment that was given went to the Landlord for a deposit on my behalf. The council have said that I can’t get a discretionary housing payment given again for the same property.

Tbh there’s also a mouse problem in this flat so I rather just get the hell out of here anyway!

It’s insane right?! He won’t even be happy accepting the highest amount that UC will give which is around 1346. He won’t do repairs and overall is very money hungry. Nothing like the past landlords that I’ve had.

Oh and this is all for a one bedroom flat btw!

Quite the drip feed! You must be living in a very expensive area if the LHA is 1346 for a 1 bed flat. Long term how do you plan to support yourself and your child? It may be easier to move to a cheaper area now rather than later following a traumatic eviction

Sorry children, I see you have two not one.

It’s not a drip feed at all as none of that had to do with my original question. Feel free to search my username if you want more insight into my situation.

What do you mean how do I plan to support myself and my child? So it seems that I can’t support my family because I can’t afford an unexpected £320 increase per month? ODFOD

Yes, so a fixed term would give more stability - a periodic in our case is ended with one month's notice from us or two months from the landlord.

We're only temporarily in rental whilst we bought a house and then renovated it, so didn't want to commit to another 12 month tenancy. It made more sense in our position to move to periodic tenancy as then we've only had to give a month's notice to leave.

Your landlord has to do certain things in order for the rent increase to happen so check the Shelter website really carefully.

No, because you must be in central London to be getting 1180 a month in LHA for a one bed. Unless you are a very high earner it’s unlikely you can afford to live in central London with two preschoolers. Long term you should look at a cheaper area as you cannot afford to keep living where you currently are.

Ah right I completely get what you mean. In you guys’ case it made more sense as you had a house that you were waiting to move into!

I’ll definitely have a good look on Shelter, thank you:)

Was my post about moving elsewhere or was it about what happens if I can’t afford a rent increase? Not sure if you think you’re helping but you’re really not. Thanks for the input

I’d be grateful to hear from anyone else who’s been in a similar situation!

In the nicest possible way, the answer to not being able to afford a rent increase, for the massive majority of the population, is to move to somewhere cheaper you can afford. You are obviously looking for a different type of advice about how to avoid paying a rent increase whilst staying put. Strangely enough that is not how everyone would have interpreted your original post. Anyway, you staying put and eventually getting evicted isn’t going to to help your prospects long term but I guess you’re not worried about that at this point.