Any Landlords around tonight?

[stirling]

Hello , would really appreciate some perspective.

I have had a really lovely tenant for a long time, 7 years in my one bed flat in London. It's prime location and rents easily. That said, no tenant ever stayed on longer than a year but this woman has and for that I was willing to keep my flat under market value for my long term tenant. She's single and professional.

However with huge inflation and struggling with my own costs, huge rises in service charges at the start of the pandemic, I asked for a minor increase two years ago, ie 5 years into her tenancy. She declined as she had health issues and serious surgery so I held off. Last September I asked again, and 8% increase and was bartered down to 7% but not to start till January of this year. Then in December a crazy tenant illegally occupied the flat above her and caused mayhem in the building. I was heavily involved in the process of evicting this criminal and trying to keep her safe. I've lost both of my parents in the past two years and have chronic health issues myself so being so emeshed in all the drama and police and MP involvement hasn't been easy.

Because her operations have been ongoing she's had to stay elsewhere for recovery, too unsettling in the building and she consequently asked for a refund for the couple of months of rent increase , which I reluctantly agreed to.
So effectively I've been waiting 1 year and 7 months for a rent increase to match inflation and I'm out of pocket.

I've tried explaining this in an email (she doesn't answer my calls) and her response is all about expecting a continued indefinite discount because of her loyalty in these years and our 'warm empathetic relationship'.

A similar flat in the building is rented out for £200 a month more albeit to a couple.
Friends say I should up the rent to market value immediately (the criminal has been successfully evicted) or give her notice.

I just want peace and enough money to cover my expenses. I'm a single mother with a disability and my rental is supposed to be a source of income.I asked for a rent raise in Sept 2023 which didn't begin till April this month, so I don't think I'm legally allowed to ask for another raise till September right ?
Any suggestions? Thank you.

On the one hand, a loyal tenant who pays on time is worth everything.
On the other, she knows there's a COL crisis and she's had it easy for a long time as, in theory, iirc you could have put it up 10% per year, had you wanted to?
That would certainly explain the £200 difference.
I thought it was once a year, so April 2025, but someone else will be along in a minute.

I think you may have to think about giving her notice though. 2 months notice if she's on a rolling contract?
Readvertise at market rate?

Get some professional advice

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/model-agreement-for-a-shorthold-assured-tenancy

CItizens Advice so good start

You can't carry on like this .
We had a very long term Tennant and it became ridiculous in the end as we never put the rent up .
We put the rent up she moved out of the area , new tenant no worries, we don't charge as much as we could because as we feel.they are reliable and we want them to stay

Too soft OP
too hard 1st reply

Thanks everyone, it helps to hear your views. Thanks for the link Whoknewitwasthishard

Just sell the property, clearly you are no professional landlord.

You are running a business, she is not your friend

You need to give her notice the rent will increase and it’s not up for negotiation and she will either pay it or leave

Better to join and ask this on a landlord forum. But my view is, you need to insist on your increase now, it's not possible for your tenant to negotiate with council tax, electric or gas when they rise. No one would get a reduction in a mortgage for nightmare neighbours and I would hazard a guess that an overwhelming number of tenants would have no rent reduction. It sounds as though you are reasonable in what you are charging with the increase compared to market rate. So go ahead and do it now. You don't need to get into long explanations, just say that due to increased costs on my side I reluctantly have to insist that the rent will now increase from X date,

Join the NRLA if you are not a member already. Consider handing this over to an agent.

She is taking the piss. It’s a business, not a ‘warm, empathetic relationship’ (WTF). I would give her notice to leave.

It sounds like she is on a periodic tenancy? If that is the case you can raise the rent once a year generally. As an increase has just started that would be April 2025 for the next uplift.

Landlord here. Have an estate agent manage it so you have them lead all discussions. Similar In The sense of having great tenants for 6 years. No rent increase. However, the rent will go up incrementally to help with service fees and fixing things. No mortgage but need to accommodate add on costs. Personally she sounds like she was a good tenant but being a cf for asking for a refund. Not your problem. Sympathetic but at the end of the day she is a renter and has now taken the piss

Landlord here. You don't ask a tenant if you can put the rent up, you just notify them of the increase. Assuming your tenant is on an annual AST. The time for increase is a the agreement ends / begins.

You can decide to not increase by a huge amount of the tenant is good, which is definitely a reasonable thing to do.

It sounds like you are managing this yourself, so is the deposit in a registered scheme, so you have an eicr, gas safety certificate etc.?

If you don't, and your tenant decides to become less friendly, you could be in for a world of pain.

LL here.

I don’t think a £200 difference per month is particularly significant - especially for a long term tenant. That will nearly be eaten up by a couple of weeks fallow period.

Don’t forget additional costs around swapping tenants - you will need to pay for someone to do the tenancy referencing / agreement (easily a couple of hundred).

Presumably the flat hasn’t been decorated in the current tenancy period, so you will probably need to do that after 5 years.

If you were getting £500 a month less, I’d understand it, but if I were you, I’d leave it for now, and put it up by a reasonable amount next year - and if she doesn’t agree, then she can leave.

It’s not ideal that you’re out of pocket, but it’s not really her fault you agreed to a reduction, and for a long term tenant, £200 less seems fairly normal to me.

Hello everyone and thank you all for taking the time to post .
She's on a 'rolling contract' as we signed the contract in 2017.
Scottishwildcat that's been my underlying gut feeling, that the annual turnaround is often costly in itself. More importantly it's a headache.
HappiestSleeping so true- I'm not sure why I've asked. I absolutely should have told her .
Been a landlord for over 30 years, always been very matter of fact with tenants up until this one. Must be menopause.

You made a mistake looking for her agreement on the rent increase. She took that as weakness and an invitation to negotiate. You can try to salvage the situation by sending a factual communication, no explanations or justifications. If you are legally allowed to implement a rent increase, then do it.

She sounds like someone who is now going to be difficult going forward.

I'm a tenant and I think your tenant is taking the piss. We've been in our current house for 3 years and have had rent increases at each annual lease renewal but we're still paying less than the comparable rent in the area.

We have a great, open relationship with our landlord - but we would never, ever tell him he couldn't raise the rent or how much he could raise it by.

It's our home, but it's his property - it sounds as if your tenant has forgotten that.

Argh, kicking myself.
Thanks again and good to hear a tenant's perspective MaitlandGirl!

I like this : "You can try to salvage the situation by sending a factual communication, no explanations or justifications."

If the couple of months ‘grace’ have now finished then I would write to her to say as of April rent is now previously agreed figure (with 7% increase) - word it as fact not a request. Assuming she is still there and you wish to increase the rent next April send a similarly worded email at least 2 months in advance.
I do think it’s worth keeping it slightly below market level as even if you would find a new tenant quickly there are costs involved in re marketing and re contracting plus apart from perhaps taking advantage of your good nature she sounds like a good tenant.

You don’t ask, you notify with sufficient time.

i have long standing tenant and only started putting the rent up two years ago: small amount each year.

i think you need to put in hands of agent next time.

'because of her loyalty in these years and our 'warm empathetic relationship'.

I'm sorry I don't have anything positive or any advice to add, but when I read the part in bold I was taken aback by the blatant, almost certainly VERY determined emotional manipulation of these words.

Desperation makes people act in undesirable ways.

I'll leave it there.

So true 😟