38% rent increase. Just a rant!

[ThatCheekyKoala]

As the title says, really. Our landlord is wanting to increase our rent by 38% in one go. It’s true that it’s the first increase and we’ve lived here several years, it’s true that it will still be below market value (for now, we know another increase will come next year to get it up there). This isn’t landlord bashing. Honestly we have been lucky, they are good landlords, things that have broken have been fixed, never had any major issues. I understand their costs have risen too. But we have also been good, reliable tenants who never missed a rent payment and ask for very little to be done (if we can fix it ourselves we will) and I really would have preferred smaller, regular increases rather than “hope you can find another several hundred pounds a month on short notice!”

We’re just really stuck. We can’t say no and risk getting evicted, we’ll just have to find the money. Properties in the area are like gold dust these days and would indeed be more expensive, not to mention moving costs. We can’t move to a cheaper area as we need to stay in the catchment area for our eldest’s school (younger child will start next year and if we were to move further out he wouldn’t get a place). We also have pets and I know it would be really hard to find another pet friendly let. We have no hope of buying a house until we inherit and obviously we hope that won’t be for many years yet. Just feeling deflated about it all. I’ll be spending the evening in front of my budgeting spreadsheet trying to magic some more money!

That does sound hard. Do you know why they are suddenly increasing the rent when they haven’t for many years?

I am really sorry. Have you tried to negotiate a smaller rise with them? How are your salary increase prospects over the next few years?

Ask for a call and ask really nicely if it could be staggered. They may have a mortgage and large increase? Or cross subsidising their own mortgage if small landlord? Or lost a job/ retired etc? If you are already getting a good deal and had a discount for years then I guess focus on having been lucky in the past. It seems out of character though if they were previously so helpful. Rents have gone up a lot recently. If it’s still a better deal than anything available locally could you ask to commit to a set rent for eg 3 years type thing?

There will soon be controls on how much landlords can put up rents each year so they may be making a big jump before they come in. If you had a 5% increase each year of the years that you have lived there with no increase would that be more or less than this sudden jump.

Not sure, I suspect it’s related to a new letting agent managing the property though. LL had probably just forgotten about it (they have lots of properties) until someone brought to light that we hadn’t ever had a rent increase!

Yeah we’ve been trying to negotiate, originally offered what would still be a 25% increase but LL wants 38%. Hoping to settle in the middle at least. We both work for the NHS so salary increase prospects are… not amazing.

Have you read your contract carefully? Usually there is s clause in there about rent increases.

If you knew you were paying a reduced rate for a long period of time you have been very lucky and should have put something away for any increase .

Reliability as a tenant doesnt pay the bills . Landlords have born huge increases over the years and it'll be a wonder if any stick in the market .

I guess all you can do is count your blessings that you've had years of paying well under market value. I can imagine it's been a big shock :-(

As @tissueboxandcandles - there's a clause in my contract about how much rent can be increased. Did you sign a new lease every year?

A disgrace, report them to your MP.

What difference will this make?

Sounds like you've saved a lot of money over the years and you said it will still be cheaper than market value so yes looking at your budget will be required.

You re still paying under the market rate, so there is little you can do, as a rent tribunal will either agree with the rise or even increase it!!

I hope the LL appreciates good tenants and will compromise, letting agents can be absolutely awful, as they take a % the higher the rent, the more they make.
So be sure its the LL turning down your counter offer and not the agent.

I have family in the same position (accidental landlords) they haven't put the rent up for 5 years, always done repairs, but with the end of their fixed rate, they need to put it up significantly otherwise they will have to sell immediately. I'd imagine there are a few landlords who have found themselves in that kind of position. Looking back, it would have been better to put the rent up every year, but they didn't want to do that as they weren't looking to make money on it- they still aren't but are now needing to raise it significantly to cover the new mortgage.

Unfortunately mortgage rates have gone up, landlord insurance has gone up, there are lots of other costs. You have been lucky that you haven't had an increase in rent for years. Could you negotiate 30%? I imagine the "goodwill" is that you are still under market rate. With things politically the way they are I would expect another increase next year, with a plan over the next few years to bring in line with market rates - especially if there is a new agent involved. Was the LL using an agent before? I find that landlords that largely self manage tend to not put rents up for good tenants until forced to, whereas agent managed properties often get incremental increases every year.

It is "good practice" to increase the rent every year to keep up in line with market rates. Keeping properties below market rate means that tennants get "stuck" as they suddenly can't afford to move within the area they are renting. With the "crow of professionalise the LL system" the days of no rent increases for years and good will for food tenants will be over. Especially when the big banks and other corporate companies get involved. It will all be about bottom line and sticking firmly to contract.

Nothing but sympathy OP. I live in fear of that happening to me.

Can you offer a lower rent for this year - as youngest will still be in nursery which presumably has costs, another increase next September when at school? I'd just talk to the landlord, see what you can agree between you.

Maybe post on here if you want help with the budget.

This exact same thing happened to us and I was so upset at the time. My circumstances were the same as yours- knew I had to just find the money (in my case an extra £350 a month!) because it was cheaper to stay than find somewhere else, also school, also dogs etc.

I'm just here with buckets of empathy because it's SHIT.

In fairness OP NHS workers have had wage increases in the last few years but by the sounds of things your rent has remained the same. So arguably you should have got a bit better off in the last few years while your wage increased but your rent didnt (i appreciate increased energy bills and food costs may have absorbed some). National insurance also dropped twice each time making most typical earners around £40 a month better off. So i think while its frustrating to have the increase all in one go, hopefully you should be able to find the extra money?

And then what?
They can pay it (if the Tenancy agreement allows) or not and leave. The way the rental market is right now there will probably be people happy to pay it .
Its really shit OP but there are more prospective Tenants than rental properties (I work in this area) and landlords can charge what they want really