Obscene rent increase

[user97213982742]

Landlord has served Form 4a increasing my rent by £205 a month from October. This is a 46% increase.

The accompanying letter states

“After careful consideration, we have made the decision to implement an increase in the rent. This reflects the continued rise in property maintenance and operating costs, aligns the rent more closely with current market values, and will help support planned maintenance and improvement works to ensure the property is kept up as best as possible with future regulatory changes to the private rent sector”.

I understand that maintenance costs and improvements are the landlords responsibility and shouldn’t be a reason for a rent increase. And it is the landlords responsibility to ensure property meets the forthcoming EPC standards coming into force for private rented accommodation.

My wages haven’t increased by 46% a month.

I’ve lived here for 20 years. And the property only has one door. No fire doors, only 1 double glazed window that has blown, and does not meet fire escape route standards If there was a fire downstairs I have no other means of exit?

What can I do please

OP could have moved whenever she wanted. She chose not to.

The landlord is just the tax collector middleman, it’s the government who put your rent up.

This. Labour voters, this is what you voted for.

Back in the days when being a landlord was vaguely profitable I never used to increase rent if the tenant was good. Now I have to increase by the maximum possible just to break even.

Regulation costs landlords, who pass on the cost to tenants. We're not making any more money from this situation.

It's only going to get worse as more landlords leave the market. I'm only still doing it because mine used to be profitable and I hope they may be again some day, either with a change of government or if interest rates go down.

🤦‍♀️

It was cheap…look at my post about the number of rentals available at 450…6 two bed flats out of 110,000 rentals.

your council should have a private rental department, go to them with a list of your previous complaints. They will be able to ensure that your living conditions are adequate. They don't sound at all satisfactory

On a 40 hour working week on NMW your rent would be seen as very achievable. £26,416 gross, leaves you on basic net of £1878. Minus £650 leaves £1228. It's 30% of your take home pay, which is a low percentage for housing costs. The average is around 40%

Honestly, your rent still sounds really low to me. The rental market is SO expensive at the moment. It sucks that you have to raise it, but seriously, I paid that much for a 2 bedroom flat 16 years ago!

My landlord is also a barrister. He is very knowledgeable about legislation and is also very fair. He sent us a letter 2 weeks before he sent us the rent increase form 4 letter. He explained that form 4 can give him the power to increase the rent to be in line with the market rate for our property. However, the new Renters Act also gives us the right to negotiate to a lower rate that is deemed acceptable by both parties. If we accept the negotiated sum instead of the figure in form 4 then that's what we pay going forwards. If not, he would work with us to negotiate again.

Yesterday we got Form 4 which states the current market value for my property and what i should be paying (big increase). Included was a letter stating the negotiated price that he would accept. It was very fair and only £25 more than what I currently pay.

I have faith that what my landlord has said about the new act allowing us to negotiate if form 4 is unaffordable so if I were you, I would look it up and contact him immediately.

You could look for another property that is the sameprice but better and give notice.
At the rate the current government is hammering landlords you are lucky to have rental /they are increasingly scarce.

Yes, rents are inflated by around 40% on top of real costs because of tax and legislation. I genuinely think there should be some sort of basic assessment of economic understanding before people are allowed to vote.

It’s a lot in one go but wow. Where are rents that cheap?

two bedrooms for £650 😳

you’ve obviously had it very very good for a long time and I can see why you are pissed off, but the landlord can barely be breaking even.

And yes. If the going rate is £650 for a better quality property, maybe ‘I’ve to one of those?

yet the percentage of income hasn't changed much since 2010 with a tory government for 14 years - it was 43% of income in 2010 and is now around 40% of income

It would be cheap here as well - as we're in a cheaper part of UK than many on MN nothing on right move under £800 for 2 bed flat.

My DC are/were paying 600 a month for student bedsits.

Moving will cost money as well - so I'd try appealing as PP have suggested as it may prompt repairs. Other option is to move on to the better properties - if you have the savings.

Rent will eventually go up with inflation maybe + a bit, the same as for example a mobile phone contract. The market rate will increasingly be dictated by large firms as accidental or small time landlords exit or do not enter the market. This will settle down into something like CPI +1 so currently between 3.5 and 4% per annum. It’s the only model that now makes sense.

I was replying to the previous poster who was talking about the current rent. Learn to read!

I’ve seen the other side to this - landlords needing to increase rents to make funds for necessary repairs. If there’s a mortgage on the property, if it goes sideways and they can’t pay, the lender repossesses and you receive a notice of intended sale anyway. New landlord comes in and makes repairs and upgrades the property so new market rate can be used, which may make it unaffordable.

can you get advice from CAB, or find a law firm that offers a free half hour for basic advice? Or contact Shelter and see if they can help if it’s truly going to be unaffordable?

Yes clearly they should... Let me explain -

• labour have increased tax on landlords by 2%in the last budget

• I get taxed on profit I don't make as I can't offset 80% of the interest on my mortgage unlike any other business (this was a Conservative policy in fairness to Labour)

• regulations make it now too difficult to be a landlord without an agent as you'll end up getting fined for something so that's another 8% I lose from not managing propties myself anymore

• labour have made it harder to evict tenants who don't pay, so do those that do pay are effectively subsidising those that don't as landlords need to build contingency to cover this

-oh and also contingency for tenants leaving their tenancies whenever they want so need contingency for fallow periods

• now have to incur damage from pets with no recourse

• can no longer offset for wear and tear in furnished properties

• now can't rent properties under an EPC band C so older properties need upgrading.

There will be others I've not thought of.

You don't think all of these things add up to a 40% increase in rent? I don't think I'm the financially illiterate one.

FYI I charge 80% more than I used to 3 years ago for my properties and still make a lot less than I used to.

They don’t need to have gone up by 46% to cover this. They need to have gone up by about fifty quid a week. That’s not nothing, but neither is it crazy.

Average rent as a percentage of income? It was 28% in 2010 and it’s now 36%, it was 32% when Labour came into power

Because we are businesses not charities. Costs go up so prices go up. The OP has been paying a tiny amount for years.

£650 for a 2 bed is still insanely cheap. I wouldnt expect much for that.

It sounds like you've had twenty years of a property at well under market rates so it will be a dive, no landlord will invest in a property generating so little in rent.

If you think you can get a better property for £650 your best bet is to move.

Then move to a place in good condition for the same amount of money that he is reasonably (under the new rent act) asking

A lot of the spite taxes and legislation (employers tax , children’s education tax, landlord) will be rolled back once Labour are out, they’ve just been so damaging that it’s a certainty. Obviously it’s 3 years and it’s no comfort to people who can’t get a job, can’t sell/buy a property, afford the rent or have had to move schools during their GCSEs, but I do think long term its good that the electorate has learnt where politics of envy ends up….all of us worse off.

Maybe that's because you've been paying way less than market rent?