Guide To Increasing Your Tenants Rent The Right Way

Enjoyed reading some of the input.
keep at it

You wrote:

"Some reasons why you SHOULD think about increasing rates:

* Want to make your tenant leave property"

So you'd give a BAD tenant a VALID reason to drag you through the courts as the bad guy? I'm glad you thought this one through...

Sorry Tim, don't understand your reasoning?

Jools

OK, dragging through the courts is a bit of an overstatement, but sending and unwinnable case to a rent assessment committee, thus providing documentary evidence of your own unreasonable behaviour in case of future proceedings, seems like a strange way of getting rid of a bad tenant. They give you enough hassle, surely, without you creating some more for yourself?

@Tim,

Also, maybe they accept the higher rent, which makes their assholeness more tolerable.

it is very difficult to make a decision to raise the rent on a property when you have a good tenant and I appreciate all the comments on this forum about good tentant/landlord relationships but in our case the tenant had already previously rented it and had to move out when the other tenant went to university. She was and still is a good tenant and we came to an agreement about the reduced rent (bearing in mind all your comments)but whilst negotiating this reduced rent (400 for a two bedroomed newly furnished flat on the edge of the beach with parking, no poll tax or water rates! compared to 650.00 for very similar accommodation and what she jointly paid previously ie 325 per month, she had always insisted she couldn't afford the original 500 we asked for as a sole tenant. She was totally unprepared to share with anyone but now we need to put the rent up, despite your comments you shouldn't put the rent up because you could get more, we are falling short of nearly 250. 00 per month and in this economic climate and when there are a lot of people looking for accommodation in our area, we cannot keep the rent so low any more. We are between the devil and the deep blue sea because she is a good tenant but we have a valuable commodity here that in essence someone else is enjoying and we are paying for it. Awkward situation

Interesting comments from all...I'd be interested to see what you think of our situation.

We're renting a 2 bedroom detached bungalow with an annexe which is rented separately by the landlord. Our landlord has all bills in his name and so instead of renting at £750-800 the rent is £1100 inclusive of gas/elec/phone line (not calls) and council tax. This seemed to be average when we moved in two years ago but now he wants to increase the rent from £1100 to £1450! The letter said that he would be delighted to keep us on as tenants...I bet.

I should add that the tenancy is for my wife and myself only, no pets, no kids and we don't smoke. We've never paid late and have effected many repairs at our own expense as we got tired of waiting for the landlord, who lives abroad, to get them seen to. We were originally told that the property was agent managed but when we received the contract this was not the case but by then we'd handed in our notice on our previous property.

The property shares the hot water with the annexe and the girl there likes her baths menaing there is frequently no hot water. Also the fuse box is in the annexe and we don't have access to it. As there are lots of halogen bulbs they seem to blow frequently which trips the fuse (partially but not completely resolved by the LL putting much heavier fuses in... is this safe?). If the girl in the annexe is out we are without electricity for hours, or sometimes days if she's away, in part of our house...not great! We feel we should have been advised about this prior to renting but we weren't. By the way, the property was empty for over 6 months before we rented it and most of that time it was on the market. Now we know why.

Ok, first port of call...speak to local letting agents to see how much rental prices have climbed since we moved in as although everyone hates a rental increase we want to be fair. I was advised that 3-5% should be expected. Next I checked with the utilities company's and they've also increased by 5% (He's not with British Gas who's went up 7%). Incidentally, the gas and elec for both properties is around £140-150 pm. I know as I have to open this envelope, with the LL's permission, to know how much to pay for the calls. Then it was back to letting agents for their advice on what they would value the property at. We had various answers from £1100pm - £1200pm inclusive but they all said that £1450 was far too much considering the property condition and the shared resources with the annexe of hot water and fuse box. On top of this the unpaved, unadopted highway, road to the property has some severe potholes and my car (sensible saloon, NOT a sporty number) bottoms out every day and it's getting worse.

So, what are we to do? The obvious answer is to seek another property and part ways with our not terribly responsive landlord. Would that be the best course? We can easily get 2/3 bedroom houses or bungalows for £800-900 locally. Just looking for advice as I don't want to over react and I hate moving.

Thanks!

I am approaching the end of my second year in my rented house. When i first moved in i paid £800pcm. At the end of the year the landlord increased it to £825pcm, now he wants to increase it to £850pcm. Every year i have been asked to pay an extra £300. Am i being petty and should accept the increase?
i have been a good tenant who always pays on time, never hassles him. i treat the house as my own. i painted the whole house when i initially moved in as it was tired and dirty, fixed the kitchen cupboards and weeded the the whole garden. what thanks do i get??? a rental increae. I think its unfair considering the about of work i have put into the property. i have always been under the impression that good tenants were hard to come by. what should i do??

Hi
I have been renting my unfurnised one bedroomed flat in Shirley Southampton since Aug 2005 for a monthly rent of £510 which I have always paid on time and in full.
When I moved into the flat it was dirty and tired and over the past eight years I have keep it up improving it i.e. decorating, loft ladder etc all at my own expense.
I have had ongoing trouble with my water heater and I requested a professional, instead my landlord tried to do the job and left me overnight with bare wires in my airing cupboard. I have up until now had a very good relationship with my landlord.
On Wednesday afternoon he just turned up and informed me that he was increasing my rent to £560 per month which is nearly a 10% increase. I am not happy as I am a pensioner. The going rater for these flats if between £500 AND £530 per month. I would like to hear if any of you landlord think this fair?

Some landlords are just getting greedier & greedier. I rented my flat 3 years ago for £800 pcm (the going rate for a 1 bed) and he has recently upped it to...£950! After a lot of argument, I got it down to £920. He says at the 'going rate' he could get between £1200 - £1500 pcm for it. This is because he's now calling it a 3 bed flat; one 'bedroom' is so tiny you could hardly get a single bed in it, and certainly nothing else! The third 'bedroom' is an add-on to the flat with windows & a door that do not fit properly & the cold wind sends the curtains blowing up in the air! In the winter it's impossible to be in this room even with the radiator going full blast, the floor is concrete with a 1cm thick old carpet on it. I'm too old to move (nearly 70) so will just have to put up with it. Outrageous.

Hi. My tenant has been living in my propety for the last 6 years. İ had 12 months contract which expired and i never renewed the contract. What type of tenancy do i have and what kind of notice do i need to serve to my tenant as i would like her to leave. Many thanks.

@Helen 25th May
If you don't know the answer to that simple question, you really have no business being a landlady!

And why do you want to get rid of her? She will now have settled in & become part of the community in that area - have you any idea of the disruption to life that will cause her? Or you just don't care?

Just up her rent by £150 a month - that'll do the trick!!

To rent the house to the tenants was always a problem. Being a landlord I found it difficult to deal with reckless tenants & complicated situations. It was kind of head-ache to deal with. But today when I see the dss accepted companies which are not only supporting both tenants and landlords both but also offer best of their services to overcome the disputes and perfect solutions to deal with any situation. I really thank www.dss-accepted.co.uk for their total support.

A lot of anti landlord sentiment, but I have been landlord for 40 years providing good accommodation, but I rarely get tenants who have any intention of keeping to the terms of their agreement with me.

They all say they will move out if given notice, without going through the courts. None do, although most of my tenants stay with me for years and have never been asked to move out.

They all sign the dotted line to keep gardens tidy windows cleaned. None do.

Cleaning windows seems to be beneath many, as are many of the terms that relate to responsibilities of the tenant.

Most of mine are on periodic tenancies, as in many cases £300 for a new agreement is in my opinion usery, buts its often not the owner who has a say in this, or benefits by it.

I let a property some time ago to a young mum in difficult family circumstances and where it endangered her kids when the property was up for sale. Pulled the property off, but again it was supposed to be temporary to help her out with her agreeing she would move out whatever the circumstances, as she knew I had the property up for sale when she moved in. Recent circumstances force me to have to sell...but what happened to the agreement.....you guessed.

So much for helping tenants obtain property who would otherwise not be able to get it.

I have rented my furnished luxury house in Nugegoda Sri Lanka to one of my close relations. The current rent is only Rs.25,000.00 but the market rent for a similar house in this area is Rs.55000~70,000.
I want to raise the rent for this property with effect from 01-01-2015. I don't know how to increase the rent for my tenant because he is a close relation of mine. Can someone advice me how to increase the rent to this tenant?

Have a question how long notice landlord should give the tenant that the rent will be increased with the new contract?

Here another tenant who always paid the rent in time, kept the flat in good condition (and cleaned the windows and cut the grass). Two years in succession, the rent was increased by almost 10% (each year). I could do nothing else than to move out. Now the landlord has problems finding a tenant who wants to pay the rent I did. I very much wished that landlords would read the advice above.

Hi, my niece has been in her current house 3 months out of a 12 month tenancy agreement. Her landlord advised us last week he is going to give her notice to quit, she is up to date with her rent and hasn't broken any of her terms. The landlord has advised us he hasn't any money for repairs so wants to move back in. We've tried to work with him by paying for floor coverings which he was supposed to do at expense to ourselves, as she is on benefits she can get him a new boiler (this request will obviously be cancelled now). He has now e-mailed hinting that if we help out with the repairs then she can stay, we have no objection to doing this as she loves the house but our worry is we could have all the repairs done and he could still give her notice to quit. The repairs are, neither door will lock so new locks and handles are needed, the shower is leaking and the children's bedroom is mouldy due to poor gutters. We are happy to come to some arrangement with him but we would also want my niece protected from 2 months notice. Is there a way a clause could be put in that he has to give her a minimum of 6 or 12 months notice. We don't want to shell out around £800 for the repairs doing for him to then kick her out anyway. Please note he has not used the DPS but we don't want to go down this road yet as we don't want to fall out with him.

Can anyone advise. We have wonderful tenants 3years no problems. Recenly the boiler has been continually breaking down, we get it fixed and it breaks down again, so we have been advised to replace it. Do we put up the rent to cover the £2000 bill or do we take it out of the profits ? it will come with a 7 years warranty. We have not put the rent up since they moved in.I notice the council always increase the rents when they make improvements.

I'm just after a little advice, I rent my three bed semi for £675,(nice area with driveway and garden front and back) my tennants have been in the property for five years and I haven't increased the rent yet, the going rate for properties in my area for a similar property is approx £775-£800.
I have been thinking lately that I should increase the rent, although I don't need the money it seems that I deserve to receive more for all the years I went without to pay for this house, I have good tennants who are approx sixty years old, they keep the house tidy and don't ask for much, just the odd job needs doing every six months or so.
so should I increase or not, or by how much is acceptable without being greedy....

@John
I agree that you are entitled to raise the rent after 5 years, but please do it gently especially if your tenants are elderly! Perhaps raise it to £725 initially, they should be able to cope with that. Then next year you could raise it again, if you want to.
I speak from experience as I am a pensioner, and at my last flat my landlord suddenly raised my rent by £150 a month, which I couldn't cope with at all in the long run, and had to look for a another home.

@June Gardner
As it is a landlord's responsibility to provide hot water, I think it's your 'duty' to replace the boiler - you would have to do it sooner or later as these things all have a shelf life.
How do you know the council always raises rents when improvements are made? The rent rises may be for other reasons.

I did forget to mention Helen that they both work, she is a cleaner but told me when they applied that her husband earns £600 per week, and that was five years ago, twice as much than I have ever had per week, so I really should reap the benefits of my hard work to buy this house, although I am now 49 and semi retired I feel the time has come for me to have more money and improve my lifestyle....

I have a property with a great tenant that keeps the property clean and tidy. The problem I face is that they argue with me about a rent increase - last year was 5 years with no increase and we finally agreed on a £20 increase. I argued that this was well below local prices and I would have to review it again this year . Here I am again contemplating my position. The rent is just under £1000 but a local agent just said I could be getting £1400 a month for the property. The question is how far do you go to keep a good tenant happy before they are just abusing your fairness? It seems to me market rates are now considerably higher and whilst I would benefit from the increase I do not feel I am being unreasonable in making the investment work? Comments welcome from all.

@fair
I don't think a small increase is out of order, but I would be wary of agents advice, as they tend to estimate higher in the hopes of getting a listing. Your best bet is to survey the rental market in the area for yourself to ascertain what's fair for a property like yours.

Hi

Ive just received a rent increase that housing act letter hand delivered asking for an increase of £100 per month.

The property is in poor repair and i requested repairs but non done and then i get this. so now yet again im looking for somewhere else to live.

Electric sockets are hanging off the walls. The electric shower unit water floods through the unit itself so cannot be used. the boiler has a leak and the from door is not even double glazed. I only asked about the shower to be repaired but this house is neglected by the landlords to gain maximum rent increasing because i expect the recent budget where they have lost and now passing that down to tenants.
With the current housing crisis they can seem to charge what they like and get away with it because people have no option.

Agencies are charging maximum fees and deductions for cleaning etc, some asking for monthly inspections. life in the private rental worlds is becoming intolerable and far to expensive but those needing a home have no choice. Plenty of flashy websites and info telling us of our rights but actually having them are a different thing. things always turn in favour of the landlords.

The local council has just put the maintenance charge up by £40 a month, a lot of tenants on here seem to be complaining about the rent increase but as landlords what are we supposed to do, I'm going to have to increase my tenants rent to help cover this extra cost, until I had this increase I was going to leave their rent the same, they are good tenants and I don't want to upset them but I have no choice.

I am a landlord with 2 properties, our tenants have been with us for around 3 years each and in that time due to low interest rates I haven't put the rent up.

However I have of late been considering the costs of maintenance which is a few thousand having become more expensive due to the lack of trades available and rising costs of materials. Increase in insurance costs etc a few hundred over the years and new must look at raising rents.

I don't plan to be greedy, but do have to make up some of the short fall in rising costs. With the Tax on Turnover planned by the current government I will have to consider considerable rent increases once we know what final policy has been agreed in parliament just to keep the properties on + maintenance + insurances etc.

Choices are simple, sell a property to reduce mortgage costs thereby not be penalized by George Osborn, putting tenants out on the council house list or put the rents up.

''It’s also generally better to gradually increase rather than holding back for a couple of years and then increasing it by a significant amount- that will be a lot more difficult for your tenants to accept.''

Try changing ''accept'' to ''afford'' , every time you increase someones rent you decrease someones ability to afford to keep their home.

Also, maintenance costs should not fall on your tenants, its your house, your responsibility to maintain it, if you cannot afford to do this, don't become a land lord.
For instance, you hire a car for 7 days, after day three it breaks down, the hire company repair it but tell you you now owe them more money because of ''maintenance costs'', you wouldn't be very happy would you?

If you decide not to raise a tenant's rent, do you think there is any merit in writing to them to tell them that you have decided NOT to raise it on this occasion?

My tenants are coming to the end of their fixed 12 month tenancy and it will now revert to a rolling one, so this would be the usual point to review the rental price.

It hasn't been increased for 2 years and give the market has risen nearly 4% I could justify a £50/month increase, however I like my tenants and they look after the property brilliantly, so I'm inclined not to raise it.
However I did think I might tell them this - would there be any risks/disadvantages of doing this?

I rented a property more than 5 years ago via an agent, during the first year the landlord stopped using the agent who we signed a lease agreement, on our renewal date the landlord and I agreed to continue on principle going forward. Its been relatively smooth and working. He also agreed for me to let out to a lodger to make up some income as I seperated from my husband so this could assist with costs. Landlord increased the rent last year April by £100 which I agreed to as he had no increased rent previously. But a year down the line he wants to increase it again by another £100 but this is putting financial strain on me being a single income household. I have never not paid rent and been a model tenant. How do I stand not having a current legal agreement with him and can I negotiate on the increase as it will put strain on me and my family? I have not had any cost of living increase in my income for several years so this is hitting me hard now? any advice whould be great.

A question. Me and my partner have been renting from our landlord for 16 months. We received a letter from him on Monday saying that he wants to increase the rent by £30. This in itself is not an issue and at the time we considered fair. The landlord also owns the shop below us, we have just found out that he is increasing their rent by £55 a month just to cover repair works which have been needed. Our flat also needed repair works (not due to us, water coming in from the roof which also went into the shop) so we are wondering if the increase to our rent is to cover the repairs. My question is can a landlord increase rent for the sole purpose of covering repair costs?

Before landlord ask tenants to pay higher rent, they should investigate the market. If property owner wants current tents to stay, the decision concerning rent increase should be reasonable. Comparing rental property to others in the area is a good place to start. They can use Craigslist or Rentberry for this purpose. The second one allows to see initial rental price submitted by landlord as well as prices that tenants are willing to pay for property.

Hello, I have rented my flat for almost eight years--never missing a payment.
The rental agent has now sent a letter telling all the tenants in the block that--
"There is a high volume of interest in the property and we are offering current tenants, a protected 6 month contract with a rent increase of £25.00 per month"
Basically they are saying " Pay the increase or we will kick you out and replace you with somebody else who will pay it"
Surely this is not legal?

This is a strange one. As you have been there for 8 years, I imagine you should be on a periodic tenancy; or do you sign a new tenancy agreement every 6 months? Actually a £25 pcm rent increase in 8 years is not bad at all! But if you sign a new tenancy agreement for 6 months with the agency, after 4 months they can give you 2 months' notice to leave, thus getting rid of you anyway. I think you need to give us more info about this.

I have a tenant that has been in the property for five years commencing on 21st Feb 2012. They didnt make any payment until the 1st of March 2012. The initial contract expired and went onto a rolling monthly periodic term.

They gave notice they intended to vacate on the 1st of October 2016 in September however they did not vacate and advised at the time they had no leaving date.

They have now given notice (30th November 2016) to vacate the property on the 20th Of December 2016. I have advised they are required to give notice of a full rental period but they are refusing. I have supplied the housing act legislation clearly showing this but they are still refusing and threatening to bring up various things like Gas certificates etc. They have all been done as required.

Now going through the original signed contract I have noticed that I included a clause that stipulated the rent would increase by the Retail Price index plus 2% on the anniversary of the renewal each year. They have never paid any extra since moving in (and regularly late). Doing the maths that makes a shortfall of nearly 4 thousand pounds over 5 years in rent.

what are my rights in this situation? I would not expect the full amount but it far exceeds the 800 pounds they owe for a months rent.

thanks

this is the clause from the signed contract as above ver batem

5.21
If the tenancy extends for longer than 12 months, the rent shall be increased on the
Tenancy anniversary by 2% over the Retail Price Index (RPI), subject to a maximum of
6%

Hi John,

I doubt you can do much with it: if you didn't make any effort to increase the rent at the time or alert the tenants to the fact that they should be paying more (assuming that term was even enforceable outside the fixed period of the contract) then there's not a lot you can do retrospectively. If their deposit is sufficient just deduct the £800 from that and let them argue it out with the dispute resolution service.

I have been a tenant for 20yrs with the ame landlord . My landlord has put up my rent by a whopping 50% in one swoop .....helpppppppp can he do this is it legal? surely not! . i am a single parent and have been a good tenant obviously otherwise i am sure i would of been out on my ear long time ago ....helpppp ! can anyone help me ?

Can a housing association landlord raise the rent to make improvements with the consent of the tenant ?
I've been informed that they can only lower but not increase the rent.

Hi there are lots of comments about how to increase rents, incomes for landlords etc.
But while 'agents' inflate the rental market they ignore the stagnant income of tenants choosing to line their own pockets at the expense of others. For the individual who 'did without' to buy his property his tenants are 'doing without' for the 'privelidge' of living there now.

Hello

We have a three year contract with our landlord via an estate agency
In the contract it states that our rent can increase inline with RPI annually
We paid our rent at normal rate but have been told three days after paying the rent that our rent has increased by £40 as per our contract and that the estate agency wants that £40
There had been no communication from the estate agency advising of the exact figure increase until this day
Is that the norm?

Thanks

I'm sure they have to give you two months notice to increase any rent. you can dispute it and seek advice from your local council etc

I have lived in the property I am in since August 2004. When I responded to the newspaper advert, it was listed as a One Bedroomed property, with a dining hall which was an extension of the passage.

When I moved in, I took pictures of the state of the property, the rooms needed painting, the carpets were not new. There was mould on the walls, especially in the dining hall area, which has a lot of leaks from the flat above. I spent over £300.00 having the dining hall painted ... and it has been ruined by the leaks from above. The carpets are frayed out, and are dangerous now, another 15 years older. I keep tripping on the frayed edges. I kept slipping and falling in the high stepped shower, so Occupational Therapy helped me to have it replacedand a wet room was put in. The side of the house has a grass path, which became a complete quagmire, so I ended up having a slab path put in as well. I am disabled, and so the factthereis a placefor me to keep my scooter safely is a godsend.

My landlord died, and the Agency who responsible for the upkeep of said property, sold both my property, and the one above as "tenants iñ sìtu" ... the man who bought it sent out a lease which was incorrect, so I notified him. No further lease has been forthcoming,however he came by, and was insistent that the property is now a two bed property, even though when he asked his surveyor, she said no, at most it was a property with two receptions. I showed him the changes I had made. As well as showing him the issues the property still has, that have not been addressed over the years.

About 5 weeks ago, I received a one line email from the agency he is using, and he is claiming I agreed verbally to a rent increase of £100.00. I never did. My current rent started at £450.00 and over the years, with the various increases of £25.00 a time has risen to £625.00.

I take good care of the garden. The tenant upstairs never touches her section, which is a veritable jungle.

I am really desperate. I am alone, I am now 60 years old, I am disabled, and have no one to help if I am forced to move. I simply cannot afford this astronimical increase that is being proposed.