How To Increase Your Tenant’s Rent – Section 13 Notice (England)

Haha, I knew it. I guess we've got two key messages here. 1)LandLords: Assure there's no clause in the contract stating you can't increase rent at any random point *without valid reason ofcourse* 2) And all tenants MAKE SURE THAT CLAUSE EXISTS for personal peace of mind, or atleast have your future LL elaborate on how much they may increase your rent, which you should probably also get in writing I'd believe.

Thanks for the info amateur PIP.

btw, love the image at the top

LOL, you should do an article on landlords or even tenants getting involved with each other, and the pros or cons of it.

cuold i have a form please to submit a rent reduce

im currently in a rented house, and i am coming up to finishing a 12 month tennancy! they sent me a letter out on the 22nd march to state that my rent is being increased on the 6th may (when my tenancy ends) this is not two months notice, am i correct in saying here that the landlord needs to give me 2 months notice?

It's interesting that no mention is EVER made of a landlord decreasing rent because of a downfall in average rents!

But believe it or not, I once had a landlord who reduced my rent by £40 per month, because for reasons I won't go into here, I'd told him I'd have to look for somewhere else to live. He never put it up again (I lived there for almost 9 years) as he didn't want to lose a really good tenant! There are good landlords out ther! :)

hi, i am a tenant from 10 years but my landlord pressurised me to immediate relieve cabin what can i do

This is a very important thing, that people who rent and those who rent out their properties, should thoroughly understand the laws that apply in the countries and their regions. Do not get in the future there is a misunderstanding between the parties. It is also important for both parties to present their own witnesses.

Hi. We moved into our flat a year ago on a 6 month starting lease, which we moved to a year long in July 2013 with the rent at £550 a month.
There was an affidavit stating it would go up to £575 this month.
Early December, the Agent says the landlord actually meant £595 a month but it was only verbal with no witnesses until the agent came to collect the rent and brought the letter with them saying the £595 was due this month, the same day we got to see the letter...
We have a rent book and that was the only place the new price was written down,
I was wondering if that was allowed?
Can it just be relied on the rent book about and non-witnessed verbal agreement until they arrived with for the rent and bring the increase letter with them?
Can they do that when the tenancy agreement states a lower rate?

Thanks!

Tracey

Another consideration is that the Government has increased the price of issuing a section 21 notice by 60% from £175 to £280.

I think this is a good thing as it may take the greed aspect out of it.

Rents may be on the increase and the grass always looks greener but if you have a reliable long term tenant stick with them.

Hi there i been renting 3 yrs nw my tenancy ran out in April but have carried on paying rent my lanlord wants to renew tenancy and put rent up couple hundered a month he wants his rent backpaid from april till now i have had no warning whatsoever about rent i increase untill he visited property
last week is he allowed and has my tenancy not just rolled over 4 months ago can he make me backpay his change in rent from then with no warnings

Hi there thanks for the help how about my tenancy agreement ? Would it not just roll over and when i sign fo i sign a back date from April or todays date ? Sorry there's a lot of questions i signed an inventory on moving into property building control had to order landlord to concrete kitchen as was a timber floor house had rats n mice everywhere all done now but standard of work is terrible builder left leaking pipes so half the floor all swollen my landlord has said he doesn't have to do a new inventory but i don't want the finger pointed at me when the same shoddy builder has yet again made a pigs ear of it,all having ongoing problems for mnths now help!😐

@Emma

I would call local Council re rats, they can compel him to resolve.

Call Council building control officer to inspect work

Refer rent increase to housing tribunal

https://www.gov.uk/housing-tribunals/disputes-about-rent

Insist in inventory or carry out your own, make a video and post it to you tube as a hidden video so you can show the date later.

You do not have to renew if old tenancy expired, you are on now on a statutory periodic tenancy.

Sounds like a dump so try to find a better place, tell landlord you reject his attempt to increase rent and you are referring to tribunal.

He has to issue you with notice for possession which is called Section 21 notice, it had to end on a date when rent is due.

Did he protect your deposit?

Did he inform you within 30 days of where the deposit was protected and give you all the prescribed paperwork?

I have lived in my place for 3 years asked for a rent deduction as flat mate is moving out.But my landlady has said she is putting my rent up contract ends in 4 weeks. I can't afford the increase so agreed to move but that means I have to move within the month. how much notice should she give me??
kind regards
Marcell

Is 10% increase in rent fair given that the inflation rate is 3.3%. No heating in kitchen or 2nd bedroom. Nightstore heaters in living room and smaller bedroom (that we as tenants) had put in and electric fire in bathroom that we put in. Sash windows which are badly fitting and broken sashcord in one. Bare wood on outside of windows - live in a flat above a newsagents. Could I ask LL to consider 5%?

@SusanHerbert
Your landpord sounds like my last one - a complete SOB. Take it direct to your council & ask them to adjudicate this rent rise & the circumstances.

Helen
Thank you. I was thinking of going to the fair rent tribunal but then they assess rents by market value of rents in the area. They may well increase it then. Should have said that I rent privately.

If you think that the house does not meet standards contact your council housing dept and ask for a housing office to attend, youshould not be having to pay high energy bills because property is not sound (windows).

You should look at the LHA rates for your area (available online).

There are a number of factors taken into consideraton in rent increases I would insist on formal review under section 13.

Inflation is not only factor and they have averaged nearer 2% than 3% BTW. If the rent was above LHA standard to begin with they may be told. You can also point out condition of property and how the lack of heating means you have to spend a fortune on energy bills.

A storage unit is not a consumer product, they have to be fitted to safety standards.

Hi All

Very interesting to see and read the the comments posted. I have been on both sides of the spectrum.

I will try and answer / give my opinion on a couple of the questions in aid to help and assist.

Marcell it might be a little late now, however you need to look in your contract, if its a fixed term and their is no mechanism ( clause ) to raise the rent then she would be unable to do this within the fixed term. She has to wait for it to expiry before raising the rent. This could be why she waited that long. On the other hand by waiting till the end you as a tenant would be more likely to accept the increase, e.g 1 month to look for a property in an increasing market. Most tenants would think its not worth the hassle finding a new property, getting a new deposit, and going through the referencing process, paying agent administration fee, and the charges go on as you expect. one of two things will happen. The contract will become a periodic tenancy and will remain on the same terms as your old contract no change if you speak to your landlady. A new rent will be agreed and you would either need to confirm you agree with it and continue at the higher rent, or the landlord will then need to serve you with a section 21 notice which requires her to meet legislative criteria.
Minimum 4 Weeks notice to comply with the Protection of Eviction Act 1977 & Minimum of 2 months if your tenancy falls within the Housing Act 1988. It does sound like you might be renting a room or sharing the facilities with the landlord, this and other scenario's would make your tenancy fall outside the Housing Act 1988 so she would not have to give you 2 Months Notice but would definitely have to comply with the Protection Of Eviction Act 1977. Unless you where a lodger/paying guest in a hostel/hotel and this protection would also not apply to you.

Helen & Susan it sounds like an awful place. Allot of landlords offer sub standard properties and expect there weight in gold for them. Rent is always up for negotiation. If it is really that bad then he might have to look at a 5% increase or no increase at all, so use this to your advantage. If you where to move out the extra couple of pounds he is trying to make would be at a loss to him should he have a avoid period for a week or two weeks etc ( time is money to any landlord ). Christmas is also a hard time to find suitable tenants so he is really risking it.

David is right if you have an assured shorthold tenant then the landlord can issue you a section 13 to increase the rent. A minimum of 4 weeks notice needs to be given and it must be given in the set format if you do not verbally agree it. This can only be used once a year or once every fixed term has finished. This can be challenged or raised to the Rent Assessment Committee or First-Tier Property Chamber Tribunal.

10 % does seem excessively high and the rent officer aims to value you in in comparison to market rate but discounts/exclude certain factors such as supply and demand/ scarcity , tenant and landlord improvements. They just look at the attributes age, condition, size of the property and value it for what its worth within the locality. they have to comply with section 70 fair Rent Act 1977 that stipulates how a rent officer should reassess the rent for a property.

Best of luck and i hoped the above helped.

KR

RT

Have been a tenant in same house for 25 years! Rent goes up every few years but landlord has just said rent going up but by 30 a week!! To me that's far too much, is he allowed to increase that much in one go?

Brilliant information

I am a landlady and my tenants 12 month Assured Shorthold Tenancy Agreement is up for renewal in a few days, they have said that they want to stay another year and i am happy for them to do so.

However, I have not increased the rent for the last 3 years, even though there is clause in my contract stating the following:

On each anniversary of the date of this agreement, if this agreement stays in force for more than a year, the rent may be increased in line with the retail price index or by 4.5%, whichever is the greater.

So I have proposed a 2% a month increase, (which i think is very fair) but how long notice period of this increase do I need to give them?

Thank you

Caron

Well if you read above from where it says "When
can a landlord increase rent?"

It says "Check your Tenancy Agreement, because there may be a rent increase clause in there which would have been agreed and signed at the start of the tenancy. The procedure in the agreement should be followed."

You did that and if you do not renew but go statutory Periodic then you can increase the rent in accordance with the agreement on the anniverary. For a SP they could query (section 13) it but at 2% you are not going to have a problem.

A stated above, the other option you have is

"Renew the tenancy agreement at the end of the fixed term but with an increased rent."

If for some reason they do not want to agree to sign a new tenancy and they remain in the property (assuming you did not serve them a Section 21 2 months ago) then you have to serve a Section 21.

Obviously you would want to make sure that you have protected the deposit in an approved scheme and issued the prescribed information before issuing a section 21.

All you need to do is email the tenant and say to them that in accordance with Clause X you propose increasing the rent by 2%, please would they be so kind as to confirm this is acceptable and that they still wish to renew the tenancy agreement.

If they say they are not in agreement say to them "so are you giving notice to quit, when do you plan to leave"? If they say on

It is a bit lastminute.com but I think all will be fine.

If they stay on beyond the expiry of the AST they become Stat Periodic and you have to issue 21.

I am a landlord, I have issued my tenant with a section 13 notice back in April giving them 1 months notice of my intention to increase their rent.
My tenant agreed to this and took the notice to the council who pay the majority of their rent.the council said they needed a tenancy agreement but I have been unwell and have only just become well enough to deal with this .
My question is: Do I have to issue my tenant with a new section 13 or can I back date the tenancy agreement to May or can I just give a tenancy agreement starting from this month.

Is the tenant is on Housing Benefit and taking the agreement to the Council so they increase HB, or is S/He taking it for them to review?

You can backdate the tenancy agreement, otherwise if on HB they will not pay the higher amount. If it is the latter then it makes no difference as they will decide what they decide regardless of the date.

The mistake many Landlords who have DSS tenants make is putting the rent up above the LHA allowance for their area. You can find this out from gov.uk

If you have a DSS tenant and they are on Housing Benefit with a rent £100 per week and the LHA is £100, all is well. Then you put the rent up to £140 a week but the LHA rate is still around £100.

What happens is the Council will pay you the £100 LHA rate only, now the tenant may start off my making up the difference, but do the maths. If they are on JSA they get around £74 a week, so no way they can spend £40 of that on your rent and so come the arrears.

So before you do the rent increase check the LHA rate, if your new total is under LHA rate then fine, but if not you may as well issue a S21 because it will only be a matter of time before the tenant can't keep up with rent.

Benefits have been frozen for some years and Osbourne recently said they will be frozen for at least 4 more.

Meanwhile the LHA rates have NOT increased in line with rent increases and so we are at a point where people on low incomes or benefits simply can't afford to rent in the private sector. So they fall of the ladder but if they did not keep up with their rent it is their fault so they so not get housed or only a fraction do.

Meanwhile Landlords are getting stung with the tax increases so even those with old cheap mortgages are forced to put up rents just to stand still.

All this at a time when we have a massive shortage of rental property in the market.

This is what happens when you put people in charge of Government who have never run a business or had a proper job.

I've been renting a lockup garage
For 15years after 8 years they put up the rent and never told me
7years later put a note on the the door asking for the extra rent £1000
Can they do that

Your agreement is common-law contractual, not protected by any of the various housing laws of which section 13 (this thread) is about.

You have a legal contract, they can only do what it says in the contract, subject to it not going against common law.

They would probably have had to have served you notice of increase and putting a notice on a door you infrequently visit probably does not suffice, but look at the contract.

I would fire off a letter saying you reject their assertion of allegedly increasing the rent 7 years ago as you were never served with any increase and you reject their attempt to retrospectively charge you.

You can expect a termination notice, you may want to move your stuff just in case. Having said that 7 years x 12 months is 84 months, so they are only claiming £11.90 a month extra. The issue is whether you were informed in accordance with what is in the contract.

Make sure they have your contact details in case they decide to take legal action and want to serve you with a claim, they may win a legal case by default if you did not turn up .

Get some proper legal advice to protect your position.

No, they can't: if the genuinely failed to inform you it would be regarded as consideration after the fact. Even if there were a clause in the original agreement allowing them to raise the rent arbitrarily without informing you, any judge would throw it out as an unfair contract term. And even if the judge didn't throw it out on that basis, the fact that they didn't point out that you were underpaying (as they saw it) for seven years, means that you'd have a defence of estoppel.

I have a 78 year old widow lady tennant who is not paying rent or taking responsibility. Her son lives nearby in a 4 bedroom home and daugther in a 2 bed. A section 6A was served but she has done a counterclaim for dampness and disrepair after living there for 18 years with her partner who died last year. Her husband died in Yemen last year and a facebook post was up on 18th June 2019 about his death and after his burial and property distribution she returned to UK in August 2019 and declared his death to be 17th September 2019 leaving landlords at risk of overpayment from Council. A ground 1 possession notice has now been served as well as section 48 for neglect and breaches of tenancy agreement but sadly her counterclaim can go eitherway since Community Law solicitors have exaggerated all sorts of information to make her case sound good. Shame on them for wasting public funds to support a client who has committed benefit fraud with the same public funds. You cant evict her even if you prove to courts that she committed benefit fraud, and is not paying rent and over 8 weeks in rental arrears and occupying a 3 bedroom home alone which she doesn't really need or justify on paper but filling up with 20 guests for 3 days every weekend. The law is too one sided in favour of tenants who have the upper hand over landlords. If you dry clothes on radiators and keep windows closed and cover vents with tape and fill home with 20 guests, leave home empty and cold for 5 months and go abroad then can you Sue landlords for condensation?

I’ve been served section 21 notice
The notice period is six months (we expect to be out in March)
In addition to this, my landlord has issued a section 13 notice to increase rent.
Can I refuse this increase or is my only recourse to apply to the tribunal?
Thanks