A legal question for landlords.

[Nibble]

I rent a property out and havent increased the rent since the tenants moved in four years ago. We can't afford a decent family holiday this year and are in effect subsidising our tenants. I am under pressure from my partner and our daughter to increase the rent. I'm not greedy and don't want to do anything unethical, but was thinking of increasing it from by about 7%, hardly unreasonable over a four year period. I plan to give the tenants two months warning of this in writing and wanted to ensure that everything is perfectly legal and above board. Even at the increased price the property will remain very competitively priced. Am I going the right way about this?

I put it to you that you know this is reasonable and this is a "look at me and my houses" thread. Contemptable. Having said that if a landlord wanted to whack my rent up by 7% in one hit I'd tell him to go away and come back with something a little more serious.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

the bungalow we live in is the first place we have rented ever and when we went to sign the next years agreement the agent pointedly said the landlady is not going to put up the rent this year........this after we had put cavity wall and roof insulation in as well as a new boiler admittedly all done on grant work (due to our age and my disability) driven and overseen by ourselves so she has had all this put in for free.
she is now going to put a new roof on one of the conservatories which leaks like a sieve, but only after we threatened to find somewhere else(and there are better places out there if you look) we are not sure if it is her or the rather mercenary agents who rather cheekily asked me to chase up the builder who is putting the new roof in(fqqk me they do have a very hard job picking the phone up lazy gits) more or less saying if you want the job doing then you have to do the chasing (the landlady has already paid for the job to be done).
we are in the fortunate position that our grand-daughter has been a manager of an agency and puts us right on most things.
we stay here because we have good neighbours and it is a very convenient position and she allows us to keep our cats although I do think she thought that the inspection would throw up problems ...................but it came back as immaculate.
so we DO have to be thankful for small mercies

The letting agents should be chasing up the builders , not you. Get them to earn their commission.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Yes it's harsh. Just charge whatever the current rate of inflation is but make sure you do this annually going forward.

 

[Sam-]

'If your rent has fallen below market levels then you do need to take steps to remedy this' Why ? He's just not greedy. If 7% brings him in below market rate then good on him. Not everyone is 'market' driven.

Its obviously his property and he is free to charge what he wants. But having taken on the financial burden of buying a property and the risks associated with the property market, he would be perfectly entitled to charge the market rate. This isn't greed, its capitalism.

 

[Baron Pepperpot]

Its obviously his property and he is free to charge what he wants. But having taken on the financial burden of buying a property and the risks associated with the property market, he would be perfectly entitled to charge the market rate. This isn't greed, its capitalism.

Yes, but that is not my point. The market rate may be appropriate for him, but for landlords like mine who own 7 properties, make a mint but then choose to bump it up even further, it's greed.

The rental market here should be regulated as poorer tennants get pissed on.

However, given the OP's original post, it sounds like he is the type of landlord we need more of.

 

[Worthingite]

My landlord recently upped our 1 bed place from £530 to £630 a month, we've been here 5 years and he's done absolutely pox all in the way of maintenance. We're (without wanting to sound arrogant) the ideal tenants- quiet, pay our rent promptly, not behind with him, help out in the communal areas and have maintained what we could when we could. I wrote a letter back to the landlord, detailing the maintenance issues I thought were required to bring us "up to standard", and because we've been good tenants, he has been, in fairness, pretty prompt with the required issues. Only thing he hasn't done is re-carpeted the place (The carpet was MINGING when we moved in, and despite many attempts with a steam cleaner, it's not much better now), but he has acknowledged in writing that that will be taken care of within the next 6 months. All in all, I'm not massively complaining, despite the enormous hike.

 

[ATFC Seagull]

We recently had our rent upped overnight for a 1 bed flat - after 3 years of being ideal tenants (rent paid on time, place always clean/tidy, never kicking up too much fuss over the students upstairs - also owned by the same landlord). The place had damp problems, and was getting quite old and run down. We tried to negotiate but he refused to compromise so we moved out. As I understand it, they didn't get anyone in for a while (may still not have done) - so in effect he lost a lot of money with what he did.

 

[smeariestbat]

I put it to youthat you know this is reasonable and this is a "look at me and my houses" thread. Contemptable. Having said that if a landlord wanted to whack my rent up by 7% in one hit I'd tell him to go away and come back with something a little more serious.

ever since i had a lawyer say this to me in court, for real, without a hint of irony, it always cracks me up.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Yes, but that is not my point. The market rate may be appropriate for him, but for landlords like mine who own 7 properties, make a mint but then choose to bump it up even further, it's greed.

I can assure you, very few landlords "make a mint" !

 

[Baron Pepperpot]

I can assure you, very few landlords "make a mint" !

However few they may be, mine is amongst them

 

[saafend_seagull]

When I lived in London our rent was £575 and hadn't been increased for a few years, and then he said it will be £650 after your first year. We said 600 max and he agreed!

 

[ATFC Seagull]

I can assure you, very few landlords "make a mint" !

Surely most of them are having a mortgage paid for a property courtesy of the tenant? Surely being bought a house/flat counts as "a mint". I expect I will only ever own one.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

I can assure you, very few landlords "make a mint" !

"Mint" is debatable, doing all right - definitely.

 

[Justice]

Enjoy your holiday, you know the one your tenants can no longer afford.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Surely most of them are having a mortgage paid for a property courtesy of the tenant? Surely being bought a house/flat counts as "a mint". I expect I will only ever own one.

A vast majority of landlord mortgages are interest only so the property is never actually "paid for".

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

A vast majority of landlord mortgages are interest only so the property is never actually "paid for".

No, but these individuals will make a profit on any price increase.