This is a question to the blog clinic from Vanessa, who is a tenant in England.
Our landlord died and the property has now passed on to his son. We have a rolling 6 month contract and have lived here for 15 years.
In that time, our rent has only increased once, and we are paying far below the market rate. However, there have been many issues with the house’s repair, including us having to move out twice for a considerable time while still paying rent. Many repairs are needed.
The son (our new landlord) wishes to come round to renegotiate the tenancy.
Question
If he is giving us a new contract, is he limited in how much he can increase the rent as per our previous tenancy agreement?
Answer
Short answer: No.
In your situation, there are two methods the landlord can use to increase the rent:
- He can get you to sign a new tenancy agreement at the new rent, or
- He can serve a notice proposing a new rent under s13 of the Housing Act 1988
1 Getting you to sign a new tenancy agreement
There are no rules about what the new rent can be, but they will not take effect unless you sign the new tenancy agreement. Which you can refuse to do.
At the moment, the landlord can ‘enforce’ this by serving a section 21 notice on you and threatening to evict you if you don’t sign. However, landlords’ ability to do this is limited in time as the new Labour government is looking to remove section 21 under the new Renters Rights Bill.
So when this comes into force, section 21 will no longer be available.
2. Serving a notice proposing a new rent
This can only be done during a periodic tenancy. Under section 13 of the Housing Act 1988 landlords have the right to increase rent in this way once every 12 months.
It is possible for tenants to challenge the new rent, but their grounds for doing this can only be that the proposed rent is higher than the market rent for the property.
You cannot challenge the proposed rent on the basis that the rent in your tenancy agreement is much lower.
This may be changed in the Renters Rights Bill, but it is the situation today.
Conclusion
I am afraid you cannot, long term, prevent your landlord from increasing your rent.
At the moment, you cannot stop an eviction under section 21, and if your current rent is way below the market rent, your landlord will have no problem increasing it under the statutory notice procedure.
Your best course of action, if you want to stay in the property, is to try to negotiate with your landlord, perhaps on the basis that you will not take issue with the poor condition of the property or bring any claim for compensation if he allows the rent to remain low.
In the long term, though, you cannot expect your rent to remain low as the authorities will expect your landlord to bring the property up to standard.
If you want help negotiating a new rent with your landlord, this page lists places where you can find support.