Question

Changing the Rent (England)

How to raise the rent

28 Sep 2017 | 3 comments

I have a 4 bed house in Bournemouth let on your 6 month AST in Feb 2017. I know the family and discounted the rent for market level of £1,550 to £1,320 and they are very good tenants indeed. I am due to do a 6 monthly on 6-10-17. We had agreed that I would probably increase the rent by the index after one year. In view of the talk of rent control I feel I should get it up to £1,500 now.
I am a new landlord, can you tell me the notice to give, template letter and anything else I should know.
Sincerely,
Bob Horner

Answer

3 Comments

  1. guildy

    When you say your ready for your six monthly, we presume you mean your going to give them another tenancy rather than let it roll on as periodic. If that’s the case, all you need do is agree the new rent and put that in the new tenancy. Nothing else is needed.

    Please see here for guidance on the various options for increasing the rent including links to forms if necessary.

    • 193unu

      I had been intending to let it roll but issue a document to increase the rent

  2. guildy

    Fair enough, that’s fine. A landlord wouldn’t ordinarily increase a rent sooner than 12 months although we do accept you’ve done a discount so it is a slightly different scenario.

    If you’ve previously agreed not to increase until a year, in our view it’s probably only fair to stay with that agreement if you can.

    This situation isn’t probably appropriate for a formal notice and instead you should discuss this with the tenant in particular because you know them. If you can get agreement then confirm the agreement in writing and you’re done.

    Otherwise, best to wait until the first year is up and then you could serve a formal notice (section 13 notice) increasing as you previously said (or you can just agree without the need for formal notice).

    We think it’s a little early to be influenced by talk of rent control. You can only really go on what the market conditions are right now and see if there is more clarity in a year or two when things could be very different anyway.

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