Rent increase - AIBU? (Updated)

Have you told them that you haven't had any notice and seen what they say?

Nooooooo! yours is the post where the grey men turned into hitched logo on this computer ?

Worth a shot, at least tell them you've had no prior correspondence. Also check your lease, does it say anything about the rent being reviewed on a certain date?

Most odd. A landlord/letting agent can't simply decide to jack the rent up, and certainly not retrospectively.

Definitely give them a ring in the morning find out what the basis for this is.

The lease is a 12 month renewal - so I suspect it was meant to be renewed on the 1st June (I'd have to hunt our copy out to check) and we've just not had the formal notice. So the increase isn't a problem, we were half expecting it, but we were expecting a letter saying 'the renewal is on 1st June, the rent will increase to £XXX, please come and sign the agreement' at least. We've not had that, so while the increase might have started on 1st June, we've only just been told about it!

If we'd been told about it, we'd have been happy to pay it - we always pay on time, etc, but I'm a bit put out we're expected to pay the extra when we weren't even aware of it.

Also means we've not had a tenancy agreement for over a month. Joy.

Hmmm.

Does your lease say anything specifically about what should happen when the original 12 months comes to an end? Does it make reference to a rent increase?

If it doesn't, then your lease probably automatically renews on the same terms (legally it's called tacit relocation) and so the rent has to remain the same...

Last year we got a 'we're happy for you to continue renting with an increased rent of £xxx, can you come and sign the tenancy agreement' letter - I'm wondering if the one this year got lost in the post... If they're not allowed to do that, let me know!

Basically, if we'd got that letter I'd have no issue paying the extra - well, I would have already in the rent payments - but I'm irritated we're in arrears apparently with no warning...

Advice on 2 things wanted:

If they claim they sent the letter (and, preferably, can show me a copy!) what can I do?

If they didn't send me a letter about the increase, what can I do (assuming we like the house, like the agency, and don't want to annoy them too much!), what can I do?

Afaik you should have had notice of it from them 2 months before it was due. This is so it's considered to be your 2 months notice if you don't agree with the increase. You should have also had a form to fill in to agree the increase (although this may be only if you pay by standing order as it needs authorization to change).

We definately didn't get anything in April...

Argh. I don't want to argue it too much with them, but I'm annoyed 'bout the increase...

Does this email sound reasonable?

Dear sir,

I’ve just received a letter dated 7th July regarding a rent increase of our property, ******** , as of 1st June.

Prior to this, we have not received any letter regarding the rent increase or about the tenancy renewal. I believe legally we must receive any notification prior to the end of the tenancy agreement in line with the notice period in case we do not agree with the rent increase. If we had received confirmation of the rent increase and the tenancy renewal prior to the 1st June, we would be happy to pay it and the increased payments would have commenced as of 1st June and we would have visited to sign the tenancy agreement in early June.

Due to the lack of correspondence on the issue, I believe you cannot increase the rent unless we have been informed as above, however we are happy to take 1st August 2008 as the first date of the rent increase as a compromise, provided a copy of any letter sent informing us of the increase can be produced. If no letter was sent, we will accept the letter dated 7th July as the required 2 months notice and the rent increase will take place as of 1st October 2008.

My husband will collect the tenancy agreement in the next few days so we can both sign it, as due to work commitments I am unable to come to the office myself during your opening hours.

Yours sincerely

Alternately I can call them tomorrow at work... Hmmm... (Husband thinks email's a little too harsh!)

My only concern with your e-mail is the bit about agreeing to pay the increase from 1 August if the agents can produce a copy of the letter they sent you - I'm not trying to suggest your agent would be dishonest, but it wouldn't be that hard to knock up a letter and back date it, then claim they sent it to you - how could you prove otherwise? I would take that bit out and just stick to the two months notice ie October.

I'd call them if I were you. The letter does seem a little harsh especially if you haven't contacted them about it before now.

OK, talked to agency. They have a copy of the letter about the rent increase and say that it was sent. They're also saying they'll have to talk to the owner. If he's happy for us to start paying the increase in August, we can, if not we'll have to go to court over it if I refuse to pay (which seemed very threatening!) and that because they have a copy of the letter then the judge would believe them 'cause we can't prove we didn't receive it!

He also verbally said that the letter might have got lost in the post and that they give their tenants 'leeway' so if they don't pay all of the rent one month, they can make it up the next and that's what they did to us.

My view would be (noting I'm not a lawyer) that by accepting the rent payment in June and not mentioning it was less (he did say that they noticed it was the old amount in June but gave us leeway), they've accepted the renewal of the agreement on the old rent terms.

The annoying thing is, I'm not arguing about the increase. I'm FINE with the increase. Happy to pay as it's still very cheap! I'm just annoyed we're expected to find £40 from our budget to pay back-pay when we never received the letter!

Additionally, this being me, I'm worrying that we might have received it and making up false memories (stupid imagination) so I'm worrying we did get it and I've forgotten or something. However, the point remains they didn't pick it up straight after June's rent payment and we didn't get a letter about signing the tenancy agreement either.