London renters knew about “perpetual boom in residential rents” before the most recent report from Zoopla confirmed it. Housing costs are a big part of the reason some 375,000 Londoners with jobs also claim their benefit entitlement to stay afloat. But LHA rates, which determine housing benefit levels, have been frozen since 2020. And one-third of private renters polled by Ipsos Mori spend more than half their income on rent.
It’s impossible, then, to see how the government misunderstands falling behind on the rent as “antisocial behaviour”. But here we are. With other members of the Renters’ Reform Coalition, we will continue to do all we can to improve protections for renters who are struggling.
Fixed term; fixed rent
Our last agreement ended on 28 February and we signed a new tenancy agreement on 1 March. It states that the rent is £2,210. Today, the landlord called round to say that there is £440 outstanding on last months rent and that our rent is 2,650.00. We showed him the tenancy agreement. He was shocked and said it was a mistake. He insisted that ‘the girl with the red hair’ (me) said that we would pay £2650, which is not true.
The landlord said he’ll bring a corrected agreement for us to sign this evening. But we have all signed an agreement already. Does this mean we are within our right to stay at this price?
This landlord is a clown. The tenancy agreement you signed on 1 March is legally binding on tenants and landlord alike. He cannot charge you any more than the sum stated for the duration of the contract.
No landlord should come to your home without making an appointment first. Unless there is some emergency, you are entitled to 24 hours notice, in writing, of a visit from the landlord. If the time proposed is not convenient, you don’t have to agree to it.
If the property owner, their agent or operative comes to your home without making an appointment, you don’t have to let them in. Make a note of the time and date of any such visit. If it keeps happening, this could be seen as harassment, which is an offence under the Protection from Eviction Act 1977.
Your tenancy agreement is on paper. Please keep it in a safe place, from where it is most unlikely to disappear. Ideally, you will also scan the document, email it to yourself and keep the scanned copy in a cloud. Under no circumstances should you sign another tenancy document during the fixed term.
Rent review clause; the exception, still allowed (for now)
Last July, our letting agent sent an email telling us the new rent as part of a rent review clause. Three of us share the flat. Only one person received the email and she missed it in her inbox. So we kept paying rent at the same rate. Now, the agency has sent us an email to say that we are in rent arrears.
I answered them to point out that we did not acknowledge or agree to the rent change. As they have not contacted us in eight months, we do not consider the rent to have increased. But we are happy to look at the rent again at the next rent review date.
The agent came back saying “this isn’t a situation that requires a tenant to agree”. Then, the agent threatened to escalate to legal action.
We’re saying that they have tacitly agreed to the lower rent as they have accepted it without comment for so long before they got in contact with us. Is one email, to which they got no response, really sufficient as notice of a rent increase?
Normally, the landlord/their agent cannot raise the rent within the fixed term of a tenancy. The exception is where your tenancy agreement includes a rent review clause. A rent review clause is not standard at all. These clauses are more likely to be found in tenancy agreements where the fixed term is much longer than 12 months.
One of the reforms promised by government, when they finally bring forward the long-awaited Renters’ Reform Bill, is to outlaw rent review clauses. But that hasn’t happened yet. At the moment, rent review clauses are unusual but still legal.
If the rent increase imposed was in line with the terms of a rent review clause in your tenancy agreement, you don’t have the luxury of disagreeing. Any clause offering you less rights than the law can be deemed an unfair term. A legally unfair term would be unenforceable and so could be ignored. But just because you feel something is unfair, doesn’t mean that the law agrees.
If only one of you received notification of the proposed rent increase, she must be the person already identified as the ‘lead tenant’. In joint tenancies like yours, sometimes, a lead tenant is identified as the person through whom the landlord/their agent communicates. This is usually most important at the end of the tenancy, when it comes to restoration of your deposit. Then, the lead tenant is tasked with agreeing any deductions with the landlord/agent. The lead tenant receives the whole deposit back to distribute between the others and disagreement can arise.
A landlord cannot act on rent arrears until the arrears are equal to the sum of two months rent. Until close to that point, a landlord or their agent might prefer not comment on rent arrears. A kind landlord/agent might enquire as to whether a renter is struggling. But unless they care about the struggle of paying rent, they might just stay silent. Otherwise, if they were to mention the arrears more than once, they could be accused of harassment.