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March 29, 2024, 01:17:30 PM

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vampiric fucking rent increase

Started by The Mollusk, April 26, 2022, 07:24:31 PM

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The Mollusk

We've applied to renew the lease for our flat for another 18 months and the agent emailed us just now with a proposed rent increase of £75 a month. I'm fucking seething but beyond that I'm really upset. The sheer nerve of it, especially given how expensive everything else is right now. It's not even subtle, it's parasitic and appalling. Isn't it more typical for rent to just go up by about £10-20 a month? The increase is roughly 3% whereas I've just calculated that this is around 7%!

Here's the brass bollocks email of evil bullshit they sent:

QuoteWhen you took the flat on last year, it was during the period of COVID-19 and subsequent uncertainty in the property market. Since, the market has bounced back significantly and the current market is very much booming, even during the current winter/spring months which are historically much quieter. The landlord feels that they would achieve a higher rent amount on the open market, however he appreciates that you have been great tenants and keep the property in good condition.

We are confident that if you were to search on Rightmove/Zoopla, you'd find that the properties that are most comparable to your home are renting for a lot higher, at around £1400.00pcm. In view of this and the fact that you have been a good tenants, the landlord has proposed that we meet in the middle with the following terms for the renewal contract:

What the fuck is this "meet in the middle" crap? How are we being met anywhere here? What's the other side of this if that's the middle? Eviction?

We will be negotiating this hard but advice and experience would be greatly appreciated.

For fucks sake.

Zetetic


The Mollusk

Quote from: Zetetic on April 26, 2022, 07:26:53 PMAre you part of a renters union?

I don't believe so, or at least I don't recall ever signing up for one.

bgmnts

"As a result of being good tenants, we're going to ensure we make your lives only slightly more miserable, because we HAVE to."

purlieu

"Before you moan about us fucking you over, please remember that we could have fucked you over even more. Thnx"

imitationleather


Hat FM

Request a meeting with the landlord. they might have been pushed into the increase by the agent.

"You may not be aware, but the property runs on diesel, something that the landlord very kindly pays for."

jobotic

Quote from: Hat FM on April 26, 2022, 07:59:33 PMRequest a meeting with the landlord. they might have been pushed into the increase by the agent.

In our old house the letting agent increased the rent without telling the landlord. We'd got to know her and when we told her she was livid and it was stopped.

On the other hand whoever the fuck the btl landlord of our flat afterwards was, cranked up the rent until we left.

Butchers Blind

My rent went up by £13 a month at the start of April. Feel I got off lightly reading this.

shoulders

Though it isn't a competition, depressingly I can do even worse than this. In 2011 a woman inherited a property from her elderly mother, which we rented in Sheffield, and as soon as she got her mitts on it, she put the rent up by over double.

It had been very cheap compared to market rates but the action was, by proxy, the same as handing us eviction notices. We'd all lived there for 2 years, in a few cases 5 or 6 years.

She made casual mention of her 'portfolio' just to ensure we were aware there were credible business needs that supplanted our needs to exist somewhere.

As justification, she recarpeted the rooms and replaced a nice old wooden table (worn) with a plastic shit one (new, shit).

It all started to make sense because 6 months earlier she had shown her two male children around the place, prospectively for them to own, or maybe inherit, perhaps. They were two of the most chinless, gurning public school twats I'd ever met, that made Princes William and Harry look like hirsuite dockers. Watching them glide up and down our dwelling was like they were glimpsing some documentary about tenement life in the 1920s. Thick as fuck, terrified and useless.

Join ACORN, we desperately need to amplify our disgust at our existences being uprooted by the whims of these fucking parasites.

iamcoop

Hi Mollusk, are you renting in London?

I've had a couple of mates go through something similar recently, one of them fronted it out and eventually the landlord backed down, realised what a good tenant they were, and rightly decided the extra £50 or so a month probably wasn't worth the hassle of taking on unreliable tenants so they got away without any increases.

The other mate tried the same and the landlord was arsed/cigs and they had to move.

This probably isn't helping but I'm sorry mate and it's a shit situation.












(My honest advice would be fuck it all off and move to Newcastle. You'd get a fucking palace for that money here. And we can be gig pals.)

Zetetic

Quote from: shoulders on April 26, 2022, 08:17:25 PMJoin ACORN, we desperately need to amplify our disgust at our existences being uprooted by the whims of these fucking parasites.

Yes.

Quote from: The Mollusk on April 26, 2022, 07:52:48 PMI don't believe so, or at least I don't recall ever signing up for one.

Sign up to a renters or community union now. They may or may not help you with this, but you will be able to call on them in the future and help others oppose rent rises.

@shoulders suggests ACORN, and I would echo that. However, IIRC, you're in London so you may be better off with the London Renters Union.

Edit: For completeness, readers in Scotland should probably join Living Rent.

Pink Gregory

Quote from: Butchers Blind on April 26, 2022, 08:13:43 PMMy rent went up by £13 a month at the start of April. Feel I got off lightly reading this.

ours went up by £150

it's been due a while though, we don't get yearly increases and last one was before Covid.

I would be more livid but we just got a new boiler and a large tree felled.  Also we have a rolling 6 month very insecure contract so I'm terrified of rocking the boat, we've been here about 6 years and never been in arrears etc.

yeah should probably contact Acorn shouldn't I.

The Mollusk

Cheers for the advice. Partner is currently writing an email expressing our shock and dismayand trying to barter them down to the much fairer 3%.

I can't fucking stand London and cannot wait till we're married and can get the money together to leave.

Icehaven

We moved in March 2021 and I still get Zoopla/Rightmove emails alerts for "similar properties" which are actually similar only in price and location, as this is a 2 bed semi and most of the alerts are for one bed flats or tiny gardenless terraces where the rent is the same or more than we're paying. So I'm anticipating them attempting one hell of a rent increase at some point, but we're intending to move anyway as this place is extremely mouldy and damp, it doesn't have a proper kitchen, there's a weird hum coming from the attic and a huge hole under the "kitchen" floor which goes down to a 5ft drop under the house, which likely accounts for the damp and cold. And the neighbours are cunts about parking. We'll probably end up back in a flat but I'm ok with paying the same as we are for here if it isn't a shithole.

MojoJojo

Quote from: Pink Gregory on April 26, 2022, 08:30:07 PMAlso we have a rolling 6 month very insecure contract

I'm lucky to be out of renting, but I believe after the first year everyone is effectively on a rolling one month contract, with either side being able to get out with one month's notice. A lot of letting agents like to resign contracts every 6 months because they are parasitic scum who like taking money while providing nothing of value.

Pink Gregory

Quote from: MojoJojo on April 26, 2022, 08:44:45 PMI'm lucky to be out of renting, but I believe after the first year everyone is effectively on a rolling one month contract, with either side being able to get out with one month's notice. A lot of letting agents like to resign contracts every 6 months because they are parasitic scum who like taking money while providing nothing of value.

I haven't tried to pursue it very much because we're a couple with a housemate, and obvs it'd be unfair to tie him into a long contract which we'd be more invested in; but then he's actually lived here longer than me.

Zetetic

#18
Quote from: MojoJojo on April 26, 2022, 08:44:45 PMI'm lucky to be out of renting, but I believe after the first year everyone is effectively on a rolling one month contract, with either side being able to get out with one month's notice.

In England it's generally eight weeks notice from landlords, in theory, I believe.

(The relevant jargon is: section 21 "no fault" evictions and "assured shorthold tenancies"/ASTs.)

Pink Gregory

Should I be annoyed at a 15% increase?  Granted it is extortionate when our income hasn't gone up by £150 a month, but we've been due a rent increase for at least four years and there's so little we can do without massively putting us at risk...

Dunno, I feel like all we can do is suck it up.

Janie Jones

Quote from: The Mollusk on April 26, 2022, 07:24:31 PMWhat the fuck is this "meet in the middle" crap? How are we being met anywhere here? What's the other side of this if that's the middle? Eviction?



As you've surmised, that is made-up bollocks, straight out of the letting agent's playbook, it's a hoary negotiation trick designed to put you on the back foot by generating a feeling that the landlord has already made a concession when of course they haven't. They don't want to lose you and go through the inconvenience of getting new untried tenants for the sake of a couple of tenners a month. Tell them £75 is out of the question and you can afford no more than £30.

I would try and make direct contact with your landlord. Assuming they have a BTL mortgage on the place, average rates have risen by just 0.04% since last year.   There is absolutly no justification for them to hikr your rent by this amount, particularly given the cost of living crisis. My guess would be that it's actually your agents who are trying it on, they are scum in my experiance, always better renting direct from the owner imo.


Catalogue of ills

I also recommend joining a renter's or community union. Do you have your landlord's contact details so you can contact them directly? I think you are entitled to these in law.

Memorex MP3

My brother a few weeks back was told the rent would be going up on account of the energy crisis. Bills are not included in the rent so they presumably literally meant "my energy bills have gone up and it's on you to cover it"

Joe Qunt

I'm a very left wing man, strongly opposed to the death penalty and killing in all forms. The exception however is the murderous rage I feel whenever anyone mentions landlords and estate agents. I would gladly bomb any of those cunts to rubble. Can't wait til the world goes all Mad Max so I can hunt those evil bastards down one by one.

shoulders

Would love to look at one and go: You are the Weakest Link - Goodbye!

robhug

Quote from: Joe Qunt on April 27, 2022, 11:38:52 AMI'm a very left wing man, strongly opposed to the death penalty and killing in all forms. The exception however is the murderous rage I feel whenever anyone mentions landlords and estate agents. I would gladly bomb any of those cunts to rubble. Can't wait til the world goes all Mad Max so I can hunt those evil bastards down one by one.

Similar to Sout Africans Ive never met a nice one.

Buying our last house and agreeing a price with the vendor directly, they then got involved saying they've had a better offer but you can still have it if you match it, extra 8k. Cue a heavily pregnant partner who they spoke to in floods of tears etc as it was now out of our price range, as it was perfect for her family being near. That house had been on the market for 5 years with very little to no interest as it was valued too high. I genuinely believe they just tried to take advantage for the sake of it - whats the cut of an extra 8k for them? hardly anything. Turns out there obviously wasn't any other interest.

JamesTC

Would love to get paid to do nothing and just let people stay in things I own.

If anybody wants to stay in my back garden, I'll charge £100 PCM with FULL hose access. NO TIME WASTERS

Joe Qunt

Quote from: JamesTC on April 27, 2022, 12:17:36 PMWould love to get paid to do nothing and just let people stay in things I own.

If anybody wants to stay in my back garden, I'll charge £100 PCM with FULL hose access. NO TIME WASTERS

Can I build my own shelter or is it that non-negotiable?