My landlord has just increased my rent by £700 per month

Reply to the comment left by Denzel at 20/08/2024 - 11:16
How does this save the taxpayer money? Your post states you increased benefits by £300pm. Then you negotiated (?) another £200pm towards rent. Was not aware social services were negotiable. Then managed to get another discretionary payment to top it all up? All of it paid for by the tax payer. If as much effort was put into getting them trained, good jobs and earning money to support the community they could afford their own rent? I do believe we should help people in difficulty but there should be a plan to resolve the problem and return people to normal life not living on government benefits. Where is the incentive?

Reply to the comment left by Bryan at 20/08/2024 - 12:25
Because if the eviction is not prevented that family will end up in expensive hotel or bnb accommodation - all paid for by the council.

Have a read of the temporary accommodation crisis across England costing councils up to £2bn every year.

By preventing homelessness, we keep them in rented accommodation, avoiding expensive temporary accommodation saving the tax payer at-least £15-20K per year per family.

Excellent outcome.

How many landlords go straight for eviction because they assume tenants can't possibly afford a sizable increase?
For some reason it seems to be less embarrassing to serve a Section 21 than a chunky rent increase notice.
How many tenants refuse to ask their local Housing team at the Council what help is available?

Councils are often very aware of real life economics and it is far cheaper to shell out a bit of a DHP than try to rehouse someone.

The Private Rental Sector has to stack for all parties - landlord, tenant, Local Authority and tax payer.
Temporary housing is a hugely expensive last resort. It's got to be better for all parties for the PRS to work for landlords.

Reply to the comment left by Jo Westlake at 20/08/2024 - 12:31
Thank you Jo

Reply to the comment left by howdidigethere at 20/08/2024 - 12:07
As the founder of Property118 I can confidently say that I am not at all ashamed of our mission statement; “Facilitating the sharing of best practice in the UK Private Rented Sector”

I consider avoiding causing needless homelessness that serves neither parties needs due to Governments bad decisions as part of that.

What you are doing is what “Shelter” should be doing. If the tenant called Shelter there would have been a different result. Well done you keep the tenant housed and the landlord solvent.

Reply to the comment left by Denzel at 20/08/2024 - 10:57
Didn't answer my question.

I have been in a similar position to this landlord because I kept my rents static for 5 years. My fault for being generous! I still have one remaining property where the rent doesn't cover the mortgage even after 2 annual 9% increases. I would have liked to increase my rent by £200pm 2 years ago, but again, didn't want to pressure the tenant and young family. So, I remain subsidising my tenant.

I am not a social housing landlord and must increase the rent in January by a significant amount, and hope in the meantime my mortgage rate drops. But my current thinking is to cover myself by issuing a S21 now, before they are ended under the RRB, and see how things progress over the coming months. I know it will probably take 12 months to obtain a possession order.

Reply to the comment left by NewYorkie at 20/08/2024 - 13:22
You're not alone... Many other landlords are having to subsidise their tenants and those that can't are evicting these families.

There is support available to you - Eviction is not the only option.

Would be happy to have a futher chat to see how we can help your situation.

Reply to the comment left by NewYorkie at 20/08/2024 - 13:22
I suggest filling in the contact form and having a chat with Denzel or one of his team.

Just for clarity, Denzel's article is not sponsored and Property118 does not receive commissions or any other incentives from his company.

I asked Denzel to become a Guest Author because I am aware that a lot of landlords are struggling financially and want to find ways to prevent selling up and leaving vulnerable tenants in an even worse predicament.

Reply to the comment left by Denzel at 20/08/2024 - 13:25
Always happy to consider my options. But if there are zero options, and I wait until S21 is ended, I will be stuck, because there's no doubt my tenant would be worse off trying to find somewhere suitable, at the same rent, because there isn't anywhere locally.

Maybe I will be in touch, once I know how my tenant will react to the S21.