Property118 Landlords Newsletter – Issue 95

it would be interesting to know what other landlords do as regards putting up rent at renewal, I just use the latest cpi figure to increase the rent.

Hi Alan

Our Guest Columnist and Landlord Law specialist Tessa Shepperson wrote a very informative piece on this subject for property118 which is linked below

http://www.property118.com/index.php/how-to-increase-rent-the-proper-way 

You may also find my own strategy an interesting read - see http://www.property118.com/index.php/the-roots-of-my-property-investment-strategy/

Grab yourself a cuppa before you start reading mine though as my strategy is spread across 16 articles which are indexed and linked for easy reference. Please feel free to leave comments as you go. If you get bored and stop reading, leave a comment at that point too please.

I only review rents yearly and I assess at the time checking what similar rentals are going for on zoopla and mouseprice.
Just using CPI is a bit of a blunt instrument and maybe not justified for the market at the time you review.
I invairably conjecture an increase figure and then a conversation occurs between myself and the tenant and we come to an agreement.
I then Section 13 the rent increase to save having to pay another DPC fee.

No need to Section 13 under those circumstances Paul, a letter of agreement is sufficient. I always feel it's best to set expectations in advance and then agree rent increases over a cuppa. It also provides an opportunity to discuss any minor issues that have cropped up in the property and to make arrangements to get them fixed. This all helps to build a trusting relationship with your tenants as well as having an opportunity to have a good look around your property. I try to tie such meetings into a Gas Check appointment too.

What is section 13? does it apply in Scotland?

 interesting reply, thanks, I did read an article advising this course of action as it would be difficult to be challenged. the only thing I do not understand is DPC fee, not familiar with this, please explain.

A Section 13 notice is explained in Tessa's article which I've linked to in my comments above. Some laws are different in scotland and I don't know enough to answer your question. We do, however, have a massive readership in scotland so hopefully somebody will answer that one for you.

If a new tenancy agreement is entered into then the tenants deposit needs to be re-protected. That's one of the reasons why most landlords don't issue new agreements. Another good reason is that AST's revert to statutory periodic tenancies where only two months notice to vacate using section 21 notices are required. If you offer a new agreement you may have to wait 6 months to serve a section 21 notice and then wait a further two months to begin the process of re-gaining posession, unless of course you have grounds to serve a section 8 notice and the skills and patience to take it through the court system when the tenant refuses to leave and that whole process is quite frankly is a joke.

I would like to recount a recent experience which might be of interest to other landlords, the apartments we rent are leasehold, like the majority I expect, the freeholders contacted us demanding fees to register our tenants with them, they called this subletting, having read the smallprint of the lease I knew that AST's of no more than 12 months were exempt, I believe they knew this and it was a scam, I challenged them and told them it had incurred me in hundreds of pounds of solicitors fees (untrue) and believe it or not they paid me this as compensation. Be aware, read the small print.

Great story, very useful information Alan. Thanks for sharing it.