Is rent increase agreed with tenant verbally and message lawful?

Hi,
If i verbally agreed rent increase with tenant, sent notice i prepared myself via imessage and gave the correct 1 months notice and tenant paid the new agreed amount the following month. Is this legally binding?
They didn’t sign any paperwork but i have message trail where it was sent to them including photo of the notice and they did not contest it and paid the new amount.

Applied for court possesion on grounds 8,10 and 11. Tenant defence is that the rent incease was unlawful because section 13 was not used and they did not sign anything. (i assume to bring the rent arrears below 2 months).
Thanks

Yes, it becomes binding once the tenant pays it

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That’s exactly what I thought so why would the tenant’s legal rep even dispute this then?
is there any legal act/housing act etc that i can quote for this?

I think that there is case law that says one payment is sufficient to make it binding. I haven’t been able to find the case, but have copied below links to Shelter and Landlordlawblog that reinforce the point.

The final link in Pims, suggests that it may also be linked to contract law,

Rent increases for private tenants | Shelter England - Shelter England
Tenants legal help - is that rent increase valid? - The Landlord Law Blog
Landlord Advice & Documents | Tenancy Management | PIMS

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thanks, that helps and i’m hoping the judge will know this too.

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