I just don’t understand it either.
How do your timings work exactly?
Say your tenancy start date is 15th of month. You need to give 1 mths notice as per your contract, but you need to give it before 15th and you missed that date. So say you gave notice on 16th month (earliest date to miss the cut off).
That means you gave two months notice (less a day). The landlord, if giving you his 1 mths notice for the section 13, after you gave your notice, would have also missed that cut off date. So his increase would also only apply the month after you move out.
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So rent is paid on the 28th each month. We move out 6th September. We have to pay rent up until 28th as per contract. That’s fair enough. - but to add on an extra £200 per month to start 28th august seems unfair, because we have to pay the extra for the the weeks that we aren’t even here.
I gave notice 8th July
So if you gave notice 8th July, that is effectively the same as giving notice 28th July.
And your landlord needs to give you the same notice period for the new rental amount. I.e. he gives notice on 28th July for rental increase. Which means new rent can’t start until 28th Aug. By which time you are gone anyway.
The one months notice, starting at your rent payment date works both ways.
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They aren’t leaving until 6th September… that’s the issue. ie tenancy wont end until 28th Sep, hence Landlord has increased rent for period 28th Aug to 28th Sep. All appears above board, but not very fair in my view.
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Ah so do you have to pay until 28th September?
If so, definitely do not give the keys back until the last date you are paying for.
I think giving notice early july for end Sept move out was too soon and they took advantage. Therefore do not let them take ownership of the property back until 28th.
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Yes, that’s right. I’m just paying until the 28th September and the increase comes into effect for the final month. That’s why I’m so annoyed. I’m certainly not giving keys back before then. 
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You have to agree to a rent increase. You can say no I would say for your final month this is unfair as you are not entering into a new agreement for the new amount
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… not that simple…
If you don’t agree, you need to appeal as per the Section 13 process. If you don’t appeal, the new rent is legally binding.
I doubt the appeal process will consider if its the last month or not. They will simply ask if the increased rent is a fair market price, and they may rule that the new rent is too high or too low, so you could end up having to pay more.
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exactly… and by all accounts, the rent the OP has been paying has been too low and the LL was well within their rights to have issued a S13 ages ago which would have meant them paying far more than simply a one-off extra £200. Ts are definitely coming out of this deal better than the LL is so can’t complain IMO.
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Why would you come to that conclusion? By all accounts? From whose accounts?
I have already said that what we’re paying now is similar to what others are paying in my area
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It may be legal but it’s is definitely immoral. The kindest thing I could say about this landlord is that perhaps he intended putting the rent up anyway and it’s just co-incidence that this has happened just as you are moving out. I certainly would not do this to any tenants of mine and as long as they give me the required notice or longer I do not make them pay up to the rent payment date either. I hope your new landlord is the better sort of landlord - as most of us are.
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Thanks for your replies, everyone!
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right… then don’t pay it and challenge it via a rent tribunal
You can actually try to make a counter offer: you return the keys on 6/09 (rather than 28/09) in exchange for the rent increase being cancelled. This would be a gain gain situation for both parties as you would obviously save some money and the landlord would be able to start getting the property ready for the next tenant ahead of time. Try to offer this to the landlord and see what happens. It would be foolish of him to decline the offer.
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The Landlord is an a-hole… If you’re on a rolling monthly contract, you can leave after you’ve given the notice with no rental increase. It’s a waste of everyone’s time to go to a rental tribunal, especially over £200
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Thats bad advice Stafford as the landlord can just deduct the increase from the deposit.
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I agree with Stafford that the landlord is an A-hole. Unfortunately, the T still needs to take it up with the tribunal. At least warn the landlord that you will go to the tribunal. He may disregard this. You gave notice in July, maybe you just needed to say you will leave on 6th September, which is more than a months notice, could have stayed instead of leaving on 28th August, you would leave a few days later and work out the extra rent. I have done this for my tenants when I was given less than a month notice, but the last day was just 3 days beyond the rent due date. So just calculated the 3 days rent.
It staggers me that anyone would try and defend what this landlord is doing, it appears opportune at best and overtly greedy at worst. You are being penalised for giving your landlord over the required amount of notice, which seems incredibly unfair. If you’d left serving your notice till the prescribed one month, your landlord would not have been able to serve a rise in rent before you vacated. I hope you have done what someone else suggested and tried to negotiate a postponement of the rent increase for handing your keys over earlier. It is such a envious position for a landlord to have rent for a period where the tenant isn’t in residence but has paid, allowing them to conduct work, while not losing out financially. I don’t want to advise on what to do, as I don’t know the full legal implications but if the landlord insists, if you don’t pay the rent increase and they try and take it out of your deposit, as the deposit is secured, you could challenge and go to tribunal at this point. A negative reference isn’t an issue, if you already have a new rental but as I say, I don’t know the full ramifications of such action. I can only smypathise with your predicament. It makes me sad that there are landlords who would act in such a manner. Your landlord must be aware that having a vacant property is a bonus, I would emphasise this fact and hope they acknowledge the advantage. Wishing you well in your new home.
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It absolutely is. Many people have even said the landlord is being an A-hole.
But the key issue is that what he is doing is perfectly legal and acceptable.
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