Hi all, we have been in our rental flat for nearly 3 years. When we moved in the loft space was full of the landlords belongings, they had left it unlocked so we have put the odd thing up there ourselves in the small space left.
They’ve come round occasionally wanting to get things down for themself which we have been fine with in the past.
Nothing in our agreement states that we cannot use the loft or that they have use of it.
I’ve read some articles saying basically the landlord should not have things up there due to content insurance and them not paying council tax. (As us the tenant does)
Reason I’m asking is they’ve put our rent up quite a chunk so I’m trying to negotiate. Please let me know any advice on this!
Assuming that the loft is not habitable space, then it wouldn’t affect the council tax liability. Their contents being present should also not affect your contents insurance, since you have no obligation to insure them.
You could demand that the landlord removes their stuff from the loft or limits the number of visits to collect things, but that is not likely to endear you to them. Honestly, I don’t think this issue is going to help your negotiation and in your situation, I’d be a bit wary of using it.
I presume the issue is that your landlord can only access the loft space through your flat.
The problem is that you seem to have understood and accepted this .
When the flat was advertised did it include the loft space in the description ? If not it it may not be included in the let .
You say landlord has put up the rent quite a chunk. With inflation running at around 10% while rent increases can feel very painful if the landlord puts up rent by less than this he is actually getting less rent in real terms. This is the problem with everything today , fuel , heating, food etc .
So talk to your landlord - there are some who are greedy - but remember many are leaving the market and selling up as they can’t make a living on the rents they have been charging - so do be prepared for a REASONABLE increase.