Is anyone able to confirm something for me; I rent a flat in Wales (since 2022) and a new landlord has bought it. All the information I have found is that my ongoing periodic contract is inherited by the new landlord. They are pressuring me to sign a new one with them. They have also tried to raise the rent without the official form and 2 months notice. Shelter have said that I’m right in thinking I don’t need a new contract and the form is a legal requirement but they’re not having it.
If your landlord tries to increase the rent without following the procedure described above, it probably won’t be legally binding on you to pay the amount they are asking for unless you agree to it. Remember, if you start paying the rent at the new amount, you will probably be seen as having accepted the rent increase."
There may be no win no fee solicitors willing to take the case to tribunal for you.
If your income is low the tribunal may waive part or all its fees - find out how much it would be
Don’t pay an invalid increase
However Shelter also say
"Can I challenge a rent increase?
It can be difficult to challenge the increase if you are a periodic standard contract-holder because your landlord can evict you quite easily if you don’t agree to pay it. It may be worth negotiating with your landlord to try to agree a lower rent increase. The landlord might consider this because if you had to move out due to the rent being unaffordable they would have to pay the costs of re-letting the property. Alternatively, your landlord may agree to increase the rent in stages over a period of time.
What if I have a converted contract?
If you moved into your home before 1 December 2022 and had an assured or assured shorthold tenancy with a private landlord, or an assured agricultural occupancy, you still have the right to challenge a rent increase by applying to the Rent Assessment Committee (RAC). You must do this within 2 months of receiving the RHW12 notice of a rent increase notice from your landlord. You can download the application form to challenge the rent increase here.
However, be aware that the RAC may even set a higher rent if they find that the rent increase would mean you are paying less rent than other contract-holders living in similar properties.
If you had an assured or assured shorthold tenancy or assured agricultural occupancy with a private landlord before your agreement converted, and your agreement contained a ‘rent review’ clause, then your landlord should continue to follow the procedure set out in your original assured tenancy agreement"
I’ve quoted everything and sent so many screenshots of the same info. They’re digging in and saying it all changes because they’re our new landlords. I think I’m going to ask them to show me something thay says different; they don’t even believe the shelter case worker who rang me!
@Tracy47 send t hem below from landlords guild- and rentsmart -explain that you understand your rights, they cannot force you to sign a new contract and the existing one remains in force with them taking on the responsibilities of the previous LL.
Tell them to consult their lawyer but that you are happy to call the police for harassment or th e council for illegal eviction if they try to make you sign a new contract.
Best
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Selling with the tenant in place
If the property is sold with the tenant in place, the buyer normally becomes the tenant’s new landlord on completion. The tenancy continues, and the buyer takes over the landlord’s obligations as well as the right to receive rent.
They have been sent everything. I just put in a complaint with Rent Smart Wales because they also haven’t sent the new ownership form which I think they should have sent within 14 days.
I’m just really worried that they don’t know all this.
Is the rent increase itself ok from your point of view ? Does it bring rent up to market rates?
Tbh new LL not knowing the rules (or claiming not to) and trying to get you to sign a new tenancy with a higher rent may work in your favour. If they eventually realize you are correct and then try to evict you (to get someone else who’ll pay the higher amount they want), you may have a defence that their attempt to evict is retaliatory because you complained. Are there any other things you have requested that they have refused to do such as repairs? Keep records of all the comms you have with them
Meanwhile it may be wise to start looking for somewhere else tbh as they do sound like a possible nightmare and they may use a no fault eviction anyway.
The rent rise isn’t the issue andI never told them I won’t pay it. My problem is that they aren’t doing the things they’re legally supposed to do. They also said the new rent would reflect the improvements they planned to make from May, which there hasn’t been mention of since.
Shelter have said that if they do issue a no fault eviction it can be challenged if it sounds like retaliation. I do intend to move but they will go on behaving like this to new tenants if someone doesn’t make them follow the rules. They haven’t even sent the new landlord info; I had to ask them for their account details to pay my rent, which they sent in a text!
Perhaps they are new to being LLs and are not as familiar with the very many rules as yourself. Or just badly advised.
Sounds encouraging that the proposed rent increase is ok for you and that they have been talking of making improvements even if not recently.
May be worth inviting them to a video call or face to face to de-escalate but still allow you to express your concerns and agree how best to communicate in future. If they are new to it you might suggest there could be some LL training they could do
When someone buys a tenanted property, they “step into the shoes” of the old landlord. This is a long established common law principle, reinforced under the Law of Property Act 1925. To my knowledge this was not superseded by anything in the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016. It means that the new landlord inherits all the terms and obligations of the previous landlord and cannot unilaterally impose new terms.
Ps if new LL has provided account details and received rent then they have implicitly acknowledged they are providing a service as a LL as part of current tenancy contract - given they/you have yet to sign anything new/different.
This might even be worth getting a letter sent by a solicitor to your LL that lays out the law and threatens legal action if they persist. Yes, it’ll cost a bit, but in the grand scheme of things this will not only stop them pestering you but any future tenants they might have. This is called an LBA (letter before action) so you could mention that when you give some lawyers a ring to see if they can do this. Many lawyers offer a free consultation with no obligation so it should be fairly easy and cost you nothing to find out if this would be effective.
If I had the money I would; that’s why I bounced it back to them, to ask their legal team to find some info that proves me wrong. If they’re right it should be easy shouldn’t it?
They are required to serve you with section 3 and 48 notices. We are doing that ourselves as landlords at the moment so are up to speed with this.
The existing contract need not be changed. They are stuck with the S13 process under renters rights if they want to increase the rent. They can’t force you to sign a new contract. My guess is they are asking this to circumvent the S13 process.
Is this the change of ownership and landlord info? I think I should have had that within 14 days. I sent info on that in my last email as well. It’s worrying how unprepared they are.