Hi
Been a landlord for 32years and I thought I’ve seen it all !
Recently I raised the rent on a 3 bed house by £50 and tenants are ok and pay on time but is still £100-145 under market rent ! I am happy .
This morning I received a letter from the tenant asking me to explain how much my mortgage , and costs have gone up to justify a high increase.
I was absolutely annoyed at the cheek of it and I will be waiting a day as it’s no good writing a response when angry.
I truly believe tenants are not in the real world.and I have a bet with the missus I have a later from Shelter next !
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The question is do you get them out or try to educate these brain dead buffoons.
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Educate 
well I will wait a day and write a polite straightforward letter!
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I fully sympathise with you. I felt the same way when I proposed raising the rent on mine by £50 pcm last sept when in line with the market it should have been £150. I was not prepared to justify the rent increase.
His attitude was appalling, aggressive and rude and point blank refused the increase. If like me you choose to serve a sect 21 be prepared for a lengthy and nasty dispute.
Mine has just vacated without notice owing two months rent and is now disputing rent arrears and other deduction from his deposit, posting me the keys when his blackmail attempt to only give the keys back when I released his full deposit didn’t work.
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I would reply “Thanks for your question. Will be replying shortly.” Then pop S21 in the post. )))
Just imagine having to increase the rent sometimes again in the future when S21 is gone…
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Lynn, from personal experience, the easiest way to get deposit back is to concentrate on rent arrears. Forget the rest. Two months will cover your whole deposit easily.
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Tenants are feeling the heat with shortage of housing and sharp rent hike. But they still don’t get it, so they direct their aggression towards LL.
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I would respond by withdrawing the proposed rent increase saying something like " you issued it in error and apologise for the mix-up."
Give it a couple of days to give them the impression that you have backed down and they were right to challenge your very reasonable rent increase. Then re-serve them with an amended rent increase of £145.00 pcm and re-serve them a copy of the latest copy of the How To Rent Guide and insist they read it carefully before notifying you of their decision.
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Following on from my initial response you are well within your rights to do so. However, you have said they have previously been a good tenant. This may be out of character for the tenant who may be feeling the pressure in this financial climate. In that case, I would do as others have suggested and try and educate the tenant. I would write strongly worded response telling the tenant in no uncertain terms that it is not their place to ask a landlord to justify a rent increase by questioning how they may be running their business. Direct them to section 5 of the How To Rent Guide which gives them the 3 options they can take. If they still decide to formally challenge it. Serve a S21 while you still can.
The tribunal will look at rental comparisons of similar properties in the area and not on the tenants individual financial circumstances or even the landlords for that matter. Let them know that the tribunal could easily set a rent higher than that originally proposed because there are many examples of similar properties on the market advertised at higher rents and appear a week later as Let Agreed so they are not staying on the market for long.
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An article in the Telegraph says that many tenants that have challenged their rent increase have been ordered to pay even more. If you have evidence of higher rent in the local area I would send that to them and politely say that you keep you finances private.
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It’s a negotiation, right? So would be odd if they said nothing. You need to show the market rents nearby and explain how they benefitted until now. You have to expect some pushback, wouldn’t you do the same if boot on other foot?
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It depends. If it is through S13, then it’s a unilateral increase. TT are informed that they will be paying a new rent.
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I recently acquired a property which had a tenant in-situ. The property was previously managed by an agent and I inherited the tenancy agreement provided by the agent which has a rent reveiw clause that states that the rent will be adjusted inline with RPI at every anniversary. Last March, was the anniversary. Although RPI was running at 10% I didn’t use the rent review clause and kept the rent at the same level. The point I am trying to make is that if a tenant is renting from a professional landlord or agent representing a private landlord they are more than likely to use such a clause to raise rents annually. The small portfolio private landlord with one or two properties are likely to propose a rent increase and give the tenant the opportunity to negotiate. If the government want us to become more professional, then may be we should do it like the professionals.
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Being a landlord is a business and should be run professionally! But you are on the frontline and common sense should prevail!
You are all playing straight into Shelter’s hands. They and Generation Rent have persuaded the government that one of the principal reasons for abolishing s21 is that it is used by landlords to retaliate against tenants who make complaints.
I suggest the correct response is to check you have served the rent increase notice correctly and then send the tenant information about how to challenge the increase at the tribunal, pointing out that you have evidence that market rents are above what you have proposed and that the tribunal has discretion to award a higher increase.
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There’s too many accidental landlords that don’t know how to conduct their business.
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This sounds like good advice and a more professional approach.
I’m curious though as to how the tribunal process works. I know tribunals in this country are overwhelmed. What happens if they don’t hear the case before the rent review is due to take place?
I think it would help in these conversations, if changes in rent were expressed as a percentage (relative, to existing rent) rather than a single figure (absolute). Apples and oranges and all that 
Wow…I feel back when people question landlord over £50 when that is not what it should have been in the first place. For people like me looking fir apartment right now, this is my landlords are tough on us. Lookong for a 2 bedroom with no luck since 3 months ago
From reading what others have posted on different forums the tribunal decision can take several months. I imagine it would be back dated to the date of the proposed increase.