Probably an odd one. Our agent recommended we advertise our flat in SE London at £1600 per month. Today we are interviewing tenants at that price and she has just emailed to say that she visited the flat yesterday and has revised the rent to £1850 since she didn’t realise it was a two bed flat. Aside from grumbling about managing agents, we are tempted to simply not offer it to anyone we see today, take it off the market and readvertise at the market rate when some planned decorating and other works are finished at the end of September.
Is this legal under the new charter and/or would it be frowned on by Openrent as being similar to charging more than what was originally asked for? Either way we are going to be considered dodgey landlords by at least some of the people interested, as we would think if we were in their shoes.
If anyone has been in this position we’d be glad of any advice.
@David122 may be able to advise but I think genuine mistakes in price advertised can be corrected (make sure mistake is documented in writing) and you havent invited rental bidding from anybody who has viewed. A higher price reflecting better facilities is also ok. Def pull the current ad and dont do new viewings till anyone viewing is aware of/been told about the new price.
Good luck
Key Rules of the Rental Bidding Ban
Single Fixed Price: Adverts cannot use ranges (like “£1,000 to £1,200”) or “from £X” pricing; they must state one exact asking rent figure. [1, 2]
The Asking Price is a Cap: Once listed, the advertised figure acts as a ceiling. Landlords and agents are legally barred from accepting higher bids from competing applicants. [1, 2]
Liability: Landlords and letting agents face civil penalties and enforcement from local housing authorities if they breach these rules. Tenants and third-party hosting portals (like Rightmove or Zoopla) cannot be held liable
It’s just got a bit more complicated. I did as advised and took the ad down after I wrote a brief note to the people we interviewed apologising and explaining the situation. Then, before the ad actually went down, the best of our prospective tenants messaged us and said they would still be interested at the new market rate. Financially it’s still well within their budget. We would wait a couple of weeks, re-advertise and then choose them from whoever replied to the ad.
The problem now is ther new tenant has read the government website’s advise on the regulations concerning advertising the same property at a higher rent and is worried about the legality of it.
He found this:
They (the landlord or agent) must not:
publish another advert with a higher advertised price for the same letting.
I sent this to our agent and she explained that this was to stop landlords from choosing a tenant and then encouraging them to pay more by re-advertising at a higher rent.
Though this is not the case, the tenant thinks our agent may not be right and is worried about being seen to be a gazumper.
Any idea where I can get a difinitive answer to this, should one exist?
There probably isnt a definitive answer as it’s for LAs to decide based on a balance of probabilities, but nowhere is there any indication it could be any sort of offence by the tenant, it’s not a problem for them
Try looking at the guidance which gives examples of what is and isnt a breach
I think your case is closest to the following example
" Furnished/unfurnished
A landlord advertises a property as unfurnished with a price of £700 per calendar month. They also advertise the same property as furnished with a higher price of £750 per calendar month. The landlord receives a number of applications in response to both adverts. The landlord lets to a person who has agreed to the tenancy on the basis that the property is furnished, paying £750 per calendar month.
The local authority decides that rental bidding has not taken place as there is a difference between the two offerings.
"
as your higher price will be after redecoration, so a higher spec/a different offering. I would reject the current offer and say you will be re-advertising after redecorating and will invite offers then. Arguably it would have been better not to even mention a future higher price till after the re-advertising as that has encouraged an increased offer that you have to reject.
I’ve looked at the Government advisory document on rental bidding, “Assured periodic tenancies: a guide for landlords” but it doesn’t include the text you mention. Can you say exactly which document your prospective tenant has read? I would not interpret the text of this document as definitively precluding withdrawing an advert and re-advertising at a higher price. However, I can see that it might cause an issue if the same applicant that previously offered, now offers a higher amount and you accept. This could certainly be construed as rental bidding. If you want to accept this person, I would suggest an initial phone call, (which is usually free) to a specialist landlord and tenant solicitor to check the situation.
Suggest Your “another advert” in due course should have some different text, new photos and eg say 'recently refurbished ’ to distinguish it from ad you just withdrew.
The thing that bites you is accepting the £1,850, not advertising it. Section 56(3) of the Renters’ Rights Act stops you accepting an offer above the rent you stated, and section 57 makes that a civil penalty of up to £7,000. Her offering it unprompted doesn’t help you. It’s your acceptance that’s the breach.
Refurbish, re-advertise at £1,850, fine. Nothing stops you repricing between lettings. But let it to the person who came off the £1,600 ad, at the higher figure, and you’ve got a tenant who has already quoted the guidance back at you in writing. I’d let that one go and start clean.
Amend the ad to say 2 bed, do the redecorating, update photos showing redecorated,you then have a materially different offer and listing and can then accept a new offer at a higher price accordingly
And get in writing from agent that original pricing was incorrect and a mistake on their part.
Thanks for posting that link Dermot. Its interesting that the statement in the local authority guidance that says:
They must not:
publish another advert with a higher advertised price for the same letting
goes further than the guidance they published for landlords that I quoted. This seems negligent at best on the part of Government if they intend this to be enforced. I think it also goes further than the actual legislation on the issue, which is not uncommon for Government guidance. It doesn’t really make sense either. Would it apply to a landlord who gives up when their advert fails to attract a suitable tenant and then tries again the following year at a higher price? I assume not, but then what is the period between adverts that defines “for the same letting”? These things will no doubt be tested in court eventually, but given that local authorities are likely to just hit you with a civil penalty and tell you to defend it if you wish, it could be a very expensive risk to take.
Tbh if you e mail to tenant saying it was a genuine error as is clear from others in the area and ask if they are ok with the revised figure and they agree it is fair i think you are ok. You can even say you have not upped the rent but made a genuine mistake
I would have thought that to be reasonable. You might be more at risk by turning down these and accepting another at a higher rate. Too many rules today
There seems to be a few people advising Dermot to just go ahead because it’s reasonable. The law and Councils interpretation of it doesn’t work like that! I would suggest some legal advice before proceeding.
Nobody can be 100% sure till there has been some caselaw/examples.
@Dermot1 can seek legal advice but they will say the same.
@Dermot1 can even ask the council but they won’t commit on whether the change is enough to be considered a new letting unless his case exactly matches an example in the govt guidance and even then it could be challenged.
No action increasing will be without risk except accepting the original lower price.
Guidance for LAs is they must decide on a balance of probability based on evidence, and the LL.gets a chance to respond in writing. Max first time fine is 7k