I am trying to update my advert to reflect the new current price. I thought I had updated it yesterday BEFORE I had viewings this morning but turns out I didn’t update it correctly so it’s still showing at the old price. Someone has come along and offered on the old price which is a bummer because i’ve just realised. The tenants still want the property at the updated price but I need to first reject their offer. if I reject their offer, can they still but in an offer at the updated price? or will open rent not allow this? We have no signed contracts yet, just an oversight on my advert which im norw regretting but can’t change unless I reject offers! any advice?
this is what it says on open rent :
Under the Renters’ Rights Act, landlords cannot invite or accept rental offers that exceed the advertised rent. To change the rent, you must reject any active offers. Any price change will apply to future applicants only.
Any price change will apply to future applicants only…Does this mean that my existing tenants cannot put down a new update deposit?
Yes exactly.
Did you advertise at £L originally - and you now want to charge tenants who viewed at that price a higher £H than it was advertised at? Sounds totally illegal under RRA, unless something has changed to justify the rent being different (eg if unlike.advert, bills now included)
“In essence, once the proposed rent is stated in a listing or advertisement, it acts as a cap, and letting agents and landlords must not ask for, accept or encourage prospective tenants to pay more rent than this advertised rent. The rule is that although the asking rent can always be reduced, it can only be increased in very specific circumstances”
@David122 may also have a view/be able to advise
Bite the bullet if these are good tenants for a price you were willing to accept previously, just go ahead with that price. If you really want the higher amount you need to advertise at that and find someone else
Good luck
Have a chat with the tenants.Explain that Open Rent did not update in a timely fashion. You want these tenants because they meet your high bar of selection. Build rapport and understanding. You might/will be issuing a section 13 in 10 months time anyway to match your local market -if not why not.
If you reject their offer today the property returns to the market tomorrow at the higher rent. The preferred tenants can submit another deposit request to secure the property for them.
I think @Christina21 may be worried that Openrent will not allow the same tenants to bid for a property at a higher rent due to RRA. We don’t know if they have implemented anything to prevent this.
Best
Its not totally clear to me whether the price can be altered in the advert whilst its still live and still remain legal and what the status of existing offers would then be. Its possible that a landlord would not be able to reject offers just based on the price change, but Ive no idea how this would work in practice. Landlords must now get the advertised price right first time if they want to be sure they’re not breaking the law.
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Don’t raise the rent and then encourage the tenants you have found to place an offer again. You will be writing them a free option to have you receive a significant fine if your relationship with them sours for whatever reason.
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Definitely not encouraging. Thats up to the tenant if they want to make an offer. It’s up to me as the landlord to accept or decline.
Also if I’m now Offering more in my listing so fully furnished instead of partially furnished, surely I can adjust the price to reflect that as I’m now including more furniture?
You say they are willing to pay higher price but how would they even know about that if you’d not told them. Not sure what legally counts as 'encouraging"
I think now it’s fully furnished not part that’s a reason to say it’s a new different listing in which case suspect you’d be ok with higher price. If it was exactly the same just a higher price and same tenants that would be an issue.
See guidance from 'independent landlord " extract below
Good luck
Can a landlord increase the asking rent if something changes?
Possibly. The rules refer to the “proposed letting”. If the proposed letting changes, it may be possible to increase the asking rent, depending on the circumstances.
The Renters’ Rights Act doesn’t define the “proposed letting”, but here are a few examples where the proposed letting changes:
- The landlord advertises the property as unfurnished, but the tenant asks for it to be fully or partially furnished. It would be possible to increase the asking rent by a fair amount to reflect that this is a different proposed letting. The government guidance for local authorities gives the example where a property is advertised as £700 pcm if unfurnished and £750 if furnished. Here, “rental bidding has not taken place as there is a difference between the two offerings”.
- The listing is without access to a garage. An applicant asks if they can also rent the garage behind the property, and the landlord increases the rent to reflect this. As with the case above, this is not rental bidding as “there is a difference between the two offerings”.
- The original listing did not include bills, and the tenant would like the landlord to include bills. In that case the proposed letting would change, and the landlord or agent could increase the rent by an appropriate amount to reflect the payment of bills. However, this should not be used as a loophole to artificially increase the rent, beyond the amount that would be reasonable.
It makes no difference at what stage the change happens, whether before any offers come in, after an offer is made, or once a holding deposit has been taken.
What matters is whether it is the same proposed letting: if it is, the asking rent can’t be increased, and if the letting has genuinely changed, it can.
If there is an error with the asking rent, can it be corrected?
This is a grey area, and we ultimately won’t know until the courts decide.
If there is an obvious error, for instance a property is advertised at £500 per calendar month instead of £500 per week, then it may be that the local authority decides that this is not rental bidding, provided that the letting agent or landlord rectifies the error as soon as possible, and they don’t use this as a “bait and switch” tactic to stimulate interest.
Bear in mind that these fines are applied by council officials, based upon ‘their opinion’, so any grey areas are open to interpretation. If you disagree, the onus is on you to take it to an appeal tribunal.
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Quelle déception!
Dont risk it a deal is a deal
Or…
Speak to a solicitor properly, this website is opinions only
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