UK Landlord Forum / Life

I signed a fixed term tenancy for 2 years in which, the 13th rent will be without further notice by the amount of the Retail Price Index, however, agent/landlord forgets to advise me to increase until the 22nd month, they want to renew the 3rd year agreement, they realize the mistake and now , ask me to backdate the months, do they empower to do so or I am liable to backdate the rent?

On the other hand, I also realize this is unfair tenancy contract, as fixed term tenancy agreement(2 years) will normally be fixed without further adjustment.

Please comment.

Whether they can backdate the increase depends on the precise wording of the agreement. If the increase happens automatically, for example, their not notifying you may have no effect.

A rental increase during a fixed term isn't an unfair term.

Thanks for your reply, does there has any legal preceeding case to follow .

I think the issue may turn on whether BEFORE the contract was formed, were the core terms of annual increase made prominent to you.

A contract term cannot override common law and the Consumer Rights Act (2015) would be the law in question.

We have seen the same thing in Mobile Phone, Broadband and similar contracts,  this led to a backlash and when challenged they backed down, refunded the difference or kept the old pricing, but these companies started making the rise very prominent in new contracts in April 2024 (notice served in Feb 2024).

So in my opinion they would struggle to impose this increase if they did not make it very prominent before you signed.  They might have had you sign right next to that term but they can't just rely on it being in the contract by itself without having made it prominent before you were asked to sign.  You should also have been given a copy of the Tenancy Terms well in advance, not turn up at a property and be asked to sign something without a chance to review the terms.

If we look at how contracts with embedded RPI increases work in mobile and broadband, then they also have to give sufficient notice even with the term made prominent.  This is to give you time to make an informed decision to leave or stay, I would say that such notice should be at least 30 days more than the typical notice to quit, so 90 days.

They needed to give you a notice of the new rent via a S13 form and you would then have an opportunity to reject it, if you pay the higher rent you are deemed to have accepted it.  They will argue that they don't need to serve the S13 as the increase is part of the original contract but you can reject that as you were not made aware of this core term before you signed the Tenancy. 

You would refer the matter to the First Tier Tribunal as can they, if they try to bring the matter in the County Court on the Part8 track (where costs are allowed) you can delay matters by returning the Acknowledgement of Service, ticking the box that says the County Court does not have jurisdiction and the matter should be brought in the FTT.

When it comes to the new Tenancy almost all bets are off, they can set a higher rent and now that you have had this argument I think it can be agreed the issue has been made prominent, but that does not mean you have to accept that term. 

You might just remain in the property, if they do not evict you using S8 or S21 with the appropriate notice periods, then remaining in the property beyond the end of the first two year fixed term will have created a Statutory Periodic Tenancy with all the same terms of the previous Tenancy except the term itself.  The increase term will remain unenforceable or should we say disputable. 

You can expect the Landlord to then try to evict you but remember, nobody can be forcefully evicted without a Court Order and then only by Court Appointed Baliffs.  In real terms this can take up to a year in some areas, maybe 6 months in others.  All the time there will be tactics that can delay matters for months. 

If you have emails that made this term prominent then of course you would not try to pretend that this was not made prominent.

As for backdating, not giving you notice and not asking for the higher rent has put you in a position of extreme hardship and whilst it might be due (if it was made prominent before the outset) it is fundamentally unfair to put you in hardship for their mistake.

As in many cases, it is easier to fight the foundation argument than the issue they wish to argue.

Keeping it in the FTT will keep costs to a minimum and you can even appeal to the Upper Tier later, but decisions can be backdated if they find that the term was made prominent or if a S13 claim was correctly made.

It is worth pointing out that pissing off a Landlord will likely end in

Quote from: peter Tai on May 20, 2024, 09:58:24 AMI signed a fixed term tenancy for 2 years in which, the 13th rent will be without further notice by the amount of the Retail Price Index, however, agent/landlord forgets to advise me to increase until the 22nd month, they want to renew the 3rd year agreement, they realize the mistake and now , ask me to backdate the months, do they empower to do so or I am liable to backdate the rent?

On the other hand, I also realize this is unfair tenancy contract, as fixed term tenancy agreement(2 years) will normally be fixed without further adjustment.

Please comment.