How much notice to increase rent

shadowcomplex

If one is renting a room or an apartment, how much notice does the landlord have to give before they can increase the rent?

djimi

Im not sure that a definite notice is set out in law, but I would have thought that a month would be the minimum even as a courtesy.

The landlord is entitled to a rent review once a year (at the end of a fixed term lease or after 12 months on a part 4 presumably). To me that means sitting down with the tenant and discussing it, and letting them know what the story is.

the world wonders

Residential Tenancies Act 2004 wrote:

22.—(1) The setting of a rent (the ‘‘new rent’’) pursuant to a review of the rent under a tenancy of a dwelling and which is otherwise lawful under this Part shall not have effect unless and until the condition specified in subsection (2) is satisfied.

(2) That condition is that, at least 28 days before the date from which the new rent is to have effect, a notice in writing is served by the landlord on the tenant stating the amount of the new rent and the date from which it is to have effect.

Note that this does not apply if you are renting a room from your landlord who lives in the same premises.

djimi

There you go. If in doubt 28 days is always a solid guess!

gaius c

djimi wrote: »

Im not sure that a definite notice is set out in law, but I would have thought that a month would be the minimum even as a courtesy.

The landlord is entitled to a rent review once a year (at the end of a fixed term lease or after 12 months on a part 4 presumably). To me that means sitting down with the tenant and discussing it, and letting them know what the story is.

That's my experience as well but all too often "rent review" becomes "rent imposition".

djimi

gaius c wrote: »

That's my experience as well but all too often "rent review" becomes "rent imposition".

Depends on the landlord and the tenants I guess. If a good tenant doesnt accept a €50 increase then the landlord may back down if it means losing them. However other landlords may use an imposed rent increase as a way of getting rid of a tenant that they dont want to keep.

I guess tenants have to accept that sometimes rents will rise, especially now that the costs for the landlords are on the up. Ive been paying the same rent since I moved in 2 and a half years ago, but I am under no illusions that it will stay at that rate forever.

odds_on

djimi wrote: »

Depends on the landlord and the tenants I guess. If a good tenant doesnt accept a €50 increase then the landlord may back down if it means losing them. However other landlords may use an imposed rent increase as a way of getting rid of a tenant that they dont want to keep.

I guess tenants have to accept that sometimes rents will rise, especially now that the costs for the landlords are on the up. Ive been paying the same rent since I moved in 2 and a half years ago, but I am under no illusions that it will stay at that rate forever.

It should be noted that a tenant, if he is in dispute over a rent increase, must lodge a dispute with the PRTB within 28 days of the notice being issued or before the date on which the new rent comes into effect, which ever is the later.

However, if the tenant has been in occupation for say, between 2 and 3 years (and is on a Part 4 tenancy) he must give at least 56 days notice to vacate if he wishes to leave. Thus he may end up paying some of the increased rent anyway.

gaius c

odds_on wrote: »

It should be noted that a tenant, if he is in dispute over a rent increase, must lodge a dispute with the PRTB within 28 days of the notice being issued or before the date on which the new rent comes into effect, which ever is the later.

However, if the tenant has been in occupation for say, between 2 and 3 years (and is on a Part 4 tenancy) he must give at least 56 days notice to vacate if he wishes to leave. Thus he may end up paying some of the increased rent anyway.

No. If you appeal the increased rent, it takes over 6 months to hear the appeal and you pay the old rent during the period. If the landlord wins the appeal, you pay the new rent from the date of appeal, not the date of notice.
Guess you'll be waving goodbye to your chances of getting a good reference if you exercise that right though.

djimi wrote: »

Depends on the landlord and the tenants I guess. If a good tenant doesnt accept a €50 increase then the landlord may back down if it means losing them. However other landlords may use an imposed rent increase as a way of getting rid of a tenant that they dont want to keep.

I guess tenants have to accept that sometimes rents will rise, especially now that the costs for the landlords are on the up. Ive been paying the same rent since I moved in 2 and a half years ago, but I am under no illusions that it will stay at that rate forever.

First up. Rents are not determined by a landlord's cost base. Him paying to pay property tax (for example) is no concern of mine (nor is it a concern for my tenant). They are based on supply levels, which right now are tight-ish in Dublin and less so elsewhere.

Second up. I found the opposite. Our landlord tried to take advantage of the fact that he had sitting tenants, even though he would have risked incurring a considerable financial loss as we were willing to disrupt our lives by moving home to avoid paying €600 extra a year.
Gaining €600 per year is rather poor return for taking the risk that your tenants will walk, leaving you with a 1-2 month vacancy to re-let the property and €1200-€2400 in lost rent.

odds_on

gaius c wrote: »

No. If you appeal the increased rent, it takes over 6 months to hear the appeal and you pay the old rent during the period. If the landlord wins the appeal, you pay the new rent from the date of appeal, not the date of notice.
Guess you'll be waving goodbye to your chances of getting a good reference if you exercise that right though.


First up. Rents are not determined by a landlord's cost base. Him paying to pay property tax (for example) is no concern of mine (nor is it a concern for my tenant). They are based on supply levels, which right now are tight-ish in Dublin and less so elsewhere.

Second up. I found the opposite. Our landlord tried to take advantage of the fact that he had sitting tenants, even though he would have risked incurring a considerable financial loss as we were willing to disrupt our lives by moving home to avoid paying €600 extra a year.
Gaining €600 per year is rather poor return for taking the risk that your tenants will walk, leaving you with a 1-2 month vacancy to re-let the property and €1200-€2400 in lost rent.

I fear you have misunderstood my post.

StillWaters

gaius c wrote: »

Gaining €600 per year is rather poor return for taking the risk that your tenants will walk, leaving you with a 1-2 month vacancy to re-let the property and €1200-€2400 in lost rent.

It depends on the property. If it's in a sought after area, it won't be empty for a month, you'll be taking the phone off the hook after 48 hours. Risk worth taking for most landlords in that situation.

djimi

gaius c wrote: »

First up. Rents are not determined by a landlord's cost base. Him paying to pay property tax (for example) is no concern of mine (nor is it a concern for my tenant). They are based on supply levels, which right now are tight-ish in Dublin and less so elsewhere.

Of course rents are determined by the landlords costs. It might not be the only factor, but do you honestly think that if the cost of renting a property increases (ie the property tax) that the landlord is not going to pass that cost on to the tenant? Anyone who expects rents to stay the same forever is deluded.

gaius c wrote: »

Second up. I found the opposite. Our landlord tried to take advantage of the fact that he had sitting tenants, even though he would have risked incurring a considerable financial loss as we were willing to disrupt our lives by moving home to avoid paying €600 extra a year.
Gaining €600 per year is rather poor return for taking the risk that your tenants will walk, leaving you with a 1-2 month vacancy to re-let the property and €1200-€2400 in lost rent.

Most people will assess the risk vs the reward of such a situation. Your landlord obviously wasnt particularly forward thinking.

djimi

StillWaters wrote: »

It depends on the property. If it's in a sought after area, it won't be empty for a month, you'll be taking the phone off the hook after 48 hours. Risk worth taking for most landlords in that situation.

It depends on the tenants. Is it worth waving goodbye to good tenants who cause no trouble and look after the place well in the risk that you might get bad tenants to pay you an extra 50 a month?