Rent Increase

leakyboots

Hey,

Just looking for some quick advice - we've been in the house we're currently renting for 3 years, paying 750e a month. A letter arrived a few weeks ago from the rental agency informing us rent is going up to 900e a month due to general rents in the area going up (they were quoting 1000-1100 but said because we are good tenants it'll only be 900e).

Anyway, we asked the agency to talk to the landlord because we really like the house, haven't caused any hassle and feel like 150e a month extra is a big hike and is putting a strain on us.

Agency didn't get back to us for weeks and when we rang he just snarled down the phone and said he wouldn't even bother asking the landlord and wasting their time.

Kind of not sure what to do next to be honest, the landlord has a mutual friend that could put us in touch - if we could buy the house we would to be honest but we're not in a position to do so currently and I might be going back to college.

Any advice? Just suck it up?

Gumbo

When was your last rent increase?
How much notice did they give you of the increase? (When does it start)?
What is the rent for similar properties in your area?

leakyboots

kceire wrote: »

When was your last rent increase?
How much notice did they give you of the increase? (When does it start)?
What is the rent for similar properties in your area?

First rent increase, letter was sent a good few weeks beforehand. Not many places to rent nearby so I'd imagine it's popular, probably more than what we're currently paying to be honest.

I guess we're a bit put out that he wouldn't even ask the landlord for us what they thought and meet us halfway/part of the way between the 750 and 900 and we're wondering should we use our mutual friend to reach out to the landlord ourselves and see if we can come to an arrangement with them ourselves.

ted1

You'll just have to suck it up. The landlord had no interest in dealing with you, that is why he has an agent. If I was paying an agent and a tenant contacted me I'd just get annoyed.

Michael D Not Higgins

They're already giving you a discount on market rate, by your own admission, why would they compromise further? You can try negotiating with the landlord but he's paying the agents for a reason, to do this kind of stuff for him so he doesn't have to.

leakyboots

Yeah that's what I figured, was just seeing what people thought - we just wanted him to go back to the landlord for us and he wouldn't, which annoyed us. We get the feeling the landlord isn't even aware of the increase. 20% is a bit of a hike we thought, irrespective of what the market is currently inflated to. The house was for sale for 152k when we moved in and they couldn't sell it, house around the corner sold for 230k the other week, 3 years later. Madness.

Anyway, I guess we were hoping to approach the landlord to see if we could arrange something privately with them so the agency won't be taking their cut, our mutual friend works with them and knows them well and says they're very nice people and would be approachable. Maybe they might be interested in a rent-to-buy scheme (do they still do those?)

SarahS2013

The agency take their cut for a reason though, it's not just a case of dealing with increases when they come around. The LL probably doesn't want to have to deal with potential calls about broken appliances and the usual maintenance stuff.
I know myself the agency that I rent through have their own handy-men for any of that kinda stuff so it saves the LL an awful lot of hassle (and possibly money) to just do it that way.
Unfortunately I think you'll just have to suck it up like the rest of us renters

leakyboots

Cool, fair enough, was just seeing what people thought, thanks for all the advice.

We might still approach the landlord but maybe about a possible rent-to-buy, cos if we're going to be paying 900 a month it might as well be towards a mortgage instead of rent (we like the house and would buy it now if we could).

Anyone have any experience with these arrangements? Are they to be avoided? I haven't done much research but I gather you pay rent for say 5 years and then buy the house at an agreed price and the rent goes towards the mortgage

averagejoe123

leakyboots wrote: »

Yeah that's what I figured, was just seeing what people thought - we just wanted him to go back to the landlord for us and he wouldn't, which annoyed us. We get the feeling the landlord isn't even aware of the increase. 20% is a bit of a hike we thought, irrespective of what the market is currently inflated to. The house was for sale for 152k when we moved in and they couldn't sell it, house around the corner sold for 230k the other week, 3 years later. Madness.

Anyway, I guess we were hoping to approach the landlord to see if we could arrange something privately with them so the agency won't be taking their cut, our mutual friend works with them and knows them well and says they're very nice people and would be approachable. Maybe they might be interested in a rent-to-buy scheme (do they still do those?)

A 20% hike in rent in 3 years is actually a very good rate considering the property prices have gone up over 50% in the same period. This obviously assumes that the houses were a similar build. The goodwill you have built as good tenants is saving you a fair chunk v's market value so I would just suck it up.

Michael D Not Higgins

leakyboots wrote: »

Cool, fair enough, was just seeing what people thought, thanks for all the advice.

We might still approach the landlord but maybe about a possible rent-to-buy, cos if we're going to be paying 900 a month it might as well be towards a mortgage instead of rent (we like the house and would buy it now if we could).

Anyone have any experience with these arrangements? Are they to be avoided? I haven't done much research but I gather you pay rent for say 5 years and then buy the house at an agreed price and the rent goes towards the mortgage

Steer clear of rent to buy, especially in an informal arrangement like you're proposing. The valuation will be unlikely to be accepted by the bank and the rent paid is not usually counted as a deposit. Speak to a bank before you enter into any kind of arrangement.

Graham

leakyboots wrote: »

I gather you pay rent for say 5 years and then buy the house at an agreed price and the rent goes towards the mortgage

Banks have long stopped considering such schemes.

You will find yourself being asked for the full 10/20% deposit on the discounted price. The rent you 'saved' effectively being ignored.

leakyboots

Cool, cheer all. About 10 more years of renting so by the looks of it!!

leakyboots

ted1 wrote: »

In what way do you think it's in a landlords interest to do a buy to let?

kceire wrote: »

In fairness, why would a landlord do it? All the money you pay now he will see no benefit unless he still gets full market rate at sale time?

Lads, I said I hadn't done much research into this and was asking advice on here.

I would have thought it was pretty obvious I don't know a lot about it. But if you have some knowledge on the scheme, feel free to enlighten me, or chalk up more internet points

Gumbo

leakyboots wrote: »

Lads, I said I hadn't done much research into this and was asking advice on here.

I would have thought it was pretty obvious I don't know a lot about it. But if you have some knowledge on the scheme, feel free to enlighten me, or chalk up more internet points

Internet points are irrelevant. I was the first to respond to you.
It's a genuine question in a public thread on a public forum. I was looking for an answer also and that's why I asked why the rent to buy scheme would benefit a LL?

Tombo2001

leakyboots wrote: »

Yeah that's what I figured, was just seeing what people thought - we just wanted him to go back to the landlord for us and he wouldn't, which annoyed us. We get the feeling the landlord isn't even aware of the increase. 20% is a bit of a hike we thought, irrespective of what the market is currently inflated to. The house was for sale for 152k when we moved in and they couldn't sell it, house around the corner sold for 230k the other week, 3 years later. Madness.

Anyway, I guess we were hoping to approach the landlord to see if we could arrange something privately with them so the agency won't be taking their cut, our mutual friend works with them and knows them well and says they're very nice people and would be approachable. Maybe they might be interested in a rent-to-buy scheme (do they still do those?)

I think this is a bit naïve.

As mentioned, there are reasons landlords take on agents. One is because its tax deductible. Another reason is its a time saver for the landlord. The reality however is that agents don't particularly do much.

A third is that there is an emotional thing in dealing with a tenant, for example if you want to put through a rent increase and the tenant is saying please, meet us midway, we've paid you all this rent, can we discuss this, be reasonable, I cant afford it etc etc.....and a lot of landlords just don't want to deal with that; and I can understand why.

The facts are that rents have gone up an awful lot. That's not in question; its very well documented. You can check on daft what the going rate is. If you feel the new rent is unreasonable then you can move.

Gator88

Landlords employ the services of letting agents because they don't want to deal with the tenant at all. With this in mind I don't think it would end well if you tried to get in contact with the landlord directly. They may see it as an invasion of their privacy. Privacy that they are paying for in agents fees.

The_Conductor

Buy-to-let schemes were used as a mechanism for locking purchasers into inflated purchase prices during the boom in the early noughties (as prospective purchasers would feel compelled to purchase- even at an inflated price- because they had a sunk investment in the property- both financial and psychological.........

These were developer driven schemes- very often in places where the developers would have had difficulty selling the properties other than by using smoke and mirror schemes such as buy-to-let.......

At no point was the rent paid considered a 'deposit' by any reputable lending institution- not then and certainly not now.

I'm not aware of any private landlord who was ever willing to enter into such a scheme with a tenant- it introduces risk and uncertainty into the relationship- it would be far more convenient on several different levels (not least of all from a tax perspective)- to simply sell the property outright on the open market.

With respect of the landlord not being aware of the increase in rent- normally the RTB is informed of the rent and any adjustments to it- this is a matter of course- its signed off by the landlord- and available to the Revenue Commissioners- should there be a dispute as to what the rental income from the property is.

4ensic15

The most likely scenario is that the letting agency told the landlord he wasn't charging enough and the landlord instructed them to go easy. An under market rent which can't be increased for 2 years is a gift. Do not look a gift horse in the mouth.

leakyboots

Cool thanks all for the feedback/advice and the explanation about the Rent to Buy Scheme, much obliged!

CruelCoin

leakyboots wrote: »

Yeah that's what I figured, was just seeing what people thought - we just wanted him to go back to the landlord for us and he wouldn't, which annoyed us. We get the feeling the landlord isn't even aware of the increase. 20% is a bit of a hike we thought, irrespective of what the market is currently inflated to.

Why should the landlord know?

My family have an agent in place to manage a few properties for us, and their job, for which they take a cut is to manage all the details and maximise the rental return to me.
In doing better for me, the agency increase their own return. It's really of no benefit to anyone but the renter is the agency consults the landlord first.
If €900 is still below market average for a comparable property, then count you lucky stars to still have it so cheap.

CruelCoin

leakyboots wrote: »

We might still approach the landlord but maybe about a possible rent-to-buy, cos if we're going to be paying 900 a month it might as well be towards a mortgage instead of rent (we like the house and would buy it now if we could).

I didn't know people still did rent to buy.

With the market as it is, why would the landlord short change himself by reducing the purchase value through rent-to-buy when he could just continue renting as is and sell at full market whack later on?

Again, benefits nobody other than the renter.

SteM

CruelCoin wrote: »

I didn't know people still did rent to buy.

With the market as it is, why would the landlord short change himself by reducing the purchase value through rent-to-buy when he could just continue renting as is and sell at full market whack later on?

Again, benefits nobody other than the renter.

Well, they don't do rent-to-buy really.

However if the purchase price was agreed between the seller and the buyer now and the property prices slump in the future then the seller would benefit. Either they complete the sale at an inflated price or the buyer walks away having already paid what they have in rent/deposit that they don't get back.