UK Landlord Forum / Life

S21 served in August, Possession claim submitted to courts in November, tenants filed defence in December but we have not had court decision as yet.

Tenants contract runs out at end of Jan 2024.  We had planned rent increase as current rent does not cover our mortgage but as tenant is still in the property, can we increase their rent? 

As we don't want them there in the first place, will rent increase imply a new contract/understanding that we are prepared to let them stay?  If courts grant them a longer term and the rent stays as it is, we will be severely out of pocket (our fixed rate ended and rates shot up) for tenants that we are trying to get rid of. 

However, if we are going to increase their rent, isn't it only fair that they are given enough time/warning that rent will increase in Feb.  What we would ideally like to happen is for current tenants to leave and we will advertise at higher rate for new tenants. Any thoughts will be much appreciated

You can use a section 13 notice to increase the rent (it's on the government web site as form 4). There are rules about notice, but it's possible to increase the rent without the tenant's agreement.

It won't have any impact on the possession claim, but it might put the judge off a bit if the tenant tells them about it. Human nature being what it is. It doesn't create a new contract or anything like that.

The tenant can appeal the increase (although almost no one ever does), so don't go mad, keep it to a sensible level for the market and type of property.

Many thanks for this, I will look into the Section 13 notice and will have a think about what you said about the judge being swayed.  If the courts make a decision sooner rather than later, this would put paid to this query!  But yes, food for thought

It's hard to predict what the judge might think. In theory, if your s21 notice is bulletproof, there's nothing the judge can do anyway.

And from the sound of it, you need to increase the rent regardless of the outcome of the possession hearing.

We have issued a section 13 rent increase notice to the tenants who have been there 13 months.  They have applied to the tribunal challenging the increase.  We have kept it within (and slightly below) the market value so we are hopeful that the increase will be OK.  The tenant has paid the previous lower rent but not the increased amount.  On receipt of this, we did tell them that the rent is now increased but they have not responded

Does anyone have any idea how long the tribunals will take on average to come to a decision?