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 a term was in the contract says WILL, CAN or MAY, the FTT does not have jurisdiction to deal with contractual increases 

https://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2023/67.html

For an SPT a LL usually needs 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, if the contract says it "may" or "can" increase then it is negotiable, if it says it WILL increase then that is contractual agreement.   

When it comes to the new Tenancy Agreement (not SPT) 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. 

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 Bailiffs.  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. 

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 contractual or if a S13 increase was correctly made.

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.