Landlord asking for more rent? This is how I got out of a rent increase.

Let’s be honest…renting is bad enough as it is.

My own personal renting experience has involved walls collapsing, mountains of ‘unavoidable’ toxic pigeon droppings, mice, and just about every colour of mould you can imagine.

Then just when I thought it couldn’t get worse, the landlord came knocking, saying they were going to increase my rent — particularly likely as I was in London. This is the last thing I wanted when I felt like I was overpaying for the rental experience as it was.

When my lettings agency sent me an email last year, asking for more money for the tiny (and pretty grim) basement flat I was renting in London, my response was tactful, and meant that they actually decided to drop the topic of a rent increase.

For context, I had been renting the place for a year, I’d been a good tenant, and was looking to continue living there for the foreseeable future, as prices had soared in my area. I wanted to keep a good relationship with my landlord, despite some of the issues with the place — because let’s face it, rental properties always come with a fair few cracks.

To be clear, my one year tenancy was about to end, so neither me or the landlord were tied into anything yet. This was a case of bargaining.

The letting agency argued that because prices had gone up in my area, I should be paying more, in line with market value. However, it was worth a try to see if I could keep my rent the same. And guess what? It worked.

Here’s what I did:

First and foremost, I reminded my landlord that I’d treated the place with respect, and looked after it. This is really important to landlords, as good tenants can be hard to find.

My phrasing was something like this:

‘I think we can both agree I’ve been a good tenant, and looked after the property during my tenancy. I’d like to continue looking after the property as it’s been my home for the last year.’

Next, and possibly the strongest bargaining point I had, was the works and repairs my landlord hadn’t carried out, which I’d been asking them to.

I pointed out what I wanted from them, which they’d failed to do, which made it harder to justify a rent increase.

My wording went something like this:

‘I also believe there are outstanding issues with the property that are yet to be fixed. For example, the mould and ventilation issues in the bathroom.’

When I first viewed the property, there were many other people viewing it at the same time. Every property I had viewed before then had fallen through, and my offer hadn’t been enough.

It’s very common in London — or any major city — to end up paying more than the asking price in rent in order to out-bid others. This is good leverage, and although the landlord may disagree about what it’s worth, it can’t hurt to remind them.

This is what I said:

‘While you’re looking for a rent increase in line with market value, I have already been paying over the original asking price for a year now. I was hoping that we would be able to keep this at a fixed rate for the next year.’

Don’t forget that the landlord is financially incentivised to keep the same tenant. Yes, they may get more money per month from a new one, but there are usually letting agency fees involved in advertising the property and doing viewings.

This means they might not get as much money as they actually think from increasing the price, but losing the current tenant.

I voiced my thoughts:

‘While I understand you are looking for more rent, I cannot afford the new price you’re asking for. It would benefit both you and me to keep the price the same, as you won’t need to advertise for new tenants. I hope we can come to an agreement.’

This is how I negotiated that my rent stay the same for the next year. Remember, both you and the landlord can benefit from sticking to the original price agreement, as they don’t need to change the tenants. In some cases, this alone might be enough to persuade them against it.

Disclaimer: This is not legal advice, please check your contract and seek advice from a lawyer.

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