Typical Terms

Some leases specifically instruct tenants to return all furniture to the positions they were in on acceptance of the property. There is sometimes a very troublesome lease requirement to wash all linens ‘soiled during the tenancy’. It’s been deleted from many legal service leases because of unforeseen problems. Where tenants find this they should apply common sense yet again. If you feel it necessary to clean the curtains because you smoke like a chimney, don’t put your landlord’s expensive drapes through the launderette! Check what is being required, use your common sense or ask if you’re confused.

• No pets is a very typical restriction. This does include hamsters as well as wolfhounds.
• Commonly there will be specific lease obligations, for example: not sublet without landlord/agent consent, which means don’t move someone else in to help pay part of the rent without permission first.
• Assign, means not to move out and give the property to anyone else; or receive paying guests, without the landlord’s specific written prior consent (which means before you do it, not afterwards when the landlord/agent finds out).
• Your use of any rented housing is usually confined specifically to normal residential use. You cannot then carry out any business without prior written consent.
• Permit the landlord or the landlord’s agents (which can mean the lettings agent, or the landlord’s employees for example) to enter the property to view the condition is usually accompanied by the condition of at reasonable hours. The landlord would usually be expected to give 24 hours’ written notice of this date and time.
• To enter in case of emergency, or reserves right of entry for emergencies, would reasonably allow a landlord to enter without necessarily being obliged to give notice, if for example there was a serious problem which couldn’t wait 24 hours, like a burst pipe. This does not of course cover straightening the curtains, as mentioned previously.

When You’ve Given Notice That You Intend Leaving

Very commonly the lease will contain a clause which permits the landlord or their agents to enter and view the property with prospective tenants. This is usually restricted to at reasonable hours, within the last 28 days of the tenancy. As mentioned earlier this does not include turning up unannounced, let alone barging straight in without knocking.

Rent Issues

Can My Rent Be Raised?

Ideally, these issues should have been thrashed out before you signed your contract. However it is really quite rare that tenants ask what rent increases are likely to apply in the future. Perhaps they imagine that if they ask, it will encourage the landlord to start thinking about it too!

Although it isn’t particularly good business to begin increasing rent more than once a year, if the management do, and the first fixed term of your tenancy have elapsed, in reality you have the same recurring problem that applies to all the terms of these tenancies. If you challenge it, your landlord still enjoys their guaranteed right of possession with two months’ notice.

For many tenants this is therefore theoretical rather than practical information, providing an overview of a few common scenarios. However rents are not house prices – they are fairly stable right now. Expect modest rent increases to occur, but don’t accept wild hikes every few months – if they occur, at least look around for a more reasonably priced unit.

Keep your eye on the market and always have some idea how much the going rate is locally for property like your own. And don’t be afraid to point this out to an overoptimistic landlord/agent. As I said earlier, learn some negotiating skills. Many landlords might suggest a hefty rise, then back off if they think a good tenant will move on.