Rent Increase - can I appeal

[molinari]

A quick question to answer I hope: Can I, as a landlord, appeal against an increase in rent which was decided by a rent assessment panel??

I have Assured Tenants in my property which I inherited, who were paying £65 a week rent, so I gave them notice to increase it to £300 a week. I knew they would appeal against it and I also knew that I would not get it increased to £300 (even though there are other tenants in the same street who pay this amount, but that's besides the point). I was hoping for £200 pounds a week as I believe this is a fair amount taking into account what the property is worth (to sell and also as a rented property), and what the tenants earn. The rent assessment panel decided to increase it to £170 a week which is a bit disappointing, so I was wondering if it was possible to appeal against their decision and what the effects of that might be??

Appealing against a £30 difference in opinion might seem a little silly, but I believe that £200 a week is a fair rent, and the extra £120 would make a difference.

Thanks

[martin_n]

I have not done it myself, but I think you can appeal if you think the setting rent is not fair (what I mean here is you can appeal the rate which is set by the rent officer £170). The only effect is either the rent would be the same, up or down.

There are quite a lot of free booklets and information mentioning about this subject from the Goverment web site, I suggest you to download these booklets and read for yourself. Below is one of them.

http://www.odpm.gov.uk/stellent/groups/odpm_housing/documents/page/odpm_house_601818-04.hcsp

[Paul_f]

Assured Tenants should pay a commercial rent i.e. that is in line with similarly located properties.

Only tenancies created under the 1977 Act are deemed to be low rents with a restriction in any increase.

Mind you, have you kept up with inflation in that you have tried to increase the rent at regular annual intervals before? You can under S.13B apply for a rent increase every 53 weeks which I think is what you have already done here hopefully.