The title of this article is a bit of a play on words, a bit of fun.

One thing that is no fun for anyone though, is their rent going up.

That’s what happened to a man from Crawley recently, who was told that his rent was to increase by £275 per month. On hearing this, 69 year old Richard Symonds was “shocked, angry and anxious,” and who could blame him?

In the times we are currently living, it’s not easy to find that kind of money down the back of the sofa, especially if you’re of Mr Symonds’ age.

Mr Symonds, unable to meet the rising rent, has since been served a Section 21 eviction notice, adding to his distress and apparently affecting his health.

There are always two sides to a story though…

The landlord claims that there’s much more to the story, in fact, saying that the rent had been kept low, due to the fact that the flat had previously been occupied by Mr Symonds’ late mother, as a gesture of goodwill, owing to her elderliness and vulnerability.

Further to that, they also say that Mr Symonds himself had emailed them to report that his housing benefit had been reduced. The landlord claims that the rental increase still doesn’t take the flat in line with other similar properties in the area, and that they simply can’t afford to make any more allowances for the tenant.

How do we see it?

Well, we can see it from both sides…

Sadly, Mr Symonds is not the only person in the private rental market facing rent rises. This, however, doesn’t make it any easier for him and we empathise with his situation.

Are we condemning the landlord for putting the rent up though?

Absolutely not.

Costs are rising for everyone, landlords included, and you only have to listen to an update about mortgages, to know that they are going up too.

If a landlord’s mortgage payments increase, it goes without saying that they will eventually need to increase the amount of rent they are asking for.

Or should landlords foot the bill and lose money on their investments?

(That one answers itself…)

The private rental market is seeing steep rises in rent right now, but at #TeamCES, we think this is just the beginning.

It’s probably going to get a lot worse before it gets any better. Remember though, help is out there.
For our part, we’ll keep signposting the vulnerable to the appropriate channels of support and, as always, we’re here for our clients no matter what they need.