Understanding a Rent Review Term

[Unwashed]

I would be interested to know what you understand by this rent review term:

The Rent will be reviewed by the Council every year. (Notification of any price change, which will take effect from the 1st April will be made known by the 1st February of each year ...

The Rent shall be paid on the FIRST day of MARCH each year for the following 12 month period commencing 1st April.

So for the sake of argument say the rent is currently £30.00 and on 1 February notice is given of an increase to £40.00, effective 1 April.  When you pay the rent on 1 March do you expect to pay £30, or £40?

Thanks.

[elvis2003]

£40

[betula]

£40..............I think LOL

[Squash64]

I would be interested to know what you understand by this rent review term:

The Rent will be reviewed by the Council every year. (Notification of any price change, which will take effect from the 1st April will be made known by the 1st February of each year ...

The Rent shall be paid on the FIRST day of MARCH each year for the following 12 month period commencing 1st April.

So for the sake of argument say the rent is currently £30.00 and on 1 February notice is given of an increase to £40.00, effective 1 April.  When you pay the rent on 1 March do you expect to pay £30, or £40?

Thanks.

So the change will take effect from 1st April, but they want you to pay it a month earlier?  That doesn't make sense to me.

[Digeroo]

I would also expect to pay £40 but I also think that a single months notice of a rent increase is rather short.

Houses are covered by the Residential Tenancies Act 1997 and they require more notice.

But since it is in your agreement I do not think you can do much about it.  I think you will be lucky to only be asked for a 25% increase.  

[Unwashed]

Interesting.

Try this one:  You go into a shop to buy a bed.  The one you like costs £30 so you pay at the till, but the cashier asks for £40 because she says that by the time they deliver the bed the price will have gone up.  How would that be?

[Unwashed]

So the change will take effect from 1st April, but they want you to pay it a month earlier?  That doesn't make sense to me.

You are entering the twilight zone of Newbury Town Council do do do do do do do do

[Unwashed]

I'll ask it another way:  What if there wasn't any notice of the rent increase?  Rent is due 1 March and you pay £30 - there has been no increase so there's no question about what to pay.  1 April the rent is increased to £40, but you've paid for the year so there's no question of you getting a bill for another £10, it just means you know that next year the rent will be £40.

So now what changes if you're told 1 February that the rent will increase 1 April?  At 1 March when the rent is due the rent is still £30.  Whether or not you know that in a month's time the rent will go up doesn't change anything does it?

[grawrc]

How about:
at the rent review on 1/2/10 it was agreed that rent payable for the period from 1/4/10-31/3/11 will rise from £30 to £40. This increased rent is payable on 1 /3/10.
I don't much like it but I suspect they are within their rights.

[BAK]

£39.16

[Unwashed]

If anyone else want to have a punt at understanding the rent review arrangements I'm still interested to know what you think it says.

[PurpleHeather]

It is simple, like a lot of Governments (local  national and international) they work backwards.

The day you start the rental agreement is 1st of April (also know as all fools day)


The day you pay your rent for the year beggining the 1st of April  is 1st of March.


The day they tell you what your rent will be on the 1st of April to be paid on the 1st of March is the 1st of February.

It is like choosing which dress you are going to wear, then selecting the underwear which is most suitable for that dress. 

You put on your underwear first and then the dress over the top.

After all, no one would wear a black bra under a white dress would they?

NOW do you understand?

[SMP1704]

Its £40.  Its the reverse of getting paid a month in arrears.

[Unwashed]

Can you explain why you think it's £40?

[Squash64]

The Rent will be reviewed by the Council every year. (Notification of any price change, which will take effect from the 1st April will be made known by the 1st February of each year ...
The Rent shall be paid on the FIRST day of MARCH each year for the following 12 month period commencing 1st April.

So for the sake of argument say the rent is currently £30.00 and on 1 February notice is given of an increase to £40.00, effective 1 April.  When you pay the rent on 1 March do you expect to pay £30, or £40?

Another thought..........the price change takes effect on 1st April, so on 1st March you pay
March = £2.50  (£30 for 12 months, £2.50 for one)
April - Feb = £36.60 (£40 for 12 months, £36.60 for eleven months)
Making a grand total of
£39.10!

Makes sense to me. 

[Unwashed]

Another thought..........the price change takes effect on 1st April, so on 1st March you pay
March = £2.50  (£30 for 12 months, £2.50 for one)
April - Feb = £36.60 (£40 for 12 months, £36.60 for eleven months)
Making a grand total of
£39.10!

Makes sense to me. 

No, the period runs from 1 April to 31 March, it's just the rent for the period becomes due on 1 March, one months before the start of the period.

The answer is actually £30.  This is because the rent increase does not take effect until a month after the rent is due.

The confusion comes in if you see the rent as accruing daily and you're just paying it all in one go at the start as a convenience, but actually it's not like that.  Technically it's about apportionment - rent in advance does not accrue with time (whereas rent in arrears does).  What this means is that on the due day the whole of the rent is due at the rate in effect on the day.  It's intuitive really because once you've paid the rent you wouldn't expect another bill if the rent was increased before the next rent day.

[Unwashed]

I asked a solicitor how to read the rent review term.  This is what they told me:

1. Rent can be reviewed yearly.
2. New rent operates from 1 April.
3. New rent must be notified by 1 Feb.
4. So new rent does not apply in March- it even states explicitly which will take effect from the 1st April, doesn't it?