Can I index link rents into my tenancy agreements?

Can I index link rents into my tenancy agreements?

8:34 AM, 16th May 2022, About 2 years ago 72

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Hi all, I have just been talking to a fellow landlord and in the discussion, the question and idea came up can we index link the rent into an AST contract?

The next question is if this indexing clause was possible in the contract would you still have to serve a rent increase notice to the tenant and what would be the best option to link it to eg. Retail Price Index (RPI) or Consumer Price Index (CPI) or any other?

I would appreciate any comments or alternative ideas.

Many thanks

Chris


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Comments

Beaver

17:01 PM, 24th May 2022, About 2 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Ian Narbeth at 24/05/2022 - 16:02
I'm not sure of the logic for using the CPI rather than the RPI. The RPI includes mortgage interest rates.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/money-mentor/article/rpi-versus-cpi/#What-is-the-main-difference-between-CPI-and-RPI?

So if interest rates rise then using RPI should mean that you are less likely to be penalised by rising interest rates.

Ian Narbeth

17:07 PM, 24th May 2022, About 2 years ago

Reply to the comment left by at 24/05/2022 - 16:44
No. In ASTs you don't draft for open market reviews. indexed reviews are certain. CPI is "more reasonable" than RPI.

18:08 PM, 24th May 2022, About 2 years ago

Reply to the comment left by DSR at 16/05/2022 - 08:46
How do you reckon that a " market rent" is easier for a tenant to understand than a statistically generated index?
It patently isn't.

Beaver

18:23 PM, 24th May 2022, About 2 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Ian Narbeth at 24/05/2022 - 17:07
What the article says is:

"CPI measures take no account of housing costs: but factors in all the other goods and services"

So if the CPI takes no account of housing costs I can't see what's more reasonable about that when calculating a fair increase in rents.

chris

20:31 PM, 24th May 2022, About 2 years ago

Hi all I’m the author of this question so I think it only fair to give a background to the conversation most of my friends are landlords we are professional landlords with large portfolio’s so we can control the market rent due to the amount of property we control however we would much prefer a set mechanism that both the tenants and landlord can understand we are also constantly been offered contacts with housing providers so need to have a mechanism put into the contact for increases to mirror tenancies hope this helps
Chris

CMS

20:34 PM, 24th May 2022, About 2 years ago

Reply to the comment left by chris at 24/05/2022 - 20:31
Hi Chris, if that is the case then the ONS rent tracker may be useful although if you think you and your friends have enough sway in the area to influence this then you might feel that this is not fair so you could take the tracker from a larger area eg area of the country as opposed county? Just an idea. Cheers

CMS

20:39 PM, 24th May 2022, About 2 years ago

Reply to the comment left by chris at 24/05/2022 - 20:31
I should say though that i have yet to see anyone use this and usually it is, as Ian, has mentioned the RPI that is used for a straight forward review.

CMS

20:42 PM, 24th May 2022, About 2 years ago

Reply to the comment left by DSR at 23/05/2022 - 13:58
In respect of your last para...yes that's true but don't forget the cap and collar on the rent paid if you want the tenancy to be an AST

Reluctant Landlord

8:31 AM, 25th May 2022, About 2 years ago

Now I understand the question in regard to the OP...
but clearly this has raised a very interesting issue for the small PRS LL.
Just what do we put in our standard AST's in regard to rent reviews and increases???
CPI/FRI/Market rents or a combo of all or some???
Market rent is totally easier for the tenant to understand so wouldn't that be the easiest thing to base it on? If the tenant perceived an unfair rent increase they could take to a tribunal (if increase by S13) and this is what it is assessed against.
Not sure what a tenant can do if issued with a rent increase not by S13, but any advice would surely be from an external agency they sought advice from was to be look at the contract. If the contract said it would be assessed against market rate, then surely this merits the increase. If the LL was then prepared to give them evidence showing accommodation of similar sized property/location etc then I cant how it can be contested??

Dr Monty Drawbridge

16:41 PM, 27th May 2022, About 2 years ago

For the past 15yrs my tenancies have all incorporated an annual review based on the higher of 2.75-3.75% and the CPI. Seems to go down OK and allows everyone to plan. Last year was the first time I applied the CPI. Where starting rents had been depressed due to tenancy beginning in COVID it was well accepted. But where the rents were already market value they gave notice (even though I didn't apply the full increase). I originally put it in on the suggestion of a tenant who had been used to big surprise increases from previous L. I have found it great for keeping my rents up to date whereas previously I procrastinated about reviews.

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