Tenants told 'pack your bags' after rejecting landlord's huge rent hike
Two young tenants were told to 'pack your bags' after refusing a 30 per cent rent increase from their landlord.
Emma, 24, and her flatmate Tara had been living in a flat in Edinburgh since April 2022. However, they were forced to find a new home after receiving an eviction notice following a disagreement over a proposed 30 per cent rent hike in July 2023. Until March 31, landlords can't evict tenants unless they're selling the property or need to move in themselves or with a family member.
There's also a rent cap that only allows landlords to legally raise the rent by three per cent. Emma said it was the letting agent who called them to say their rent would go up by 30 per cent. When they said they couldn't afford it, they received a notice to quit the next day.
Emma, who works in IT, said: "It was really stressful getting that phone call. At the time, we weren't working in the most well-paid jobs and we just had no idea how we'd be able to afford that price increase. I was thinking I would have to look for a better-paying job, or get a second job. The two-bed flat was around £782 a month and they wanted to put it up to nearly £1,000. I thought the original price was good for where it was.
"Flats right in the city centre are a grand, but we were in Silverknowes. I didn't know too much about the rent cap until I started looking into it after this. When we got the eviction notice, it was the worst timing because it was during the Fringe too."
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At first, they were told that the landlord was selling, reports Edinburgh Live. But then, they were asked to show new people around the flat. "I knew what the letting agents were doing wasn't right so I wanted to do something," said Emma. "That's when I got in touch with Living Rent and they helped us write letters. We had to talk to the letting agency a lot.
"Emma and Tara got £1,700 back from the letting agency after lots of talks. The agency said they didn't send the letter or make the call about kicking them out. Looking for a flat in Edinburgh is really hard, some people say it's like 'the Hunger Games'. Emma and Tara had a tough time finding a place, especially with the Fringe making things busy."
All the flats that were available at the time were extortionate or were just short term lets for tourists. None of them were actually for people wanting to live in Edinburgh. Following a number of discussions, Emma and Tara received £1,700 in compensation from the letting agency, although the agency claimed that the phone call and letter noting the eviction was not from them.
Flat hunting in Edinburgh has been described by some renters as 'the hunger games', and Emma and Tara's flat hunt was made more challenging with the Fringe in full swing. "All the flats that were available at the time were extortionate or were just short term lets for tourists," she said. "None of them were actually for people wanting to live in Edinburgh."
"Luckily, I had my parents in Portobello I could move in with, but it was really stressful for Tara and I was worried for her. Luckily she got somewhere at the end of August. Tara added: '"With the ongoing housing crisis, finding a new home was a stressful situation. It felt like we were being pushed out of our home after declining an almost 30 per cent rent increase which was offered to us to stay in the property. We experienced really high levels of anxiety and stress during this time and we want to help others not end up in a similar situation."
Living Rent spokesman Joshua Climax said: "This case is the perfect example of landlords trying all they can to hike up the rents on the property as much as possible with no thought about the impact that this will have on the tenants inside. The compensation win is great but for every win, there will be many more tenants who will have left their flat not knowing their rights.
"As the rent cap comes to an end, tenants need greater protections to stop landlords from evicting tenants and increasing rents after the rent cap ends and greater penalties for landlords who break the law."
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