I challenged my rent increase after the cap ended – here's what happened

AN EDINBURGH tenant has told how the rent adjudication process was “stressful” but protections in place capped her rent well below a 12% increase.

We told how hundreds of landlords attempted to raise tenant's rents above the 12% cap currently in place.

Georgia Dodsworth, who lives in a two-bedroom flat in Leith with her partner, was one of the 866 tenants who challenged their landlord’s attempt to hike their rents.

The 30-year-old challenged a bid to raise her monthly payment from £900 to £1004 (12% increase), with adjudicators ruling the couple would pay £969.33 (8% increase).

An administrator at Edinburgh University, Dodsworth said that the process took around six weeks. 

She explained: “We've been living in this flat since February 2022 and there hadn't been an increase until that point.

“I knew that obviously, the rent cap was at 12% if you went through adjudication. 

“Even though I know that other people have had higher rent increases, I'm not on a huge salary, so it's still a fair chunk. 

(Image: Freelance) “I went through the adjudication process a few days after we got the rent increase, and then I think about a week later we received a letter saying that someone was coming to inspect [the] property. 

“Because it's done through looking at similar properties and market rent.”

A few weeks later Dodsworth was told via letter that her rent would be capped at £969.33, but her landlord then appealed the decision. Ultimately, that appeal was unsuccessful. 

Dodsworth explained: “It was very stressful. It was six weeks from start to finish, but we had no idea how long it was actually going to take.”

She added: “In the absence of proper rent controls, I think it was good that that adjudication process was there, because, even though it's imperfect, it means that tenants who've got a rent increase can go through this process, and it can be capped at 12%. 

“That is still not good enough, in my opinion, but it's at least a check on rampant rent increases.”

With the measures capping rents at 12% coming to an end on April 1, there are concerns that landlords will put rents up to unaffordable prices. 

“I think it's pretty shocking on the part of the government that they're just getting rid of this, and there's now effectively no protection for tenants,” Dodsworth (below) said. 

“For me and my partner, we're not on huge salaries. My partner was made redundant twice in the last year. He's currently on a temporary contract and doesn't have another job lined up when his contract finishes in May.

(Image: Georgia Dodsworth) “I work at the University which, previously, was quite a safe job, but now universities have announced a lot of cuts, so I don't know if my job is safe. 

“We don't have a high income that’s guaranteed. 

“The fact that landlords can put rents up, there's no longer any adjudication process that puts a cap on what they can raise it to, it just creates so much insecurity in the absence of proper rent controls.”

She added that she believed landlords will “try their luck” and see how high they can raise prices. 

“The fact that the increase was sort of the maximum that they could get at the time, makes me think that they could potentially put it up by quite a bit,” Dodsworth explained. 

“My partner and I are trying to save to buy our own place, but if our rent here keeps going up and up, the chance of that just sort of diminishes.”

The plans for rent controls in the Housing (Scotland) Bill would not come into force until 2027 if passed. The legislation is currently making its way through Holyrood.

Dodsworth added that with the system reverting to how it was before the rent freeze was introduced, where tenants can refer cases but rates will be set according to open market prices, there is a renewed risk tenants could end up paying more than their landlord requested. 

“That's not a risk I would want to take. And I don't know anyone who would want to take that risk,” she said.