[TallGirl82]

Hi all,
Looking for some advice.
We moved into our house last year and inherited a horsey tenant.  The tenant has 3 horses, and she rents the use of our 8 acres of fields, a stable, a secure tackroom, a shelter, a hard standing, running water and electricity and 24/7 access to our land through secure gates.  She does not poo-pick, or maintain the fields/fences in any way, other than picking ragwort.  She said when we moved in that she gets the fields chain harrowed twice a year - we've been here 14 months and seen it done once.  We have no written agreement with any terms.

We inherited the rent of £10 per week per horse, but having been in a year, concentrating on the house, we have now turned our attention to the fields.  From our research, we have found that we could be charging £30 per week per horse, that seems to be the fair market rate for our area.  A cheap rent is £20, but that seems to come with other responsibilities such as the poo picking and fence repair etc.

Yesterday, we told our tenant that we wanted to talk about increasing the rent and putting a written agreement in place.  She went apoplectic, accusing us of being greedy and hating her and threatening us with legal action.  And then telling us how much the horses and the land mean to her.

Has anyone else had experience of increasing rent?  We are looking to charge £20-£25 a week, which is still seems to be on the generous side for the facilities she has access to. Is that reasonable to you experienced horsey folk?  And is there anything she can do legally to stop us putting up the rent? I don't think that there is, but want to have all bases covered. The tenant does try to use our horse inexperience against us!

Many thanks in advance.

[Buttermilk]

This sounds lilke someone I would not want as a tenant.  As there is no agreement in place she does not have many rights.

Whatever happens you do need to put a legal agreement in place.  Outline her responsibilities with regards maintenance of land and fixtures, length of notice period both for her and you, when payments have to be made ect.

Ideally get everything drawn up by a solicitor for safety.

Your land you decide the rent required.

[arobwk]

Can only say [member=213482]TallGirl82[/member] that you should have not been so trusting and should have put agreements on a new legal footing before or immediately on purchase of the land.  If that sounds too critical, forgive me - like you I'm a trusting sort of person and would quite possibly have ended up in your situation.  You need to be tough from now on though !!  Solicitors cost a lot of money, but threatening solicitor involvement might have your tenant reconsider their stance:  of course that will affect your relationship with your tenant into the future, BUT don't let them control the usage of your land.
(Off the top of head thoughts !!)

[macgro7]

Yesterday, we told our tenant that we wanted to talk about increasing the rent and putting a written agreement in place.  She went apoplectic, accusing us of being greedy and hating her and threatening us with legal action.  And then telling us how much the horses and the land mean to her.

Wow!
If it was my tenant she would receive a notice to leave within a month (or whatever appropriate) - or be told to get lost!
It's not difficult finding another person to rent a field with good facilities- with a proper tenancy agreement.

[Glencairn]

From what you've described it sounds like this tenant is taking some of the enjoyment from your new home.

The respect doesn't sound like its there towards you as the landlord, if it were me, I don't feel there would be anything that tenant could do that could get you back to the relationship that you could reasonably expect.

You shouldn't have to feel uncomfortable when someone comes to your ground. You own it, you set the rules.

There's lots of nice people out there, it's just a shame that in situations like these, everybody that is a potential prospect to let your ground to will come across as being lovely until they have their foot in the door...

Word of mouth counts for a lot in these situations, preferably from someone you consider to be completely trustworthy like family.