Tenant won't pay rent increase

Rent Arrears

Hello there property experts!

I'm new to the NRLA and looking forward to being part of the network.

I have let one or two properties myself for the last decade or so, relatively trouble free (bar 1 tenant!). I've recently began overseeing a few more properties on behalf of aging family members who can no longer deal with the stress of changing legislation.

A reputable estate agent my dad has used to find tenants for many years (who's opinion we value) suggested upping rent on one of our properties by 10%, from £500 to £550pcm for a three bedroom house, still a very reasonable price for the area. The tenant has lived there for more than two years with no increase. The increase was set to commence this month (polite letter, relevant form and several messages sent) but she is refusing to acknowledge it and has only paid the 500 and I'm not sure how to address this.

After reading other posts on similar subjects on this forum, I can see that annual rent reviews/tenancy reviews with small increases each year is the best way to manage tenant expectations and for landlords to keep up with rising inflation etc, so I'll be applying this to all our properties from now on.

The tenant is being awkward in general making this issue all the more sensitive. She's not allowing us access the property to address issues she's flagged up and has just written us a nasty letter in response to a very polite one we wrote to her about gaining access. All we want to do is address the problems and provide her with a safe, comfortable home but she's not allowing us to do that.

Just wondering if anyone has any suggestions on how we deal with the increased rent not being paid and where we stand with that legally. We're in Wales where all the rules are changing but I'm not sure if this issue would be affected by the changes anyway.

Thanks in advance. I'm looking forward to learning from our wealth of knowledge.
Sian