Landlord allegedly ups the rent after seeing tenant’s LinkedIn post

A landlord in the UK allegedly hiked up his tenant’s rent after reading about their work promotion online.

The renter, who we’ll call Matthew, claims his landlord, known only as Gary, increased his rent by more than $600 without his knowledge.

A heated, and rather personal, exchange ensued, which was aired by UK property strategist Jack Rooke on his TikTok account. 

“You’ve put the rent up? $300?! Without even telling me?” Rooke said in a video.

He then shared Gary’s reply.

“Saw the LinkedIn post. Big new title. Big new pay. Time your rent reflected that,” he quoted Gary as writing.

Rooke then shared Matthew’s seemingly exacerbated reply: “What the hell? You can’t just scroll my feed and decide I owe you more because I’m doing well.”

Gary then attempted to clarify his position.

“It’s not personal. It’s business And you’ve been underpaying for years,” Rooke said, quoting Gary’s message.

Rooke then interjected, suggesting the approach taken by the landlord was in bad faith.

Then, the connection between the tenant and landlord was revealed.

“Because you offered that deal. You’re moving the goalposts because you’re bitter,” Rooke quoted Matthew as writing.

A connection that appears quite personal.

“Bitter? I gave you a discount because your mum begged me to be civil,” Rooke said, quoting Gary as writing.

The unusual direction of the messages caused Rooke to question: “What is going on here?”

He continued reading, focusing on Gary’s response.

“I kept it low because it was obvious you were barely coping. Now you’re flexing online, so now you pay like a man,” Rooke read.

“Still salty over the breakup then, Gary?” Rooke quoted Matthew as replying.

Rooke again took a moment of pause.

“I mean you can’t chat like that can you?” he queried.

He then read out the final reply of the message.

“Funny coming from the grown man still living in a flat mummy sorted. Let me be clear. New  rent starts next month,” Rooke said, quoting Gary’s message.

Rooke did not share any specific details about the tenant or landlord, but asked his followers to weigh in whether this was “fair or completely out of order”.

The general consensus was that the landlord was out of line.

“Can’t just put the rent up randomly, have to give at least one month notice,” one follower wrote.

“So what if they lose their job? Free rent?” a second person wrote.

“This is definitely the definition of toxic,” another person shared.

The video is part of a regular series shared by Rooke called Most Toxic Tenancies. This was number 59 in the series.

Rooke has previously shared accounts of a landlord allegedly slugging a tenant with an extra fee for letting his girlfriend stay over.

He’s also shared how one landlord allegedly installed a coin operated shower in a rental property.