How Can Landlords Increase Rent Legally?
In England there is now one legal route: a Section 13 notice on prescribed Form 4A, served at least two months before the new rent starts, and used no more than once in any twelve months. Rent review clauses, index-linked uplifts and informal agreements no longer raise the rent.
Section 13 of the Housing Act 1988 has been on the statute book for decades. What changed on 1 May 2026 is that it became the only door.
Section 6 of the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 voided every contractual rent increase mechanism, including clauses already signed years ago. Get the notice wrong and you carry the old rent for another twelve months.
In England a Section 13 notice on the prescribed form is now the only route to a higher rent, served at least two months before the new rent starts and used no more than once in any twelve months. Rent review clauses and index-linked uplifts in older agreements no longer raise anything, so leaning on one simply leaves the old rent in place. Gather evidence of local market rents before you serve, because your tenant can challenge the figure at tribunal.
Compare landlord insurance quotes while you review the tenancy paperwork.
- What is the only legal route to a higher rent now?
- How do you serve a section 13 notice correctly?
- Can you still agree a new rent with your tenant?
- How do you prove the rent you are asking is market rent?
- What happens if your tenant challenges the increase?
- Is there a limit on what you can advertise a property for?
- How do the rules differ in Wales and Scotland?
- What if the increase costs you more than it earns?
- Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
What is the only legal route to a higher rent now?
A Section 13 notice, and nothing else. Any other method of pushing the rent up on an assured tenancy in England has no legal effect, whatever the tenancy agreement says.
The four rules that make a notice valid
- Two months’ minimum notice before the new rent starts. The old one-month option for monthly tenancies has gone.
- Once in any twelve months. The clock runs 52 weeks from the date the last increase took effect, or from the start of the tenancy if you have never raised it.
- Prescribed Form 4A. A letter, an email or a Form 4 saved from before May 2026 will not do.
- Open market rent. The figure has to be defensible as what the property would let for today, in its current condition.
What the act swept away
New section 13(4A) of the 1988 Act says the rent for a period may not be greater than the rent for the previous period except by a Section 13 notice or a tribunal determination. The government’s guide to the Renters’ Rights Act confirms the same position for existing agreements.
That kills fixed percentage clauses, RPI and CPI escalators, stepped rents written into a two-year agreement, and the handshake increase agreed over the phone. None of them survive the transition.
The rules bite on assured tenancies. Genuine holiday lets and short-term lets sit outside the assured regime and keep their own pricing freedom.
How do you serve a section 13 notice correctly?
Work backwards from the date you want the new rent to start, then add two months plus a service buffer. Most invalid notices fail on the date, not the figure.
The seven steps in order
| Step | When | What you do | Where landlords slip up |
| 1. Check the anniversary | Before anything else | Confirm 52 weeks have passed since the tenancy began or since the last rise took effect | Counting from the notice date instead of the effective date |
| 2. Set the figure | 6 weeks ahead | Fix a proposed rent you can evidence as open market rent | Anchoring high hoping to meet in the middle |
| 3. Complete Form 4A | At least 2 months ahead | Use the prescribed form and state current rent, new rent and start date | Reusing an old Form 4 or writing a letter |
| 4. Pick the start date | Same time | The new rent must begin at the start of a rental period | Choosing a date mid-month that does not match the payment cycle |
| 5. Serve and prove it | Day of service | Hand deliver with a witness, or send by tracked post and keep the receipt | Emailing it where the agreement does not allow service by email |
| 6. Wait out the notice | 2 months | Do nothing, and watch for a tribunal application landing | Chasing the tenant to countersign an agreement |
| 7. Collect the new rent | From the start date | Ask the tenant in writing to amend the standing order | Assuming the bank mandate updates itself |
Building in a service buffer
Two months is measured to the start date, so posting the notice on the last possible day leaves no room for a delayed delivery. Add seven days for tracked post and fourteen for ordinary post.
If you let several properties, keep one calendar of increase anniversaries rather than checking each file. Portfolio landlords lose more money to missed dates than to under-pricing.
Can you still agree a new rent with your tenant?
Only downwards, and only in two narrow situations that follow a formal step. You cannot agree an increase with your tenant outside the statutory process, however willing they are.
The two agreements that still count
First, once you have served a valid Form 4A, section 13(4)(b) lets you and the tenant agree a different rent before the notice takes effect. In practice that means settling at a lower figure to head off a tribunal application.
Second, after a tribunal determination you can agree in writing a rent lower than the determined figure. Both routes let you be generous, neither lets you be ambitious.
Why an email agreement is worthless now
If a tenant emails to say they are happy to pay £1,100 from next month, that agreement has no effect on the rent. The lawful rent stays at the old figure and any extra you collect is repayable.
Landlords who have always managed increases by conversation need to change habit, not just paperwork. Have the conversation, then serve the notice anyway.
How do you prove the rent you are asking is market rent?
Build a comparables file before you serve, not after your tenant applies to the tribunal. Six to ten dated, like-for-like comparisons within half a mile will carry a hearing.
What counts as evidence and what does not
| Evidence | How much weight it carries | What to collect |
| Portal listings | Moderate, asking prices are not achieved rents | 6 to 10 dated screenshots of similar homes within half a mile |
| Achieved rents from an agent | Strong | A written schedule of what comparable homes let for in the last 6 months |
| Written market appraisal | Strong | A dated appraisal naming the comparables it relies on |
| Your own other properties | Weak on its own | Only useful where the properties are genuinely alike |
| Improvement receipts | Strong for justifying a bigger jump | Invoices, before and after photographs, the EPC uplift |
| Published rent statistics | Background only | Median rent for that property size in the local authority area |
| What the tenant can afford | Ignored on the amount | Hardship can delay the start date, it cannot reduce the figure |
Matching like with like
A two-bed flat with parking is not a comparable for a two-bed flat without it. For an HMO let by the room, your comparables have to be per room and per licence class, not per property.
Local Housing Allowance rates are not market rent, even where you let to tenants on housing benefit. The tribunal looks at the open market, not at what the benefit system pays.
If you have spent money on the property, keep the paperwork twice over. A new kitchen supports a bigger increase and it also lifts the rebuild figure on your landlord buildings insurance.
What happens if your tenant challenges the increase?
The First-tier Tribunal determines the open market rent, and since 1 May 2026 it can only confirm your figure or reduce it. It can never set a rent above the amount you proposed.
Why every tenant now has a free option
Under the old rules a tribunal could land on a higher figure than the landlord had asked for, which deterred speculative challenges. New section 14ZB removes that risk entirely, and the tenant’s route to challenge a rent increase is now a one-way bet.
The tenant has to apply before the date the new rent is due to start. The NRLA reports that the government has announced a £47 fee for making that application.
When the new rent begins
This is the detail most guides miss. If the tribunal decides after the date in your notice, the new rent starts at the beginning of the first rental period falling on or after the determination.
Nothing is backdated to the date in your notice. Where paying from that date would cause the tenant undue hardship, the tribunal can push the start back by up to two further months.
A challenged increase, costed
| Stage | Date | What happens | Rent effect |
| Notice served | 1 June 2026 | Form 4A proposes £1,150 from 1 September, up from £1,000 | £1,000 still payable |
| Tenant applies | 10 July 2026 | Application filed before the proposed start date | Increase suspended |
| Determination | 20 October 2026 | Tribunal finds open market rent is £1,100 | £1,100, and never more than £1,150 |
| New rent begins | 1 November 2026 | First rental period on or after the decision | £1,100 from 1 November |
| Cost of the challenge | Sept to Oct | Two months at the old rent, no backdating | £300 of intended uplift lost |
The landlord in that example loses £300 outright and then runs a year at £1,100 rather than £1,150. Asking for £1,075 with solid evidence would very likely have gone through unchallenged.
Tribunal preparation costs time rather than fees, but a contested hearing plus a later possession claim is where legal expenses cover earns its keep.
Is there a limit on what you can advertise a property for?
You must state a rent when you advertise, and you cannot invite, encourage or accept an offer above it. Rental bidding is now an offence carrying a penalty of up to £7,000.
How the stated rent rule works
Section 56 of the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 requires any written advertisement or offer of a letting to state the proposed rent. Section 57 lets a local housing authority fine a landlord or agent up to £7,000 for breaching it.
The number you advertise is a ceiling, not a starting point. Ten applicants competing for one flat cannot lawfully bid the figure up.
Why this changes how you price a new let
Set the advertised rent too low and you are stuck with it for twelve months, because the first Section 13 increase cannot take effect until 52 weeks in. That matters most if your buy-to-let mortgage payments are rising in the meantime.
Price at the market from day one and let the property, rather than advertising low to generate interest. The old tactic of inviting best offers is now illegal.
How do the rules differ in Wales and Scotland?
The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 applies to England only. Wales and Scotland run their own systems with different notice periods and different challenge routes.
Three nations side by side
| Rule | England | Wales | Scotland |
| Governing law | Renters’ Rights Act 2025, amending the Housing Act 1988 | Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 | Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016 |
| Minimum notice | 2 months | 2 months | 3 months |
| Maximum frequency | Once in 12 months | Once in 12 months | Once in 12 months |
| Prescribed notice | Form 4A | Rent variation notice | Rent increase notice |
| Challenge route | First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) | County court | Rent officer, then the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland |
| Rent controls | None, open market rent basis | None, open market rent basis | Rent control areas can be designated under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2025 |
What to check before you serve outside England
In Wales the increase is a variation of an occupation contract rather than a Section 13 notice, and a contract-holder disputes it through the county court. In Scotland the notice period is three months and the first stop is a rent officer.
Scottish rent control areas are designated locally, so confirm the position for the council area before you commit to a figure. The government’s guidance for landlords covers England and should not be applied across the border.
What if the increase costs you more than it earns?
A rent rise that pushes a good tenant out can cost more in void weeks than the extra rent brings in over a year. Run the arithmetic before you serve, not after the keys come back.
Weighing the increase against a void
A £50 monthly rise on a £1,000 rent is £600 over a year. Six void weeks at £1,000 a month plus reletting fees wipes that out roughly twice over.
Empty periods also change your insurance position. Most policies restrict cover after 30 to 45 days, and a longer gap needs unoccupied property cover.
When a disputed increase turns into arrears
A tenant who challenges properly keeps paying the old rent, so no arrears build up. A tenant who simply refuses to pay a valid new rent is in arrears from the start date.
Since possession now runs through the Section 8 grounds and the mandatory arrears ground needs three months of unpaid rent, that shortfall takes a long time to give you any bargaining power. Rent guarantee insurance pays the rent while the process grinds on.
Making sure your cover keeps pace
Loss of rent cover on a let property policy is usually set as a percentage of the sum insured, so a higher rent needs a higher figure declared at renewal.
It is worth re-reading what a landlord policy covers each time the rent moves. A landlord insurance policy priced against last year’s rent will underpay a claim.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
No. Since 1 May 2026 any clause providing for a higher rent outside the Section 13 process has no effect, including clauses signed years before the Act.
At least two months, on prescribed Form 4A, with the new rent starting at the beginning of a rental period. Build in extra days for service.
There is no percentage cap. The only test is whether the figure is the open market rent, and that is decided by the tribunal if your tenant asks it to be.
Not for an increase. You can agree a lower figure after serving a valid notice, or a lower figure after a tribunal determination, but nothing else.
The notice is invalid and the old rent continues. You have to start again, and the twelve-month clock still runs from the last increase that actually took effect.
No. It determines the open market rent and applies whichever is lower, that figure or your proposed rent.
From the first rental period beginning on or after the tribunal’s decision, if the decision comes after the date in your notice. There is no backdating.
No. The earliest an increase can take effect is 52 weeks after the tenancy began.
The shortfall is rent arrears from the date in the notice. It accrues like any other arrears and can eventually support a possession claim.
Yes. Existing assured shorthold tenancies converted to periodic assured tenancies on 1 May 2026, so Section 13 applies to them too.
Yes, where the work genuinely lifts the market rent. Improvements paid for by the tenant are left out of the assessment.
Yes. You must state the proposed rent in writing and you cannot accept an offer above it, on pain of a penalty of up to £7,000.
No. Wales works through occupation contract variations and Scotland through its own three-month notice and rent officer system.