Prior to the Renters’ Rights Act, landlords with assured tenants were able to increase rents in a variety of different ways. This is no longer the case and all rent increases during an Assured Periodic Tenancy must follow a specific procedure. 

From 1st May 2026, a rent increases during an Assured Periodic Tenancies (APTs) can only take effect if the landlord starts by serving a valid Section 13 notice to increase rent. 

Any clause in the contract that automatically increases the rent from one period to another, or allows the landlord to review the rent without serving a Section 13 notice has no effect. 

This page sets out the process for increasing rents after serving a Section 13 notice.

Rent increases in brief

• To increase the rent, landlords must first serve a Section 13 notice, giving at least two months notice.

• The rent increase may not occur until 12 months after the start of the tenancy or after the last rent determination.

• Before the notice expires, the tenant may ask the tribunal to determine a reasonable rent increase instead. Alternatively, both the tenant and the landlord can agree in writing a new rent that is lower than the amount set in the Section 13 notice.

How to start a rent increase

If your tenancy is an assured tenancy then you must start any rent increase by serving a Section 13 notice on your tenant. This includes any assured shorthold tenancies that converted into APTs on 1st May 2026.

To validly serve a Section 13 notice you must ensure you –

• Give the tenant(s) the prescribed form (Form 4A) in full. This form includes information for tenants on how to refer the rent increase to the Property Tribunal for a rent determination.

• Give the appropriate amount of notice. This is at least two months.

• Propose a rent increase that takes effect no earlier than 52 weeks after the start of the tenancy or the last rent determination.

The Tribunal can decide that your rent increase is invalid if you have failed to meet any of these criteria so you must ensure you have done everything correctly.

The notice should be served to the property or on the tenant personally. Avoid emailing this document. Keep evidence of service of the document in case you need it later on.

Where to find the Section 13 notice form

To serve a valid Section 13 notice you must ensure you use Form 4A, which is available on the gov.uk website.

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Section 13 completion notes

The NRLA have produced detailed completion notes to help you fill out form 4A correctly so that you can serve a section 13 notice to your tenants.

You can download them below.

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Download completion notes

 

Best practice for service

It is best practice to attend the property to serve the Section 13 notice and discuss the rent increase with your tenants in person.

You should also attach a cover letter to the Section 13 notice explaining what the notice does and how you came to your decision about the new rent.

This covering letter should also encourage the tenant to contact you to discuss this. This gives you an opportunity to discuss and negotiate a new rent with the tenant rather than involving the Property Tribunal. We have a sample covering letter below.

Remember that these negotiations must take place after serving the Section 13 notice. If you negotiate a rent beforehand and then serve the Section 13 notice, a tenant can still challenge the agreed rent afterwards.

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Download Covering Letter 

 

Things to consider before increasing rent

Before increasing the rent you should take the time to consider whether it is the right thing to do, how much to increase it by and the frequency of the increases.

Is a rent increase appropriate?

One of the dangers of a rent increase is that the tenant will struggle to pay an increase. It is important to approach this situation with sensitivity, as telling your tenants that you intend to increase their rent costs could cause anxiety if not done carefully, even if you are within your legal rights to do so.

By engaging constructively with the tenant ahead of the rent increase, you can get an idea of what they can afford and what level of rent would lead to the tenant ending the tenancy. If the tenant is likely to leave as a result of this you should consider how much it will cost to relet the property, whether they have been good tenants, and how buoyant demand is in the local area.

Losing a good tenant may not be worth a relatively small increase in rent, particularly if it leads to void periods afterwards.

How to calculate a fair rent increase

If the tenant refers the rent to the tribunal then their decision will be based on the lower of –

• The rent proposed by the landlord; or

• Local market rates for similar properties in similar conditions.

As a result, it will normally be sensible to propose a rent that is broadly in line with local market rents.

It will often be helpful to propose a rent slightly higher than you originally planned for. This is because once you have served a Section 13 notice you can potentially agree a lower rent increase with your tenant rather than experiencing delays with the tribunal.

When to negotiate a rent increase

While it is a good idea to talk to your tenants about what they might be able to afford, you should not try to negotiate an agreed rent before serving a Section 13 notice. 

This is because you will still need to serve a Section 13 notice, and the tenant may challenge the rent on that notice, even if you agreed to it in writing beforehand. 

However, after a Section 13 notice is served, you may negotiate and agree a new rent with your tenant. This must be agreed in writing, and be for a lower amount than the one you stated on the Section 13 notice.

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Evidence of local market rates

You can gather evidence on local market rates through:

• Checking the ONS datasets for similarly sized properties;

• Comparing similar properties on portals such as Rightmove or Zoopla and see how quickly they are let; or

• Speaking to local letting agents to find out the market rate for your property.

Any evidence you do gather should be kept as it may form part of your evidence later on if your tenant refers the case to the Property Tribunal. You may also want to show it to the tenant to evidence that the new rent is still lower than similar properties in the area.

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How often should you increase the rent?

Most landlords do not increase the rent annually, preferring to reset the rent when the tenancy switches over or when their costs increase significantly.

However, this can lead to quite large jumps in rent if the rent is reset to a market rate after a few years. This can be difficult for the occupants to deal with and it may be sensible to increase the rent by a small amount annually instead. This makes it easier to manage for tenants but also means they are less likely to challenge a rent increase.

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Tenants challenging rent increases

Once the tenant has received the Section 13 notice they have until the date the rent increase is set to take effect to contact the Tribunal and ask them to determine a market rate for the area.

If this occurs, then the rent increase will not take effect on the original date. Instead the rent can only be increased once the Tribunal has made its determination.

This will involve you submitting evidence to the Tribunal to justify the rent. It may also involve the Tribunal inspecting the property if the tenant or you request it. 

NRLA research found that it typically takes the tribunal 19-27 weeks to determine a rent increase so it is in your best interest to try and negotiate with your tenants during the notice period to avoid delays.

How the tribunal calculates a fair rent for the property

As a starting point, the Tribunal will be limited to the lowest of:

• The amount proposed by the landlord; or

• Local market rates for similar properties.

This means there is a strong incentive for landlords to increase the rent to at least local market rates to ensure they are not limited to a minimal increase. Particularly if local rents continue to rise between the notice being served and the tribunal’s decision.

To calculate the market rate, the tribunal will take into account evidence from the tenant and the landlord of similar properties, as well as its own specialist knowledge of local rents, to determine a typical amount.

They will then consider whether any reductions from this amount are appropriate. This will usually mean deductions for things like:

• Poor property condition

• Hazards such as damp and mould

• Lack of white goods

• No cooking facilities

• Evidence of tenant improvements

Given this, you should try to ensure that when you research rents you are comparing properties that have similar facilities and are in a similar condition to your own. Wherever possible, you should also try inspect and address any problems in the property before serving the Section 13 notice as this will maximise the amount of rent you may be able to charge. 

Supporting evidence

Once the case is before the tribunal, you will be given the opportunity to submit evidence to support your claim. You should provide the information you collected before serving the notice as your evidence. Do this promptly to avoid delays.

Inspections and hearings

The Tribunal does not routinely hear these cases in person and usually relies on the evidence submitted by the parties to decide based on the papers.

However, tenants can request an inspection of the property and an in-person hearing. This will normally happen on the same day but usually results in further delays before a rent increase takes effect.

Negotiating a rent increase

After a Section 13 notice has been served, but not before, both parties can negotiate a new rental amount that is higher than the original rent. However, that amount must be lower than the amount proposed in the Section 13 notice and it must be agreed in writing. 

Once agreed, the new rent increase will take effect from the date agreed by both parties and the Tribunal will not get involved. Given the delays experienced with the Tribunal, it is usually in your interest to negotiate this, and we recommend you try to start a conversation about this where possible. 

If you don't hear from your tenants after receiving the Section 13 notice, then it is sensible to call them to discuss the rent increase soon after you serve the Section 13 notice. This gives you the opportunity to ask whether they are happy with the proposed rent or willing to accept a lower amount you can afford. 

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Negotiated rent increase template

If both parties do agree to a rent that is lower than the one proposed on the Section 13 notice then this needs to be agreed in writing. You can use the template below for this. 

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Download Negotiated Rent Letter

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When can the rent increase take effect from?

When the rent increase takes effect will be determined by the tenant’s response to the initial notice.

• If they do not refer the rent increase to the tribunal within the two-month notice period, the rent increase is payable from the date on the Section 13 notice

• If they refer it to the Tribunal, the rent increase will take effect on the next rent due date after the Tribunal hearing in most cases. Where the tenant would suffer undue hardship, however, this will be delayed by up to a further two months.

• If they negotiate a lower rent increase, this will take effect from a date agreed by both parties.

How much does it cost for the tenant to challenge an increase?

As of 1st May 2026, tenants need to pay £47 to challenge a rent increase. This is quite a small amount and is unlikely to deter tenants from challenging if they believe the rent is unfair. 

Can tenants challenge the starting rent as well?

Yes. Within the first six months of occupation, tenants can ask the Tribunal to determine whether the initial rent exceeds the market rent. If the Tribunal is satisfied that the rent is above market rate they may lower the rent from the one on the tenancy agreement. 

It should be noted that this power has always existed with a Section 13 notice but has rarely been used by tenants. 

Where can I find out more about how the Tribunal makes its decisions?

The Property Tribunal publishes the outcomes of individual cases and you can read them to see how they came to their decisions. 

They can be found here. Section 13 decisions will include 'sub category: Rents - Market rent' in their summary.

Can I increase the rent by renewing the tenancy?

In principle, yes, you can agree to surrender an existing tenancy and offer a new one with new terms, including a higher rent. However, in practice, with the loss of fixed-term tenancies and Section 21 notices, there is likely to be little incentive for tenants to agree to a renewal unless they are benefiting in some way. 

Where it is likely to be possible is where one of the tenants is leaving and the others wish to stay. On a periodic tenancy, if one tenant serves notice to leave, this will terminate the tenancy for all. In these cases, if the other tenants wish to stay, you will have to agree a new tenancy with them. You could then agree a new rent as part of your negotiations with the remaining tenants. 

Relevant case law

R (on the application of Lester) v London Rent Assessment Committee [2003] EWCA Civ 319; Robertson v Webb [2018] UKUT 235 (LC).

The Tribunal does not have the power to extend the period for tenants to request a rent determination. As a result they must ensure it has been received by the tribunal before the expiry of the Section 13 notice.

Alexander & Anor v Middleton [2024] UKUT 182 (LC).

Events that occur after the initial notice has been served cannot influence the rent assessment. For example, improvements made to a property after the Section 13 notice is served.

Mooney v Whiteland [2023] EWCA Civ 67.

Rent increases must take effect from the start of a rental period. This can be different from the day the rent is paid. For example, the start date of the rental period is the 1st of the month, but rent is paid on the 4th of the month would mean that the rent increase takes effect from the 1st.

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Rent increases started before 1st May 2026

If you had an assured tenancy that existed before 1st May 2026 and you served a Section 13 notice under the old rules before that date, the Tribunal must follow the old rules for Section 13 when determining the rent.

This means that if the tenant challenges the rent:

• The increase can be backdated to the date on the Section 13 notice, and

• The Tribunal may determine a rent that is higher than the one proposed by the landlord.