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Rent increases 2026
From 1 May 2026, landlords of assured tenancies in the private rented sector in England must use the Section 13 procedure when increasing a tenant’s rent. This requires the landlord to serve the tenant with Form 4A, Landlord’s Notice Proposing a New Rent, giving at least two months’ notice of the proposed increase.
Rent can only be increased once every 12 months, and landlords cannot increase the rent during the first year of a tenancy. There is no general percentage cap on how much a landlord may propose to increase the rent by; however, tenants have the right to challenge a proposed increase through the First-tier Tribunal if they believe it exceeds the property's open-market rental value.
The First-tier Tribunal is an independent judicial body. When considering a rent challenge, the Tribunal determines the rent that the property could reasonably be expected to achieve if it were let on the open market on the same terms. It can consider factors such as the property's condition and comparable rental properties in the local area. Where the Tribunal determines that the open-market rent is lower than the amount proposed by the landlord, the lower amount will apply. The tenant cannot, however, be required to pay more than the amount originally proposed in the landlord's Section 13 notice.
When considering an appropriate rent increase, landlords should pay close attention to current local market rents and the condition and standard of their property. Broader economic indicators, such as consumer-price and wage inflation, may provide useful context, but they do not determine the legally permissible increase. The key consideration in a Tribunal case is the property's open-market rental value.
One of the main risks for landlords arises when a property's rent has been allowed to fall significantly below the local market rate over several years and the landlord then attempts to correct this through one substantial increase. Although such an increase is not automatically unlawful, a large rise may create affordability difficulties for the tenant and make a Tribunal challenge more likely.
For this reason, landlords should regularly review rents against comparable properties in the local area and ensure that any proposed increase is reasonable, evidence-based and supported by the property's condition and current open-market rental value.
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