How to Increase Rent Legally in England in 2026 (Step-by-Step)

If you want to know how to increase rent legally in England in 2026, start from this fact: the rules have changed fundamentally. Since the Renters’ Rights Act 2025’s tenancy reforms took effect on 1 May 2026, there is now only one lawful way to raise the rent on an assured periodic tenancy, a formal Section 13 notice served on the current prescribed form published on GOV.UK. Rent-review clauses in the tenancy agreement no longer work, you can increase the rent only once every 12 months, and the tenant can challenge the figure at the First-tier Tribunal, which, importantly, can never set the rent above the amount you proposed.

This step-by-step guide walks you through the whole legal process, from working out your timing to serving the notice and dealing with a tribunal referral, so your increase holds up and you avoid the costly mistake of an invalid notice that forces you back to square one.

How to increase rent legally: the one route that now exists

Under the old regime, landlords had a menu of options. You could bake a rent-review clause into a fixed-term assured shorthold tenancy (AST), negotiate a new figure at renewal, or fall back on a Section 13 notice. The Renters’ Rights Act 2025 swept most of that away in a single move.

Here is the position in 2026:

• All assured tenancies are now periodic. There are no fixed terms and no ASTs; every tenancy rolls on from one rent period to the next. (See our guide on what a periodic tenancy is.)
• Rent-review clauses are banned. Any clause in your agreement that tries to set automatic or pre-agreed rent rises is unenforceable. You cannot rely on it, even if the tenant signed it.
• The only lawful mechanism is a Section 13 notice under section 13 of the Housing Act 1988 (as amended), served on the current prescribed form published on GOV.UK.
• You can increase the rent only once in any 12-month period.

In short: forget the tenancy agreement when it comes to raising rent. The statutory Section 13 process is now the single legal route, and it applies to every private assured tenancy in England, there are no carve-outs for “renewals” or “by agreement” because there are no renewals any more.

Why landlords get this wrong

The most common misconception in 2026 is that a “rent increase by mutual agreement” is still a clean alternative. It is not. Under section 13(4A) of the Housing Act 1988, the rent cannot go up except through a Section 13 notice (or an agreement reached after one) or a Tribunal determination, so an informal agreement to pay more has no legal effect: the tenant can stop paying the higher amount and revert to the previous rent. If you want an increase that is enforceable and survives a challenge, you serve the prescribed notice. Treat any informal conversation as a courtesy, not a substitute for the statutory process. For the boundary between the two, read rent increase letter vs Section 13 notice.

Step 1: Check your timing (the once-a-year rule)

Before you do anything else, confirm you are even eligible to serve a notice:

• You can raise the rent no more than once every 12 months.
• The new rent cannot take effect earlier than 52 weeks after the date the last increase took effect (53 weeks in some cases), or, for a brand-new tenancy, 52 weeks after the first rent period began.
• The new rent must start on the first day of a rent period of the tenancy.
• You must give the tenant a minimum of two months’ notice before the new rent starts.

So the new-rent date must be at least two months after you serve the notice, at least 52 weeks after any previous increase or the start of the tenancy, and the first day of a rent period. If any of these conditions fails, the notice is invalid and the increase does not happen. There is no discretion and no “near enough”, a date one day too early voids the notice.

A practical tip: diary the anniversary. The single most preventable cause of a failed increase is serving the notice with a start date that falls inside the 12-month window. Mark the earliest lawful new-rent date in your records the moment a previous increase takes effect, then count back two months to find the latest sensible date to serve.

Step 2: Decide on a fair, defensible rent

A Section 13 increase should be to a rent that reflects the open market, what the property would reasonably let for if it were newly advertised today. This matters because the tenant can refer the notice to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber), which assesses the market rent independently.

A crucial 2026 change: the Tribunal cannot set the rent higher than the amount you proposed in your notice. Under the old rules it occasionally could; now your proposed figure is a hard ceiling. Equally, the Tribunal can set it lower if your figure is above market. So pitching a wildly optimistic number gains you nothing, it cannot be exceeded, and it invites a downward adjustment plus the time and friction of a hearing.

To set a defensible figure, gather:

• Comparable evidence, current asking and achieved rents for similar local properties (portals, letting agents, recent lets on your own street or block).
• Improvements you have made, a new kitchen, bathroom, boiler or energy-efficiency upgrade can justify a higher figure.
• General market movement, wage and rent inflation since the last review, but anchored to actual comparables, not a headline index.

Keep a short written note of your evidence and how you arrived at the number. It is your defence if the tenant challenges, and it is exactly what the Tribunal expects to see. For help pricing the increase and finding the earliest lawful date, see our free rent increase calculator and the wider explainer on how much a landlord can increase rent.

Step 3: Get the current prescribed Section 13 form

You must use the current prescribed form published on GOV.UK. Do not use an old downloaded copy, a template from a landlord forum, or a letter you have written yourself. An informal letter has no legal effect as a binding increase.

Always download the latest version directly from GOV.UK at the time you serve it, because prescribed forms are updated periodically and an out-of-date version can invalidate the notice. Search GOV.UK for Form 4A, “Landlord’s notice proposing a new rent for assured tenancies in the private rented sector” (the Section 13 form for private landlords). Do not use Form 4, which is for social housing. If you let through an agent or use software, confirm the form being generated matches the current GOV.UK version on the day you serve.

Step 4: Complete the notice accurately

The prescribed form requires, at minimum:

• The full names of all landlords and all tenants, exactly as they appear on the tenancy.
• The address of the rented property.
• The current rent and the proposed new rent.
• The date the new rent will start (respecting the two-month, 52-week and start-of-period rules above).
• The landlord’s (or agent’s) signature and the date of signing.

Common mistakes that void a notice:

• A start date less than two full months away.
• A start date that is not the first day of a rent period.
• Naming only one tenant where the tenancy is joint, every tenant must be named.
• A start date inside the 12-month window since the last increase (or the start of the tenancy).
• Using an out-of-date version of the form.
• A figure or date that does not match what you actually intend to charge.

For a deeper run-through of validity traps and how the once-a-year clock works, see invalid Section 13 rent increase: the errors that void your rent rise.

Step 5: Serve the notice correctly and keep proof

Serve the completed notice on every tenant named on the tenancy. Follow any service method specified in the tenancy agreement (post, in person, or a properly agreed email/electronic method), and keep clear evidence of service: the date, the method, and a copy of exactly what you sent.

If the matter ends up at the Tribunal, the burden is on you to show the notice was validly served on the right people on the right date. A photograph of the addressed envelope, a certificate of posting, or an email with a delivery record all help. Verbal service does not exist for these purposes, it must be the written prescribed form.

Step 6: Know what happens next

After service, one of three things happens:

Outcome	What it means	Result
Tenant accepts (or simply pays)	No challenge is raised before the start date	The new rent applies from the date in the notice
Tenant refers to the Tribunal	They apply to the First-tier Tribunal before the new rent date	The Tribunal sets the rent at market level, but never above your proposed figure; if it decides after the date in your notice, the new rent starts from the first rent period beginning on or after the decision (no backdating), and it can defer the start by up to two months for hardship
Notice is defective	A timing, naming or form error	The notice is invalid; you must start again with a corrected notice

If the tenant refers it, the Tribunal’s decision on the rent is binding. Because the Tribunal cannot exceed your figure, a sensible, well-evidenced proposal is your best protection: you remove the incentive to challenge and cap your downside at “no change” rather than “lower than I asked”.

A quick worked example

Your tenant pays £1,000 per month, with each rent period starting on the 1st of the month. The last increase, made by a Section 13 notice, took effect on 1 December 2025. You want to raise the rent to £1,075, in line with local comparables.

• Earliest lawful new-rent date: 1 December 2026. The date 52 weeks after the last increase is 30 November 2026, and the new rent must start on the first day of a rent period, so 1 December 2026 is the first date that works.
• Notice served: you download the current Form 4A from GOV.UK and serve it on, say, 15 September 2026, stating a new rent of £1,075 starting 1 December 2026. That is comfortably more than two months’ notice and respects the 52-week rule.
• If the tenant does nothing: £1,075 applies automatically from 1 December 2026.
• If the tenant refers it to the Tribunal: the Tribunal can confirm £1,075, reduce it to a market figure it considers correct (say £1,050), but it cannot push it above £1,075. If the decision comes after 1 December 2026, the new rent applies only from the first rent period beginning on or after the decision; it is not backdated. Your evidence of local comparables is what persuades the panel that £1,075 is the right market rent.

Now flip one detail to see the trap. If you had named a new-rent date of 1 November 2026, the notice would be invalid on two counts at once: it is inside the 52 weeks since 1 December 2025, and it is less than two months from service on 15 September 2026. You would have to scrap it and re-serve, losing weeks of higher rent for the sake of a date that was easily checked.

How the 2026 rules compare with the old regime

Feature	Before (pre-1 May 2026)	Now (2026, RRA 2025)
Rent-review clauses	Often enforceable in fixed-term ASTs	Banned and unenforceable
Routes to raise rent	Review clause, renewal, or Section 13	Section 13 prescribed form only
Frequency	Varied; could be more than once a year	Once every 12 months
Minimum notice	Generally one month (period-dependent)	Two months minimum
Tribunal power	Could sometimes set rent above the proposal	Cannot exceed your proposed figure
Tenancy type	Fixed-term ASTs common	All tenancies periodic assured

The direction of travel is clear: fewer levers, more procedure, and a tribunal that can only ever hold your figure or bring it down. That makes accuracy and evidence the whole game.

Rent increases at a glance

• One route only: the Section 13 prescribed form from GOV.UK.
• Once per 12 months, with a minimum of two months’ notice.
• Rent-review clauses are banned, do not rely on the tenancy agreement.
• Set a market figure backed by comparable evidence.
• The First-tier Tribunal cannot set the rent above your proposed figure, but it can reduce it.
• Name every tenant, use the current form, and keep proof of service.

For the underlying explainer, see Section 13 rent increases explained, and to make sure nothing is missed before you send, work through the rent increase compliance checklist.

Try the rent increase calculator

Want to sanity-check the numbers? Use our free rent increase calculator to work out the percentage increase and the earliest date the new rent can lawfully take effect.

Frequently asked questions

Can I still use a rent-review clause in my tenancy agreement?

No. Since 1 May 2026, rent-review clauses in assured tenancies are banned and unenforceable. Even if the clause is in a signed agreement, you cannot rely on it to raise the rent. The only lawful route is a Section 13 notice on the current prescribed GOV.UK form, served once per 12 months with at least two months’ notice.

How often can I increase the rent?

Once in any 12-month period. The new rent cannot take effect earlier than 52 weeks after the previous increase took effect (53 weeks in some cases), or, for a new tenancy, 52 weeks after its first rent period began, and it must start on the first day of a rent period. Trying to increase more frequently makes the notice invalid.

What happens if my tenant challenges the increase?

The tenant can refer the Section 13 notice to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) before the new-rent date. The Tribunal assesses the open-market rent and sets the figure accordingly. Crucially, in 2026 it cannot set the rent any higher than the amount you proposed, it can only confirm your figure or reduce it. The new rent is not backdated: if the decision comes after the date in your notice, it applies from the first rent period beginning on or after the decision. Bring evidence of local comparable rents to support your number.

Do I have to give a reason for the increase?

You do not have to justify the increase to the tenant on the form beyond proposing a new figure. But if the tenant refers it to the Tribunal, you will in practice need evidence that your proposed rent reflects the open market, comparable lets, improvements you have made and general market movement. So while no “reason” is required on the notice, the figure must be defensible.

Can I increase the rent during the first 12 months of a tenancy?

No. The first lawful new-rent date can be no earlier than 52 weeks after the first rent period of the tenancy began (and must be the first day of a rent period), and you must still give at least two months’ notice before that date. Plan the initial rent carefully, because you are committed to it for a full year.

Is an informal letter or email enough to raise the rent?

Not for a binding increase. An informal letter or email has no legal effect as a Section 13 rent increase. If the tenant pays the higher amount they may do so voluntarily, but they can revert to the protected rent at any time. To make an increase enforceable, use the current prescribed Section 13 form and serve it correctly.

Always verify the current rules and the prescribed form on GOV.UK, and check the underlying provisions in the Housing Act 1988 (as amended by the Renters’ Rights Act 2025) on legislation.gov.uk, before serving any notice.

Coming soon

Tenancy Pilot is launching soon with a guided Section 13 rent-increase workflow that calculates your earliest lawful date, checks the once-a-year rule, drops your figures onto the current prescribed form and tracks service, so your increase is valid first time, with deadline reminders for next year built in. Be first to use the step-by-step rent-increase builder: join the waitlist.

This guide is general information about England’s rules as at 15 October 2026, not legal advice. Rent law is detailed and fact-specific. Always check the current guidance on GOV.UK and the legislation on legislation.gov.uk, and consult a solicitor for advice on your situation.