The upcoming year is one of significant transitions for the rental market, and landlords, renters and letting agents alike are working hard to understand the new regulations and how they may affect them.
With the Renters’ Rights Act now law and many of its provisions either having already come into effect or are expected to do so within the next 12 months, everyone in the rental sector is working hard to ensure that they are up to date and ready for the transition.
One of the biggest changes expected this year has to do with rent; with tenancy agreements changing and the end of section 21 evictions, there is an expectation that most tenants will stay longer in their current accommodation and rent increases will be more structured and less common as a result.
The new process for many people will involve a section 13 notice (otherwise known as Tenancy Form 4a), but it is important to understand what you can do, what you cannot charge and how professionals can help you navigate the process.
How Can A Landlord Increase The Rent?
Once the law changes on 1st May 2026, there will be only two ways to increase rent payments:
- Get your tenants to agree to a rent increase in writing before filling in a section 13 notice to formalise the process.
- Filing a section 13 notice to propose a rent increase, giving at least two months’ notice.
Given the strengthening of tenant protections to avoid eviction-by-proxy by increasing the rent to unacceptable levels, there are restrictions on how often you can file a rent increase notice and by how much.
How Can You Give A Tenant Notice Of A Rent Increase
- In person by handing over the form.
- By post, by sending it to an address they can reasonably be expected to use.
- Sometimes by email, but only if the tenancy agreement allows it.
How Often Can You Increase The Rent?
Outside of written agreements, a landlord can only increase the rent once a year through a Section 13 notice, and a landlord cannot increase the rent during the first 12 months of a tenancy.
One huge change is that even informal rent increases must go through the section 13 process, which means that there still needs to be at least two months’ notice before you can actually increase the rent, even if your tenants agree to it.
How Much Can You Increase The Rent By?
As well as this, there are greater restrictions on how much you can increase the rent by, largely to protect the rights of tenants by not allowing rent increases to be misused to force people out.
Whilst regulated tenancies (or fair rent) have different rules, the rules most landlords will need to follow are that the rent cannot be more than you would reasonably expect to receive for a new tenancy on the open market.
Tenants will be able to challenge this via an independent First-tier Tribunal without prejudicing their existing tenancy as well, so it is important to get this right.
The process factors in the current condition of the property if the Tribunal agrees that any issues in the home are not caused by the tenant themselves.
A case reported by LandlordZone in March 2025 found that a proposed rent increase was reduced by 10 per cent, turning what would have been an achievable rent of £2300 per month (itself down from an expected increase to £2500) to a market rent of £2070, just £70 more than the current price.
