Since 1 May 2026 a private landlord in England can raise the rent only by serving Form 4A under section 13: at least two months' notice, once every 52 weeks at most, taking effect at the start of a rent period. There is no cap on the amount, but the tenant can ask the tribunal to set the open-market rent.
By Stevie Hayes · Updated 16 October 2026 · Figures checked against legislation.gov.uk and GOV.UK on 16 October 2026 · How we verify · Statutory penalties are maximums; councils and courts decide the amount.
| Fact | Position | Since / status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| The only route | A notice in the prescribed form, Form 4A, under s.13; rent-review clauses are of no effect | 1 May 2026 | Housing Act 1988 s.13 (increases of rent under assured tenancies) |
| Notice | The new rent starts no earlier than two months after service | s.13(2)(a) | Housing Act 1988 s.13 (increases of rent under assured tenancies) |
| Frequency | Not within 52 weeks of the tenancy starting or of the last s.13 or tribunal increase (53 weeks in the drift case) | s.13(2)(b), (c) | Housing Act 1988 s.13 (increases of rent under assured tenancies) |
| Start date | The first day of a period of the tenancy | s.13(2) | Form 4A: landlord's notice proposing a new rent, private rented sector (GOV.UK PDF, 05.26) |
| Cap on the amount | None in statute; the tribunal determines the open-market rent and the rent payable cannot exceed the landlord's proposal | s.14(1), s.14ZB(5) | Housing Act 1988 s.14ZB (effect of determination: proposed new rent) |
| Tenant's challenge | Apply to the tribunal before the start date in the notice; fee £47; landlord replies within 28 days | s.13(4), s.14(A3) | Apply for an open market rent determination (GOV.UK, HMCTS) |
| Effective date after a challenge | From the notice's start date if decided on or before it, else the next period after the decision; hardship deferral up to two months; never backdated | s.14ZB(3), (4) | Housing Act 1988 s.14ZB (effect of determination: proposed new rent) |
| Initial rent | The tenant may challenge the starting rent within six months of the tenancy beginning | s.14(A1), (A2) | Housing Act 1988 s.14 (determination of open-market rent by tribunal) |
By one route only. Section 13 of the Housing Act 1988, as rewritten by the Renters' Rights Act 2025 from 1 May 2026 (SI 2026/421, regulation 2(a)), now applies to every assured tenancy in England other than social housing. The landlord serves "a notice in the prescribed form proposing a new rent to take effect at the beginning of a new period of the tenancy". The prescribed form for the private rented sector is Form 4A; the older Form 4 is now for social landlords only.
Section 13(4A) closes every other door: the rent for a period "may not be greater than the rent for the previous period" except through a section 13 notice, an agreement following such a notice, or a tribunal determination, and "any provision … is of no effect so far as it provides that the rent … must or may be greater than the rent for the previous period" otherwise. A rent-review clause, an index-linked clause or a provision for a higher rent on "renewal" in a tenancy agreement therefore does nothing. Existing private assured tenancies became assured periodic tenancies under the new rules, for most on 1 May 2026 and later where a Section 8 or Section 21 notice served before that date was still running (Renters' Rights Act 2025 Sch 6, paragraphs 3, 4, 16 and 17), so this applies to tenancies that began long before the Act as much as to new ones.
This guide describes the law in England; it is not advice on a particular tenancy.
The Act sets no percentage or cash cap. The limit is the market. If the tenant applies to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber), section 14(1) requires it to determine the rent at which the property "might reasonably be expected to be let in the open market by a willing landlord" on the same terms. Under section 14ZB(5) the new rent is then the open-market rent if that is lower than the proposal, and otherwise the proposed rent. The tribunal may find that the market rent is higher than the proposal, but the rent payable after a tribunal decision cannot exceed what the landlord proposed. Form 4A tells the tenant the same thing in section 5.2.
In reaching the market figure the tribunal must disregard any increase in value from the tenant's own improvements and any reduction from the tenant's failure to keep to the tenancy (s.14(2)), and it treats council tax and fixed charges according to s.14(3A) to (5). In practice the decision turns on comparable lettings: GOV.UK's tribunal guidance says evidence of actual agreed lettings of similar nearby properties is stronger than asking prices on portals.
A separate right was added for the start of a tenancy. Under s.14(A1) and (A2) a tenant can challenge the initial rent within six months of the tenancy beginning; the tribunal then sets the lower of the market rent and the current rent, from a date no earlier than the application (s.14ZA).
Section 13(2) sets three timing rules, and Form 4A's Note A restates them. The date the new rent starts, entered at question 4.6 of the form, must satisfy all three.
| Rule | Requirement | Provision |
|---|---|---|
| Notice | The new rent cannot start earlier than two months after the notice is served | s.13(2)(a) |
| First increase | Not before 52 weeks after the first period of the tenancy began. The former exception for statutory periodic tenancies was removed by the Renters' Rights Act 2025, s.6(4)(b) | s.13(2)(b)(ii) |
| Later increases | Not before 52 weeks after the last increase by a section 13 notice or a tribunal determination took effect, or 53 weeks where the 53rd week begins more than six days before the anniversary of the first post-2003 increase (so the date does not drift earlier each year) | s.13(2)(c), (3A), (3B) |
| Start date | At the beginning of a period of the tenancy: for a monthly tenancy that began on the 20th, the 20th of a month; for a weekly tenancy that began on a Monday, a Monday | s.13(2); Form 4A Note A4 |
Two transitional points for tenancies that pre-date the Act. If the last increase was made under a rent-review clause before 1 May 2026, a section 13 notice cannot propose a new rent taking effect before the end of 52 weeks beginning with the day that increase took effect (SI 2026/421, regulation 7). And an existing tenancy whose rent period was longer than a month was put onto monthly periods from 1 May 2026 (Sch 6 paragraph 2), which changes where its periods begin.
"Once a year" is therefore shorthand: the statute counts 52 weeks, which is slightly less than a calendar year, and the 53-week rule is what keeps the increase on an annual cycle. Questions 4.2 to 4.4 on Form 4A (tenancy start, last increase, first increase after 11 February 2003) exist so the tenant and the tribunal can check these dates.
Under s.13(4) the proposed rent takes effect on the date in the notice unless, before the beginning of the new period, the tenant applies to the tribunal under s.14(A3), or the landlord and tenant agree in writing a lower rent or no change. An application received on or after the start date is too late (s.13(4); Form 4A section 5.2). The tenant should tell the landlord they have applied; Form 4A warns that otherwise the landlord may assume the new rent is accepted.
From GOV.UK's guidance (HM Courts and Tribunals Service, updated 10 August 2026): the tenant applies online or on form MR1; the fee is £47 (waived for notices dated before 1 May 2026 and for social tenancies); the landlord may reply on form MR2 within 28 days and the tenant may respond on MR3; cases are often decided on the papers, sometimes with an inspection or hearing; either side may seek permission to appeal to the Upper Tribunal. The tenant can also use the application to argue the notice itself is invalid, and GOV.UK lists what a valid notice needs: two months' notice, no increase within 52 weeks of the last, the correct start date, correct names and address, the correct form, signed.
The effective date is set by s.14ZB(3) and (4), and the point to grasp is that the determination is not backdated:
Form 4A tells the tenant: "You do not have to pay the new rent amount until the tribunal has made its decision." The old rent therefore continues while the application is pending, and the gap is not recovered later. That is the practical cost to a landlord of an application, and the reason comparables matter at the notice stage, not just at the hearing.
No penalty attaches to serving a defective notice as such. The consequence is that it is ineffective: the rent stays where it was, and the landlord starts again with two more months' notice. GOV.UK says that where the tribunal finds a notice invalid "it will not determine the rent and you do not need to pay the new proposed rent". The usual faults:
The landlord redress scheme the Act provides for, the Private Rented Sector Ombudsman, is not yet in force; rent disputes themselves go to the tribunal.
Government changes that bear on this duty. Where the status says in force the rule already applies; everything else is not yet law for private landlords. Dates are quoted as the government has published them, checked on 15 October 2026.
| Change | Status today | Published timing | Sensible preparation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mandatory membership of a Private Rented Sector Landlord Ombudsman scheme | announced, dates to be confirmed | Government roadmap: landlords required to join "in 2028", after the Database launches; scheme conditions set during Phase 2 from 2026 | Keep a written complaints process and records of how tenant complaints were handled; the scheme will expect both. Source |
There is no statutory cap in England. The limit is the open-market rent: if the tenant applies to the tribunal it determines the market rent, and under Housing Act 1988 s.14ZB(5) the rent payable is the lower of that figure and what the landlord proposed. The rent payable can never exceed the landlord's proposal.
Once in any 52 weeks (53 in the drift case), and not within the first 52 weeks of the tenancy. Each increase needs a fresh Form 4A with at least two months' notice, starting on the first day of a rent period (s.13(2)). A rent-review increase made before 1 May 2026 also starts a 52-week clock (SI 2026/421 reg 7).
It can say what it likes, but since 1 May 2026 a provision that makes the rent higher than the previous period other than by a section 13 notice, an agreement following such a notice or a tribunal determination is of no effect (s.13(4A)). Section 13 is the only route.
It can find that the market rent is higher, but the rent payable cannot exceed your proposal. Under s.14ZB(5) the new rent is the open-market rent if it is lower than your proposal, and otherwise your proposal.
No. Form 4A says the tenant does not have to pay the new amount until the tribunal has decided, and under s.14ZB(3) the determined rent runs from the start date in the notice only if the decision comes on or before it; otherwise from the first period after the decision, with a hardship deferral of up to two months from the decision. It is never backdated.
Not by a section 13 notice: the first increase cannot take effect until 52 weeks after the first period of the tenancy began (s.13(2)(b)). The tenant, by contrast, can challenge the initial rent within the first six months (s.14(A1) and (A2)).
No penalty attaches to the notice itself. An invalid notice is simply ineffective: the rent does not change and the landlord must serve a fresh Form 4A with two months' notice. The higher figure is not the rent: s.13(4A) prevents the rent exceeding the previous period's except by a valid notice, determination or agreement, so any shortfall against it is not rent lawfully due and cannot be counted as arrears.
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