How do I increase the rent under the Renters' Rights Act as an HMO landlord?

Since 1 May 2026 each HMO tenancy needs its own Form 4A, served at least 2 months ahead: one per room on separate tenancies, or one naming every sharer on a joint tenancy. Lodgers living with you are different.

The general rules are the same for a house in multiple occupation (HMO) as for any private let in England: once a year, not in the first year, 2 months' notice, and the tenant can go to the tribunal. Our general guide to rent increases covers those. This page covers what changes when a house is shared. It is general information about assured periodic tenancies, checked on GOV.UK and legislation.gov.uk on 19 October 2026.

Room lets or a joint tenancy

Section 13 of the Housing Act 1988 works tenancy by tenancy: the notice proposes a new rent from the start of a new period of the tenancy, and the 52 weeks run from when that tenancy began or its rent last rose. Form 4A asks for one tenancy's start date, last increase and rent. So how you let the house decides how many forms you need.

Bills-included rent

Many HMO rents include bills. Question 4.7 on Form 4A lists, per rent period, any council tax, water, electricity, gas or other fuel, communication services (landline, internet, cable or satellite TV) and fixed service charges included in the rent, now and proposed. Write "nil" where there is none. Include only charges inside the rent that the tenant does not pay to a supplier or to you on top of rent, and leave out variable service charges. The form calls these charges part of the full rent, and section 13 lets rent rise only through its process, so on our reading the bills part cannot go up on its own outside it.

What the tribunal looks at

If a tenant refers the rent, the tribunal sets the rent the room or house might reasonably be expected to fetch on the open market on the same terms, and Form 4A says it can consider the condition of the property. Section 14 tells it to ignore improvements the tenant made, subject to conditions, and any fall in value caused by the tenant breaking the tenancy terms. Form 4A tells the tenant they will not have to pay more than you proposed, and need not pay the new rent until the tribunal decides. The government's 2025 guide to the Act says the changes protect tenants from excessive above-market rents "purely designed to force them out".

What this means for you

Take a hypothetical 4-room HMO let room by room. Room 1's monthly tenancy began on 10 June 2026, so its first increase can start no earlier than 10 June 2027, and a Form 4A served on 1 April 2027 gives more than 2 months' notice. Room 2's began on 1 September 2026, so its earliest date is 1 September 2027, on a separate form. Had the four sharers instead signed one joint tenancy on 1 August 2026, a single Form 4A naming all four could propose a new rent from 1 August 2027.

If you live in the house and let rooms to lodgers, those lettings are usually not assured tenancies. Schedule 1 to the Housing Act 1988 excludes a tenancy granted by an individual landlord who lived in another part of the same building as their only or principal home when it was granted, and throughout since, subject to some allowed gaps. It does not cover a purpose-built block of flats unless you share the flat, or a house owned by a company. Where it applies, section 13 and Form 4A do not. Check the conditions before relying on this.

On our reading, holding an HMO licence does not change any of this. Section 13 says the rent of an assured tenancy can only go above the previous period's through a section 13 notice (or an agreement after one) or a tribunal decision, and any term saying otherwise has no effect.

Higher rent also raises your qualifying income for Making Tax Digital, which counts every room's rent before expenses, including charges for heating, hot water and cleaning of communal areas. The free MTD check shows whether a rise changes your start date.

Steps for an HMO rent increase

1. List each tenancy in the house: who is named, when it began, its rent day and the date of any last increase.
2. Work out each tenancy's earliest date: 52 weeks on (53 in the cases Form 4A's Note A sets out for later increases), falling on its own rent day.
3. Look at what similar rooms or shared houses nearby let for, with and without bills.
4. Download the current Form 4A (05.26) from GOV.UK and fill in one per tenancy, naming every joint tenant where there is one.
5. Complete question 4.7 for any bills included in the rent, using "nil" where none.
6. Sign it, or have your agent sign it. Joint landlords each sign, or agree that one signs for all.
7. Serve each form at least 2 months before its start date by a method the tenancy agreement allows. If it names none, hand it over, leave it at the tenant's address or use registered post. Keep proof for each tenant.
8. If a tenant refers the rent to the tribunal, keep charging the old rent for that tenancy until it decides.

The landlord section has more guides for HMO landlords in England.