When can your rent increase start?

Rent can be increased only once a year and not in the first year of the tenancy, using Form 4A 'Landlord's notice proposing a new rent' given at least 2 months before the increase starts. The section 13 process must be followed every time, even if the tenant has agreed.

Form 4A Note A: the date in question 4.6 must meet three requirements in section 13(2) Housing Act 1988. (A2) The notice must be served at least two months before the new rent can start. (A3) The first increase cannot start until 52 weeks have passed since the tenancy began; any further increase must be at least 52 weeks after the previous one, but the new rent date cannot be more than 6 days before the anniversary of the first rent increase after 11 February 2003 (question 4.4); if it would be, the landlord must wait an extra week (53 weeks in total). (A4) The new rent must start at the beginning of a tenancy period: a monthly tenancy that started on the 20th changes rent on the 20th; a weekly tenancy that started on a Monday changes on a Monday.

Form 4A note to landlord: you need to be able to evidence that you served the notice on your tenant. If your written tenancy agreement specifies agreed methods of service, use one of those; if it does not, you can serve it by handing it over to your tenant in person, leaving it at the tenant's address or sending it by registered post.

Under the Renters' Rights Act, rent increases by any other means than a section 13 notice, such as rent review clauses, are not permitted; an increase agreed under a rent review clause before 1 May 2026 that takes effect after 1 May 2026 will not apply.

Form 4A section 5: a tenant who does not accept the new rent must act before the start date in question 4.6, by agreeing a change or delay with the landlord in writing, or by referring the rent to the tribunal (the application must reach the tribunal before that date). The tribunal decides the open-market rent on the same terms and can consider factors like the condition of the property; the tenant will not be required to pay more than the rent the landlord proposed, and does not have to pay the new rent until the tribunal has decided. A tenant can challenge a Form 4A increase at the First-tier Tribunal before the new rent starts. The tribunal sets the open-market rent, but the new rent is the lower of that and the landlord's proposed rent (s14ZB(5)). It takes effect from the start date in the notice if that is on or after the determination; otherwise from the first new rent period beginning on or after the determination; or, if either would cause the tenant undue hardship, from a date the tribunal directs within 2 months of the determination (s14ZB(3)-(4)).

Form 4A (05.26): joint landlords either each sign the notice using the additional signatures box, or agree for one landlord to sign on behalf of all of them. Each additional signer gives signature, full name, address and capacity (landlord). The notice can be completed and signed electronically or by hand.

A tenancy cannot be an assured periodic tenancy if the landlord lives in the property (GOV.UK list of exclusions, alongside holiday lets, business tenancies, rent over £100,000 a year and others).