How to Increase Rent Legally Under the Renters Rights Act

From 1 May 2026, the way landlords increase rent changes entirely. One route in, one form to use, two months' notice required. Rent review clauses stop working on the same date. If you have been raising rent using a clause in the tenancy agreement or an informal agreement with your tenant, that option disappears.

This is not a minor administrative update. It is a complete reset of how rent increases work in England, introduced by the Renters Rights Act 2025, which received Royal Assent on 27 October 2025. With 36 days until commencement, landlords who have not already reviewed their process need to do so now.

How Rent Increases Worked Until Now

Before the Renters Rights Act, landlords had several routes to increase rent. The most common were:

Section 13 via Form 4. The statutory route. A landlord serving Form 4 on a periodic tenant triggers the Section 13 process. Under current rules, notice for a monthly tenancy is one month. The tenant can challenge at the First-tier Tribunal, but historically very few did, partly because the tribunal could set the rent higher than proposed and could backdate the increase to the notice expiry date. Those two risks put most tenants off appealing.

Rent review clauses. Many fixed-term tenancy agreements contain a clause that provides for automatic rent increases at a set date, often tied to CPI or RPI, or specifying a percentage. On a statutory periodic tenancy, landlords have sometimes continued to rely on these clauses even after the fixed term ends.

Agreed increases. Informal agreement between landlord and tenant, sometimes without any formal notice, often written into the tenancy agreement renewal or just done by email.

All of these options narrow down to one from 1 May 2026.

What Changes on 1 May 2026

Section 13 via Form 4A becomes the only route. The government has confirmed that for all assured periodic tenancies in England, the Section 13 statutory notice process is the exclusive legal method for rent increases from commencement of the Act. There is no alternative.

Form 4A replaces Form 4. The new form will be published on GOV.UK's assured tenancy forms page and will be available for use on or after 1 May 2026. You cannot use Form 4A before that date, and you should not use Form 4 after it.

The notice period doubles. The current one-month notice period for monthly tenancies becomes a minimum of two months. A landlord must give the completed Form 4A to the tenant at least two months before the proposed increase takes effect. The notice can be served in person, by post, or by email if the tenancy agreement permits email service.

Rent can only increase once every 12 months. This includes any increase made under the old rules. If rent was last increased six months ago, you cannot serve a Form 4A to take effect before the 12-month anniversary of that last increase.

Rent review clauses become invalid. This applies to all assured periodic tenancies from 1 May 2026, regardless of what the tenancy agreement says. Any existing clause providing for a scheduled, automatic, or agreed rent increase ceases to have legal effect on that date. A rent increase agreed before May 1 under a rent review clause, but taking effect after it, will not be permitted.