Rent Increases After the Renters' Rights Act: How Section 13 and Form 4A Actually Work

If you're a landlord in England with a rent review clause in your tenancy agreement, it stopped working on 1 May 2026. The Renters' Rights Act makes all contractual rent increase mechanisms void. Since that date, there is exactly one legal route to increasing rent: a Section 13 notice using the new prescribed Form 4A.

This isn't optional. If you increase rent any other way — a verbal agreement, a clause in the tenancy, a letter asking the tenant to pay more — the increase is unenforceable. The tenant can simply continue paying the old amount and there's nothing you can do about it.

Here's how the new process works.

The basic rules

One increase per 52 weeks. You can only increase the rent once in any 52-week period (the Act uses weeks, not months). The clock starts from either the beginning of the tenancy or the date of the last increase, whichever is later.

No increase in the first 52 weeks. You cannot serve a rent increase notice during the first 52 weeks of a tenancy. The earliest the new rent can take effect is 52 weeks after the tenancy began — and to hit that date, the notice must be served at least two months in advance.

Two months' notice required. The tenant must receive the Form 4A at least two months before the new rent takes effect (raised from one month pre-RRA). If you want the increase to start on 1 June, the notice must reach the tenant by 1 April at the latest.

Market rent only. The proposed increase must reflect the market rent for the property in its current condition. You cannot use rent increases to recover the cost of improvements, and the tribunal will reject increases that are above the market rate for comparable properties in the area.

Form 4A

The new prescribed form replaces the old Section 13(2) notice form. You must use the correct version — using an outdated form invalidates the notice.

The form requires:

Your details. Landlord name and address.

The tenant's details. Name and property address.

Current rent. The amount the tenant currently pays and how often (weekly, monthly, etc.).

Proposed new rent. The amount you want to increase to.

Date the increase takes effect. Must be at least two months from the date of the notice and at least 52 weeks from the start of the tenancy or the last increase.

A breakdown of charges. If the rent includes charges for services, council tax contributions, or other identifiable costs, these must be itemised separately. This is a new requirement under the RRA — you can't just state a single figure if the rent bundles in additional charges.

Serve the form on the tenant in writing. Keep proof of service — send it by recorded delivery or email with read receipt, and keep a copy.

What the tenant can do

The tenant has three options when they receive a Section 13 notice.

Accept it. They start paying the new amount from the effective date. No further action needed from either side.

Negotiate. They come back to you and propose a lower figure. If you agree, you can withdraw the Section 13 notice and serve a new one with the agreed amount — or if the tenant simply starts paying the agreed figure and you accept it, the negotiation has effectively settled it. However, best practice is to have the agreed amount documented clearly.

Challenge it at the First-tier Tribunal. The tenant can refer the notice to the tribunal before the increase takes effect. The tribunal will assess open market rent for the property in its current condition. Under the RRA (Section 14ZB), the resulting rent is whichever is lower of the open market rent or the landlord's proposed rent — the tribunal cannot set the rent higher than what the landlord proposed. This is a key change from the pre-RRA regime, where the tribunal could set a higher figure and that deterred tenants from challenging.

The tribunal also cannot backdate the increase. If the tenant challenges, the increase takes effect from the determination date (or the next rent payment date), not the original date the landlord proposed. Challenging effectively delays the increase by months.

The tribunal can additionally defer the effective date of the increase by up to 2 additional months if it determines the immediate increase would cause the tenant undue hardship. This is a discretionary power and is distinct from the tribunal's main role of determining market rent.

Preparing your case

If the tenant challenges your increase, you need to be able to justify the figure you proposed. The tribunal assesses market rent based on comparable properties, so your evidence should show what similar properties in the area are renting for.

Research comparable rents. Check Rightmove, Zoopla, and OpenRent for current listings of similar properties in the same area. Note the property type, size, number of bedrooms, condition, and advertised rent. Screenshot the listings with dates.

Consider the property's condition. The tribunal assesses market rent for the property as it currently stands — not as it would be if you made improvements. If the property has dated fixtures or needs work, the market rent reflects that. Don't propose a rent based on what newly refurbished properties in the area are achieving if yours isn't at that standard.

Account for what's included. If your rent includes services that comparable properties charge separately (gardening, cleaning of communal areas, broadband), make that clear. It justifies a higher headline figure.

Don't overshoot. If you propose a figure significantly above market rate, the tribunal will simply set it at what they determine is the correct market rent. You won't be penalised, but you'll have gone through the process for nothing. A well-researched, realistic proposal is more likely to be accepted by the tenant without a challenge in the first place.

Timing it right

The two-month notice period and 52-week restriction mean you need to plan ahead.

If your tenancy started on 1 May 2026 (the RRA commencement date), the earliest you can increase rent is 30 April 2027 (52 weeks later) — and to hit that date, you'd need to serve the Form 4A by 28 February 2027.

For existing tenancies that converted to periodic on 1 May 2026, the 52-week clock runs from the last rent increase, not from the conversion date. If you increased rent in January 2026 using a contractual clause (still valid before May), the earliest you can use Section 13 is January 2027.

Keep a record of when each tenancy's rent was last increased. Missing the window by a month means waiting another year.

Common mistakes

Using the old form. Since 1 May 2026 the prescribed form is Form 4A. Using the pre-RRA Section 13(2) form invalidates the notice.

Not giving enough notice. Two months means two full calendar months. If the notice arrives on 3 March, the earliest effective date is 3 May. If you're a day short, the notice is invalid.

Increasing within 52 weeks. If the last increase (or tenancy start) was less than 52 weeks ago, the notice is invalid regardless of how reasonable the amount is.

Not itemising bundled charges. If your rent includes identifiable service charges or council tax contributions, failing to break them out on the form gives the tenant grounds to challenge the notice on procedural grounds.

No evidence of market rent. If the tenant challenges and you turn up to the tribunal with nothing but "I think it's worth more," you'll get whatever figure the tribunal decides based on their own research. Come with comparable evidence and you influence the outcome.

What this means in practice

The shift to Section 13 only isn't as dramatic as it sounds for most landlords. If you were already increasing rent once a year by a reasonable amount, the main change is that you now use a prescribed form and give two months' notice instead of one.

Where it matters most is for landlords who relied on contractual rent review clauses that allowed increases at shorter intervals, increases linked to RPI or CPI, or increases at fixed percentages. All of those mechanisms are now void. You follow the statutory process, once a year, at market rate, with two months' notice.

The upside is that the process is standardised and transparent. There's no ambiguity about how to increase rent — follow the form, follow the rules, and keep evidence that your proposed figure reflects the market.