How to Increase the Rent Now — and Win if a Tenant Challenges It

Putting the rent up used to be simple: agree a figure, or serve a notice, and that was largely that. Under the Renters' Rights Act it has become a formal, once-a-year process with a tenant right to challenge built in — and one recent tweak has quietly made challenging far more attractive. The upshot is that a rent increase is now something you can lose if you get the process or the evidence wrong. Here's how to raise the rent the right way, why more tenants are appealing, and how to make sure your figure stands up. This is general guidance, not legal or valuation advice — confirm the current Section 13 process, forms and notice periods on GOV.UK.

The rules for raising rent now

For an ongoing tenancy, the statutory route is a Section 13 notice, and it comes with firm limits: you can increase the rent only once in any 12-month period, you must give the tenant proper notice in advance (at least a couple of months), and you must use the correct prescribed form. Get any of those wrong — too soon after the last rise, too little notice, the wrong form — and the increase is simply not valid, so the tenant doesn't owe the new amount and you have to start again. The mechanics matter as much as the number.

Why challenges have become low-risk for tenants

Here's the change that's driving the headlines. A tenant who thinks a proposed increase is above the market rate can refer it to the First-tier Tribunal for a modest fee. Previously that carried a real risk for the tenant: the tribunal could set the rent at the true market figure — even if that was higher than the landlord had asked for. That risk has been removed: the tribunal can no longer set the rent above the figure the landlord proposed. So the worst outcome of a challenge, from the tenant's point of view, is that the rent stays where the landlord put it — and in the meantime the increase is delayed. Unsurprisingly, surveys suggest a large minority of tenants — widely cited as around one in five — say they'd challenge almost any rise, and the numbers bear it out: reported figures show property tribunals made 166 market-rent decisions in July 2026 — close to four times the 44 a year earlier, with tenants said to be driving the majority of recent cases. Challenging has become a low-cost delaying tactic, so you should expect it more often. (One change to watch: the government has announced that HMRC's Valuation Office Agency will take over the first determination of challenged increases, to speed things up and ease pressure on the tribunal. But it has been announced with no start date, and commentators are openly doubting the timing — so treat it as a signalled reform, not an imminent one. For now, and until the new system actually launches, a challenge still goes to the First-tier Tribunal. Verify the current route on GOV.UK.)

How to set a figure that stands up

Because a tribunal decides on market rate, your job is to show your proposed rent is the market rate — with evidence, not assertion. In one reported tribunal decision, a landlord's increase was upheld because they produced several genuinely comparable local lettings at the rents actually achieved. That's the template. Build your case from:

• Comparable properties — similar size, type, condition and location to yours.
• Achieved rents, not asking prices — what similar homes actually let for, which carries far more weight than optimistic listings.
• Several examples, not one — a spread of comparables is much harder to dismiss than a single data point.
• The condition and features of your property — anything that justifies its position in the local range.
• A dated record of the evidence you relied on when you set the figure.

If the tenant challenges

Don't treat a referral as a fight — treat it as a request to show your working. The tribunal looks at what the property would command on the open market, so present your comparables clearly, keep to the facts, and make sure the notice itself was served correctly in the first place (a defective notice can sink you before the figure is even discussed). A landlord who serves a clean, once-a-year Section 13 notice and turns up with organised, achieved-rent evidence is in a strong position; one who winged the figure and misfiled the paperwork is not.

What landlords should do now

1. Diarise each property's rent-review date so you never breach the once-a-year rule by accident.
2. Use the correct Section 13 notice and notice period — check the current form on GOV.UK every time.
3. Gather comparables before you set the figure, using achieved rents, and keep them on file with the date.
4. Expect a possible challenge and set a figure you'd be comfortable defending, rather than an opening bid.
5. Keep the notice and your evidence together, so if a referral lands you can respond in minutes, not days.

This sits within the wider set of rules already in force under the Renters' Rights Act, and it follows the same pattern as everything else in the reform: the outcome turns on your records. It's also why you can't simply raise the rent to absorb rising costs at will — worth remembering alongside the tax changes squeezing margins. As with a possession claim, the landlord who keeps dated, organised evidence is the one who comes out ahead.

General guidance for UK landlords, not legal or valuation advice. The rules on rent increases, the Section 13 process, the correct forms, notice periods and tribunal procedure are set by government and can change — always verify the current requirements at GOV.UK and take professional advice, including a professional valuation or letting-agent view, where the figure or a challenge matters.