Your rent review clause stopped working: what replaced it

If your tenancy agreement contains a rent review clause, it no longer raises the rent. Since 1 May 2026, a provision that says the rent will or may go up is, in the words of the statute, "of no effect".

That is not a drafting preference or a fairness argument. It is subsection 13(4A) of the Housing Act 1988, inserted by the Renters' Rights Act 2025, and it changes the mechanics of every rent increase on an assured tenancy.

What subsection 13(4A) says

"The rent for a period of an assured tenancy to which this section applies may not be greater than the rent for the previous period except by virtue of —

(a) a notice under this section or an agreement under subsection (4)(b) following such a notice,

(b) a determination under section 14, or

(c) an agreement in writing between the landlord and the tenant varying the rent, following a determination by the appropriate tribunal under section 14, where the agreed rent is lower than the rent that would be payable under section 14ZA or 14ZB as a result of the determination;

and any provision relating to an assured tenancy to which this section applies is of no effect so far as it provides that the rent for a particular period of the tenancy must or may be greater than the rent for the previous period otherwise than by virtue of a notice, determination or agreement mentioned in this subsection."

Three routes up, and nothing else. A Section 13 notice, a tribunal determination, or a narrow agreement that follows one of those. An escalator clause, an index-linked clause or a stepped rent written into the agreement falls outside all three.

Section 13 now applies to any assured tenancy other than a "relevant low-cost tenancy", which subsection 13(4C) defines as an assured tenancy of social housing where the landlord is a private registered provider, plus anything the Secretary of State prescribes. For a private landlord, that means it applies.

What still works

Subsection 13(4B) is the counterweight and it is easy to miss:

"Except as provided by subsection (4A), nothing in this section (or in sections 14 to 14ZB) limits any right of the landlord and the tenant under an assured tenancy to which this section applies to vary any term of the tenancy by agreement."

So the agreement is not frozen. You and the tenant can still vary terms between you. What you cannot do is raise the rent by a route other than the three in 13(4A).

The notice, and the number on it

Two more changes from the same amendment matter in practice.

Notice is two months. Subsection 13(2)(a) now requires the new period to begin not earlier than "two months" after the notice is served. The old subsection 13(3), which set the minimum by reference to the length of the rental period, six months for a yearly tenancy and a month for a weekly one, has been omitted.

The tenant can only agree a lower rent. Subsection 13(4)(b) now lets the landlord and tenant agree "a new rent which is lower than that proposed in the notice", or agree not to vary it at all. The previous wording allowed "a variation of the rent which is different from" the proposal.

That is a real change of posture. Under the old wording a notice could open a negotiation that moved in either direction. Now the figure you put on the notice is a ceiling. There is no mechanism to agree upwards from it, so a notice pitched low to seem reasonable cannot be corrected by agreement afterwards; it can only be lived with until the next one is due.

The tenant's route to challenge is the tribunal: under 13(4)(a) they apply to the appropriate tribunal under section 14(A3) before the new period begins.

The notice itself must be in the prescribed form, which for a private assured tenancy is Form 4A. Form 4 is the social housing version.

And you cannot do it whenever you like

The timing rules survived the amendment and they are the part that catches landlords with more than one tenancy. The new rent cannot take effect earlier than:

• two months after the notice was served, and
• if this is the first increase, the date 52 weeks after the first period of the tenancy began, or
• if you have increased it before, the "appropriate date" in subsection 13(3A): 52 weeks after the last increase took effect, or 53 weeks in the case described in 13(3B).

Each tenancy therefore runs on its own clock, anchored either to its own start or to its own last increase. Raising the rent across a portfolio works through what that means when there are several.

What to do about the clause you have

1. 1Stop relying on it. If your process is "the agreement says the rent rises in April", that process no longer produces a valid increase.
2. 2Leave it or remove it, but do not act on it. A clause that is of no effect is not dangerous by sitting there, but it misleads whoever reads the agreement next, including a tenant who may pay an increase that was never validly imposed.
3. 3Move the mechanics into the calendar. What you now need per tenancy is the start of its first period, the date of each past increase, and which of them was the first.
4. 4Pitch the notice at the number you want. It is a ceiling now, not an opening position.

LetCompliance builds the Form 4A from the tenancy's own dates and keeps each past increase with the date it took effect, so the next earliest date is a calculation rather than a memory.

Source: Housing Act 1988, section 13, read on 21 September 2026 together with its Textual Amendments notes. Subsections 13(4A), 13(4B) and 13(4C) were inserted, 13(2)(a) and 13(4)(b) substituted and 13(3) omitted by the Renters' Rights Act 2025, in force from 1 May 2026 (S.I. 2026/421).