Section 13 Rent Increase Notice 2026

If you want to put the rent up on a periodic tenancy in England, there is now one way to do it. You serve a rent increase notice (Section 13) on the prescribed Form 4A, give at least two months’ notice, and raise the rent no more than once every 52 weeks. Old rent-review clauses no longer work, and a notice with the wrong form or the wrong dates is simply void. This guide takes you through it step by step, so the dates are pinned down before you serve.

The free Section 13 rent increase calculator gives you the earliest valid start date and the tenant’s tribunal-referral deadline in one screen. The Section 13 notice hub has the rules, the void traps and the tribunal position on one page.

Why Section 13 matters in 2026

The Renters’ Rights Act changed how rent goes up on assured periodic tenancies in England. You can propose a new rent once every 52 weeks, using the Section 13 process in the Housing Act 1988. Old rent-review clauses in pre-2026 agreements (a fixed percentage, an RPI ladder and so on) have no effect, so Section 13 is the route.

The Renters' Rights Act 2025 hub has the big-picture checklist (Information Sheet, pets, possession). This guide is the rent-increase deep dive. It isn't legal advice: check the prescribed form on GOV.UK before you serve.

Step 1: Confirm tenancy type and timing

1. 1Check the tenancy is an assured periodic tenancy (weekly or monthly). Every AST became one on 1 May 2026.
2. 2Confirm you have not increased rent in the last 12 months via Section 13.
3. 3Diarise two calendar months from your intended service date to the proposed new rent start date.

If you are unsure whether your letting is an assured tenancy at all, take solicitor advice: wrong assumptions produce void notices.

Step 2: Choose the correct prescribed form

Download the current Section 13 notice from GOV.UK (see links on this page). Forms change; photocopying an old PDF from 2023 can invalidate the whole exercise.

Complete:

• Landlord and tenant names
• Property address
• Current rent and proposed rent
• Dates consistent with at least two months’ notice

Once your dates check out, LetCompliance can draft the Section 13 notice on Form 4A from the figures you enter (paid plans, from £7.99 a month) and keep it against the tenancy with the date it was made. Check it against the live prescribed form on GOV.UK before you serve.

Step 3: Serve the notice correctly

Use a method you can prove:

• Hand delivery with a receipt or witness note
• First-class post: understand deemed service rules; keep proof of postage
• Email only if the tenancy agreement expressly allows notice by email

Store: copy of the signed/served notice, proof of sending, and a note of date of service.

Step 4: Tenant response and tribunal risk

The tenant can refer the proposed rent to the First-tier Tribunal if they think it's above the market level. Under the RRA the tribunal cannot set a rent above the figure you proposed. A referral can only keep your figure or lower it, so it caps your upside. You can still increase the rent, but keep a note of comparables (similar lets nearby) and be ready to justify the open market rent.

If the notice is defective, the increase does not take effect, and you can lose months of the higher rent while you re-serve. Get the detail right first time.

Common mistakes that invalidate Section 13

• Too little notice (under two months where required)
• Wrong form or outdated version
• Second increase inside twelve months
• Ambiguous dates or rent figures
• Email service without contractual permission

Pair this with UK landlord compliance 2026 so Gas Safety, EICR, deposit and Right to Rent stay current and evidenced if you ever need Section 8.

Related RRA topics

• Information Sheet service & proof
• Pet consent under the RRA, 28-day deep dive
• Full RRA checklist page

Check your dates with the free Section 13 calculator →

Generate, serve and track a Section 13 notice in LetCompliance → The notice builder is on paid plans, from £7.99 a month.

What the tribunal can and cannot do now

This is the part of Section 13 that changed most, and getting it wrong in either direction costs money.

If the tenant refers the notice to the First-tier Tribunal before the proposed start date, the tribunal decides the open market rent for the property. Two limits now apply that did not before:

• The tribunal cannot set a rent above the figure you proposed. Previously a referral could backfire on the tenant and produce a higher figure than the landlord had asked for, which deterred challenges. That deterrent is gone.
• The increase is not backdated to the original proposed date where the tribunal has been involved.

So a challenge is now close to free for the tenant. Your protection is the evidence, not the fear of a higher figure.

That means proposing a rent you can actually support. Before you serve, put three or four genuine comparables on your own file: same area, similar size and condition, listed or let recently. If your figure is defensible, a referral confirms it. If you've added fifteen per cent because it has been three years, the tribunal will say so.

A worked example

Priya lets a two-bed flat in Bristol at £1,150 a month. Similar flats nearby are letting at £1,300 to £1,350. She has not increased the rent for two years.

She serves Form 4A on 3 March proposing £1,300 from 4 May, giving just over the required two months' notice and starting the new rent on the first day of a rental period. She keeps three comparables from the portals, dated, in the property file.

Two outcomes:

The tenant accepts. The rent is £1,300 from 4 May. Nothing else is required, but the increase only happens once the standing order or Direct Debit mandate is updated. A surprising number of agreed increases quietly fail because nobody changed the payment.

The tenant refers it to the tribunal. Priya submits the comparables. The tribunal determines the market rent at £1,275. That becomes the rent, effective from the date the tribunal sets rather than backdated to 4 May. She has lost £25 a month against her proposal and gained a figure that is now independently justified.

Had she proposed £1,450 with no comparables, the same referral would likely have produced a similar £1,275, but two months later, with the increase not backdated, and with a tenant relationship worth less than it was.

The mechanics that invalidate a notice

Section 13 is unforgiving about detail because the notice is a statutory instrument, not a letter. The failures are almost always mechanical:

Wrong form. Private landlords use Form 4A. Social landlords use Form 4. Using the wrong one isn't a technicality. It's a defective notice.

Too soon. The new rent cannot start until 52 weeks after the last increase took effect. Serving so that it starts eleven months later voids it.

Short notice. At least two months between service and the start date, and allow for the deemed service rules if you post it rather than deliver it.

Wrong start date. The new rent must begin at the start of a rental period. If rent is due on the 4th, the increase starts on a 4th.

Not actually served. Serve on every tenant named on the agreement, not just the one you deal with, and keep proof of how and when.

A side agreement instead. A texted "let's say £1,300 from May" is not a Section 13 notice. If the tenant later disputes it you have no statutory increase to rely on.

If you'd rather not hand-check the dates: LetCompliance builds Form 4A with the 52-week limit, the two-month notice and the rental-period start already worked out, and keeps a dated copy against the tenancy, next to its rent ledger. It doesn't gather comparables for you, so that part stays yours. The notice builder is on paid plans from £7.99 a month; one property is free, no card needed.