A section 13 rent increase is the statutory way to raise the rent on an assured tenancy in England, and under the Renters' Rights Act 2025 it is now the only way. The old workarounds - a rent review clause buried in the agreement, a quick email asking the tenant to agree a new figure - no longer do the job. Get the notice right and the new rent takes effect on the date you set. Get it wrong and the old rent stands, and you have lost two months before you can start again. This guide covers how a section 13 rent increase works, how to serve one that holds up, and what to do when a tenant challenges it.
What a section 13 rent increase is
Section 13 of the Housing Act 1988 lets a landlord propose a new rent for a periodic assured tenancy by serving a notice in the prescribed form. The tenant then has three options: pay the new rent from the start date, negotiate a different figure with you, or refer the proposed rent to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) before that start date arrives. If the notice is valid and the tenant does none of those things, the new rent is the rent.
This is a proposal with statutory force, not a variation by consent. You do not need the tenant's signature; you need a valid notice, served properly, with the right dates and a figure the tenant cannot easily show is above market level.
What changed under the Renters' Rights Act 2025
The Act moved assured tenancies in England onto a periodic footing and made the section 13 notice the sole route for increasing rent. The day-to-day changes:
- Rent can only go up once in any twelve-month period.
- The minimum notice is two months, whatever the rent frequency.
- Rent review clauses in tenancy agreements can no longer be relied on to impose an increase.
- If the tenant challenges, the tribunal can set the rent at or below your proposed figure, but not above it.
- A rent set by the tribunal runs from the tribunal's decision rather than being backdated to your notice, so a challenge can delay the increase.
Commencement has been phased, so check the current GOV.UK guidance before you serve.
When you can use a section 13 rent increase - and when you cannot
Section 13 applies to assured and assured shorthold tenancies in England. Most errors come from reaching for it in the wrong situation.
- Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own regimes. Wales uses rent variation notices under the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016, and Scotland and Northern Ireland each have their own notice and adjudication rules. Never serve the English form on a property outside England.
- It only covers assured tenancies. Licences and company lets are governed by the agreement and the general law of contract.
- Once in twelve months means once. Count from the date the last increase took effect, or from the start of the tenancy if there has never been one.
- You cannot bundle other changes in. A section 13 notice proposes a new rent and nothing else.
How to serve a section 13 notice that holds up
None of this is difficult, but every step is a place where notices fail.
- Check the tenancy first. Confirm it is an assured tenancy in England, note the date of the last increase, and identify the rent period - monthly from the 1st, weekly from a Monday, whatever the agreement says.
- Settle on a figure you can evidence. Pull three or four genuinely comparable recent lets: same area, same size, similar condition. Keep the screenshots.
- Download the prescribed form fresh from GOV.UK. The form (long known as Form 4) has been revised more than once, and an out-of-date version is an easy way to invalidate a notice. Complete every section, including the landlord's name and address, not just the agent's.
- Calculate the start date properly. The new rent must begin at least two months after service and on the first day of a rent period. If rent is paid monthly on the 1st and you serve on 10 March, two months takes you to 10 May, so the earliest valid start date is 1 June. When in doubt, pick the later date.
- Serve it the way the tenancy agreement says. First-class post with a certificate of posting and a note of the deemed service date, hand delivery with a witness, or email only where the agreement expressly allows it. Keep a dated copy and a record of how it was served.
- Send a plain-English covering letter and diarise the dates. The statutory form is dense, and a short letter explaining the figure and inviting the tenant to discuss it cuts disputes noticeably. Diarise the start date and the last day the tenant can apply to the tribunal.
Setting a figure the tribunal will accept
If the tenant refers your notice to the First-tier Tribunal, the panel decides what rent the property would fetch on the open market on the same terms - and in its actual condition. Property managers underestimate that last point. A dated kitchen, a poor EPC rating, or a damp problem the tenant has reported three times all pull the market figure down, and the tenant will bring photographs.
- A modest, well-evidenced increase is far more likely to stick. The tribunal cannot set a rent above your figure, so there is no upside in padding it, and a big jump invites a challenge and the delay that comes with it.
- Base comparables on what similar properties actually let for, not asking prices that have sat on the portals for weeks, and be honest where yours falls short.
- The tenant must apply before the start date in the notice. Once that date passes without an application, the figure is settled.
Mistakes that get section 13 rent increase notices thrown out
Most invalid notices fail on paperwork, not the figure. Watch for:
- An out-of-date version of the prescribed form or software template.
- A start date that does not fall on the first day of a rent period.
- Too little notice, or forgetting to allow for deemed service when posting.
- A second increase within twelve months.
- Naming the managing agent as landlord, or leaving the landlord's address blank.
- Relying on a friendly email exchange instead of the notice. The notice is the mechanism, so serve it even when the tenant has agreed in principle - it protects both of you.
Why your repairs record matters before you serve
Anyone who has managed a decent-sized portfolio will recognise the pattern. The tenants who challenge are rarely objecting to the number in isolation; they are the ones with a boiler fault that took three weeks to fix, or a window that has been 'on the list' since the spring. A section 13 rent increase landing on top of an unresolved repair feels like an insult, and the tribunal gives that tenant an audience.
So before you serve, pull the open repair requests for the property and close them out or give the tenant a firm date. Then make sure you can show the maintenance history if asked: what was reported, when it was attended, who did the work, what it cost. With standards in the private rented sector tightening, that record is becoming essential anyway.
A repairs desk run from a shared inbox cannot produce that history quickly; a proper CRM can. PlanaJob is built as that repairs desk for property managers: every job raised, every quote received, every photo and completion note sits against the property, and you can compare quotes from vetted contractors rather than ringing round. See how it fits a managed portfolio at https://planajob.com/uk/property-managers, or set up an account at https://planajob.com/signup and raise your first job in minutes.
It helps on the contractor side too: trades notice which agents are organised, and that feeds into how quickly your jobs get picked up. For the view from the other direction, the conversations among UK trades at https://www.contractorclub.vip are a useful window into what a good client looks like. More compliance guides for UK lettings teams are at https://planajob.com/uk/blog.
Frequently asked questions
Can I still increase rent during a fixed term?
Under the Renters' Rights Act reforms, assured tenancies in England are periodic, so the fixed-term question largely falls away: increases go through the section 13 process, once a year, with two months' notice. For anything outside the assured regime, the agreement governs, and it is worth taking advice first.
What if the tenant just keeps paying the old rent?
If the notice was valid and the tenant did not apply to the tribunal before the start date, the new rent is the contractual rent and the shortfall is arrears. Speak to the tenant first, then follow your normal arrears process. Do not serve a second notice to 'fix' it - that only muddies the position.
Does a section 13 rent increase notice have to be on the official form?
Yes. A letter or email proposing a new rent is not a section 13 notice, however clearly it is worded. Use the current prescribed form from GOV.UK, complete every field, and keep proof of service. If you spot an error after serving, withdraw the notice in writing and serve a fresh, correct one.