FAQ
Rent review questions, answered
Every question we answer across the site, in one place. Each answer links to the page that covers it in full.
These answers are general information for letting agents in England, not legal advice.
The rules
Once a year. The first increase cannot take effect until 52 weeks after the tenancy began, and any further increase must be at least 52 weeks after the previous one (Section 13, Housing Act 1988 as amended). Form 4A's guidance notes set out the exact date mechanics, including the 53-week anti-drift rule.
Read more: the Rent Reviews Hub
At least two months, served on the prescribed Form 4A. A letter will not do. The new rent must also start on the first day of a rent period, and you should keep evidence that the notice was served.
Read more: the Rent Reviews Hub
No. Since 1 May 2026 rent review clauses in private tenancy agreements in England have no effect, including clauses in agreements signed before the Act. Government guidance is explicit that rent increases by any other means are not permitted. The only lawful route is a Section 13 notice on Form 4A.
Read more: the Rent Reviews Hub
No. The Act sets no percentage cap. The benchmark is the open market rent, and the control is the tenant's right to refer the figure to the First-tier Tribunal, which can confirm or reduce it but can never set it above what was proposed (Renters' Rights Act 2025, s.7).
Read more: the Rent Reviews Hub
They can apply to the First-tier Tribunal before the start date on the notice, which the Tribunal must receive by then (£47 fee), and the old rent stays payable until the decision. The Tribunal determines the open market rent, capped at the proposed figure, and the increase is never backdated, so delay is lost income.
Read more: the Rent Reviews Hub
No. Since 1 May 2026 a rent increase on a private assured tenancy in England must be proposed on prescribed Form 4A, so a letter or email is not a valid Section 13 notice.
Read more: What is a Section 13 notice?
The landlord or their letting agent. Form 4A includes a dedicated agent section, and electronic completion and signature are expressly allowed.
Read more: What is a Section 13 notice?
Form 4 is now for the social rented sector only, so a private-sector notice served on it is not a valid Section 13 notice and the increase does not lawfully take effect. The safe course is to serve again on the current Form 4A, allowing at least two months from the new service date.
Read more: What is a Section 13 notice?
The two months runs from the date the notice is served. Form 4A expects landlords to be able to evidence service, so record how and when each notice was served and keep the proof.
Read more: How much notice for a rent increase?
The increase does not lawfully take effect, and the notice is open to challenge. Form 4A expressly tells tenants they can refer a notice to the First-tier Tribunal where there is a problem with it, and it gives short notice as its example.
Read more: How much notice for a rent increase?
Yes. Two calendar months from the date of service. A notice served on 7 July supports a start date no earlier than 7 September, and there is no penalty for giving more. Anchor the start date to the first day of a rent period.
Read more: How much notice for a rent increase?
The timing rules work from when the rent last actually increased. Form 4A question 4.3 records that date, while question 4.4 records the earlier reference date used for the 52-versus-53-week check. Where a tribunal decision has delayed an increase, work from the date the new rent actually took effect, and check all the timing conditions before serving the next notice.
Read more: How often can rent be increased?
No. An increase requires a Section 13 notice on Form 4A. Once a notice has been served, landlord and tenant can agree in writing to vary what it proposed: a rent lower than the figure on the notice, no change at all, or a later start date, never a higher figure. The agreement has to be recorded in writing, or the rent on the notice takes effect regardless.
Read more: How often can rent be increased?
They converted to assured periodic tenancies automatically and follow the same once-a-year rules. A Section 13 notice served before 1 May 2026 continues under the old rules until it is resolved.
Read more: How often can rent be increased?
No. The ONS Price Index of Private Rents is a mix-adjusted average across a local authority's whole rented stock, so it is context rather than a valuation of any one property. Open market rent is what a specific property would let for, judged on its own evidence.
Read more: What is open market rent?
Yes, and the Act made it easier. Within the first six months of a new tenancy in England, a tenant can refer the starting rent to the First-tier Tribunal. The old test was whether the rent was significantly higher than comparable properties; now it is simply the open market rent, the same test that applies to a Section 13 increase. Evidence the figure on a new let as carefully as you would an increase.
Read more: What is open market rent?
No. A listing shows what a landlord is asking, not what the property actually let for, and the statutory test is the open market rent. Saved portal listings are useful context in an evidence pack, but weight your case towards achieved lettings of similar nearby homes.
Read more: Evidence for a rent increase
No. The ONS Price Index of Private Rents shows average rent movement across a local authority's whole rented stock, so it is context rather than a valuation of an individual property. Use it alongside comparable evidence, never instead of it.
Read more: Evidence for a rent increase
Widen the evidence base. In MarketRent you can add third-party comparable data and saved portal listings alongside your own portfolio, and completed reviews sync back in as comparables, so the pack strengthens with every cycle.
Read more: Evidence for a rent increase
Because PIPR measures the whole rented stock, including sitting tenants and renewals, while portal indices track newly advertised lets only. In a rising market the stock average moves more slowly, so PIPR usually reads lower. The two answer different questions.
Read more: What is PIPR?
Local authority is the finest published geography in England, with no postcode or street-level series. Sub-regional figures are smoothed over three months, and the City of London and the Isles of Scilly are not published because collection volumes are too low.
Read more: What is PIPR?
No. The latest two months of UK estimates are provisional and revised monthly, though ONS analysis suggests the annual rate typically moves by no more than 0.02 percentage points on revision.
Read more: What is PIPR?
No. The Act makes them of no effect automatically, so there is nothing to redraft mid-tenancy. Any increase now has to go through a Section 13 notice on Form 4A, whatever the agreement says.
Read more: Rent review clauses
No. Index-linked terms are rent-increase provisions, so they have no effect. A written agreement is only valid after a Section 13 notice has been served. Once one has been served, landlord and tenant can agree in writing to vary what it proposed: a rent lower than the figure on the notice, no change at all, or a later start date, never a higher figure. The agreement has to be recorded in writing, or the rent on the notice takes effect regardless.
Read more: Rent review clauses
Not yet. Social housing tenancies sit outside the new Section 13 process and keep Form 4 and contractual increase terms for now, with reforms due to extend to the social sector in 2027.
Read more: Rent review clauses
No. The tribunal decides the open market rent but cannot go above the rent proposed on the Form 4A notice. That is a change from the old rules, under which it could set a higher figure.
Read more: Tribunal challenges
No. If the tribunal decides after the proposed start date, the new rent runs from the first rent period on or after the decision, and the tenant pays the existing rent until then.
Read more: Tribunal challenges
The application fee is £47 for notices dated on or after 1 May 2026, with Help with Fees available on low incomes. Notices dated before 1 May 2026 carry no fee.
Read more: Tribunal challenges
Yes, with permission. The tribunal sends both parties a written decision, and a party who does not agree with it can apply for permission to appeal, giving reasons why they disagree.
Read more: Tribunal challenges
No. The existing rent stays due and payable throughout the challenge; only the proposed increase waits. If the decision comes after the proposed start date, the new rent starts from the first rent period on or after the decision.
Read more: Tribunal challenges
No. The Renters' Rights Act 2025 sets no percentage cap and no index link. The benchmark is the open market rent, and the controls are procedural, one increase a year, at least two months' notice, and the tenant's right to refer the figure to the First-tier Tribunal.
Read more: How much can rent increase?
No. When a tenant refers a Section 13 notice, the tribunal sets the open market rent if that is lower than the proposed figure, and otherwise the proposed figure itself. It can never go above the notice, and the increase is not backdated.
Read more: How much can rent increase?
No. The ONS Price Index of Private Rents is an average across a local authority's whole rented stock, so it is context rather than a limit. A specific property can defensibly rise by more or less than the average, depending on the evidence.
Read more: How much can rent increase?
From the assured tenancy forms page on GOV.UK. It is a free nine-page PDF, current version 05.26, listed with the other private rented sector forms. Form 4, on the same page, is now for social housing only.
Read more: Where to get and complete Form 4A
Yes. The form's own notes say it can be completed and signed electronically or by hand, and the signature block accepts either the landlord or the landlord's agent. Joint landlords either each sign or agree that one signs on behalf of them all.
Read more: Where to get and complete Form 4A
Serve again on a corrected Form 4A. A defective notice is open to challenge at the First-tier Tribunal, and the fresh notice needs its own start date at least two months after the new service date, so an error usually costs at least one rent period.
Read more: Where to get and complete Form 4A
No. Form 4A is prescribed for private assured tenancies in England. Wales uses form RHW12 under the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016, and Scotland uses the prescribed rent-increase notice under the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016.
Read more: England, Wales, and Scotland
At least two months in England and Wales, and at least three months in Scotland. In England the new rent must also start on the first day of a rent period.
Read more: England, Wales, and Scotland
In England the tenant can apply to the First-tier Tribunal before the new rent starts. In Scotland the tenant can refer the increase to a rent officer within 21 days. In Wales the Act gives the contract-holder no equivalent referral route against the figure.
Read more: England, Wales, and Scotland
Yes, where each room is let on its own assured tenancy. Section 13 operates per tenancy, so every room tenancy needs its own notice with its own rent figure and its own dates. A joint tenancy of the whole property needs one notice covering its single rent.
Read more: Section 13 for HMOs
Usually not. A tenancy granted by a resident landlord is generally not assured, and a lodger who shares accommodation with a resident landlord typically holds an excluded tenancy or licence. Section 13 only applies to assured tenancies, so a lodger's rent changes according to the agreement between the parties, not through Form 4A.
Read more: Section 13 for HMOs
It can be. If the room is let to an individual who occupies it as their only or principal home, sharing a kitchen or bathroom with other tenants does not prevent an assured tenancy. Section 3 of the Housing Act 1988 deems the room a dwelling-house let on an assured tenancy in that situation.
Read more: Section 13 for HMOs
Form 4A can be completed and signed electronically, and its guidance is to use a service method specified in the written tenancy agreement where one exists. If the agreement does not specify one, the form points to handing the notice to the tenant in person, leaving it at the tenant's address, or sending it by registered post. Keep evidence of service whichever method you use.
Read more: Ways to serve a Section 13 notice
No. The landlord or their letting agent can complete and serve Form 4A themselves, and the form includes a dedicated agent section. A solicitor earns their fee where the tenancy's status is unclear, service is likely to be disputed, or the case is heading for litigation.
Read more: Ways to serve a Section 13 notice
A notice that is not on Form 4A or fails the date tests is not a valid Section 13 notice, so the increase does not lawfully take effect. The safe course is to serve again on Form 4A with dates that pass all three tests, which restarts the two-month clock.
Read more: Ways to serve a Section 13 notice
In practice, yes. Section 13 of the Housing Act 1988 is the legal route to a rent increase, and Form 4A is the prescribed form a Section 13 notice must be served on in England's private rented sector since 1 May 2026.
Read more: Rent review glossary
No. It covers England's regime under the Housing Act 1988 as amended by the Renters' Rights Act 2025. Wales varies rent with form RHW12 under the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016, and Scotland has its own separate system.
Read more: Rent review glossary
The first day of the recurring interval the rent is paid for. On a monthly tenancy running from the 20th, a Section 13 increase must take effect on a 20th, not part-way through the month.
Read more: Rent review glossary
Data and analysis
No. PIPR is a mix-adjusted average across a local authority's whole rented stock. It shows how average rents have moved, while the statutory benchmark for a rent review is the open market rent of the specific property.
Read more: Rent indexation, honestly
£1,451 a month, up 3.8% in the 12 months to July 2026, per the ONS August 2026 release. The regional spread is wide, from 6.3% annual inflation in the North East to 2.9% in the South East, and figures update monthly.
Read more: Rent indexation, honestly
As context alongside comparables, never instead of them. Record the series, geography, months used, dataset edition, and provisional status so the working is auditable, and present the result as a reference point rather than a valuation.
Read more: Rent indexation, honestly
No. Rent review and indexation clauses have had no effect since 1 May 2026, including in agreements signed before the Act. The only lawful route to an increase on a private assured tenancy in England is a Section 13 notice on Form 4A.
Read more: What changed on 1 May 2026
No. A Section 13 notice served before 1 May 2026 continues under the previous rules until it is resolved, and the £47 tribunal fee is waived for notices dated before that day. Anything served on or after 1 May 2026 must be on Form 4A.
Read more: What changed on 1 May 2026
Manual workload. Across 21 recorded conversations with 20 agencies, it topped the list, raised by 10 of 20 agencies, ahead of CRM gaps, tribunal exposure, and thin comparable evidence.
Read more: What agents say about rent reviews
Every private assured tenancy in England is now periodic, and the only lawful route to an increase is a Section 13 notice on Form 4A, served at least two months ahead and no more than once a year. With fixed terms gone, the annual statutory cycle carries the whole managed book.
Read more: What agents say about rent reviews
The tenancy start date and the dates of past rent increases. Form 4A asks for them because they drive the statutory timing rules, and seven agencies said those fields are often not in their CRM at all.
Read more: What agents say about rent reviews
In 75% of 667 comparable published pre-Act cases, the First-tier Tribunal set the rent below the landlord's notice figure. It confirmed the figure as asked in 17% of cases and set it higher in 8%, an outcome the new rules have removed.
Read more: What tribunal decisions tell agents
In the published pre-Act record, the median wait from application to decision was 124 days (n=604), and decisions landed a median of 89 days after the proposed start date on the notice (n=1,017). Under the new rules an increase is never backdated, so time spent waiting past the start date is income lost for good.
Read more: What tribunal decisions tell agents
No. Only 4 of the 1,077 extracted decisions arise from notices served under the new Act, far too few to show a pattern. We will publish an update when enough post-Act decisions have been published to carry one.
Read more: What tribunal decisions tell agents
Yes. Form 4A has a dedicated agent section, and the notice can be completed and signed electronically or by hand, by the landlord or the agent. Most managed landlords never touch the form; the agent runs the process and reports back.
Read more: A landlord's guide to rent increases
The existing rent stays payable. If the decision comes after the proposed start date, the new rent runs from the first rent period on or after the decision, so the increase is never backdated to the date on the notice.
Read more: A landlord's guide to rent increases
Using MarketRent
No. MarketRent sits alongside your existing workflow. Your CRM remains your core property system, and MarketRent adds the rent review workflow, evidence gathering, landlord and tenant communication, and the audit trail on top.
Read more: Connect your CRM data
Your whole portfolio syncs in when you first connect. After that it refreshes overnight, so a change made in your CRM today shows in MarketRent tomorrow morning. The outcome of each completed review is written back to your CRM.
Read more: Connect your CRM data
MarketRent works with most major property CRMs, and we bring your portfolio across as part of onboarding. Talk to us on your demo call about your system.
Read more: Connect your CRM data
Two versions of your logo, a main logo at 3:1 and a square version at 1:1, plus your three brand colours. Upload them under Brand in Settings.
Read more: Brand your evidence pack
Yes, once customer branding is enabled. The evidence packs sent to landlords and tenants then carry the branding you uploaded, and your logos and colours also apply across the app.
Read more: Brand your evidence pack
No. Sent documents cannot be edited and are not rebuilt if the underlying data changes. To correct one, re-issue it as a new document; the original stays on the record, which keeps your audit trail intact.
Read more: Brand your evidence pack
Three months before the review is due, by default. Change the review offset in Settings to flag reviews as early as your team needs.
Read more: Review flagging and chase emails
MarketRent tracks the wait for you. Once a status change has gone unanswered for your chosen number of business days, the chase falls due and the review is flagged to its property manager. Sending the chase stays a human decision.
Read more: Review flagging and chase emails
Yes. Every automated landlord and tenant email is editable in Settings, and the default templates are deliberately brief.
Read more: Review flagging and chase emails
No. You decide the figure. The index shows the average movement in local rents, and the statutory benchmark is the open market rent for the property itself, decided by the First-tier Tribunal if the tenant challenges.
Read more: Add PIPR indexation
Yes, though PIPR is the recommended default. An absolute indexation option is also available, and your agency-wide default in Settings decides which one property managers start from.
Read more: Add PIPR indexation
The ONS publishes PIPR monthly, and the latest two months are provisional and revised monthly. MarketRent presents indexation alongside comparable evidence rather than as a standalone answer.
Read more: Add PIPR indexation
Only if the rent is changing. Since 1 May 2026 an increase on a private assured tenancy in England can only take effect through a Section 13 notice on prescribed Form 4A, so any agreed increase still needs one. A review that ends with no change has nothing to serve. See What is a Section 13 notice? for the detail.
Read more: Run a rent review start to finish
Silence is the most common response. MarketRent flags the review for a chase after a set number of business days with no reply, three by default, and chasing stays your decision. You can change the timing in Settings, covered in review flagging and chase emails.
Read more: Run a rent review start to finish
The review moves to awaiting next review and resurfaces automatically for the following year. By default it is flagged three months before it is due, the review offset, which you can change in Settings.
Read more: Run a rent review start to finish
No. The Section 13 notice is the only route to an increase. Once a notice has been served, landlord and tenant can agree in writing to vary what it proposed: a rent lower than the figure on the notice, no change at all, or a later start date, never a higher figure. The agreement has to be recorded in writing, or the rent on the notice takes effect regardless.
Read more: Serve a Section 13 notice
If the tribunal receives no application before the start date and nothing different is agreed in writing, the proposed rent takes effect from the start date on the notice.
Read more: Serve a Section 13 notice
About MarketRent
MarketRent is the operating system for rent reviews in England: one workflow from evidence gathering through landlord approval and tenant communication to a documented outcome. About seven minutes a review, and anyone on the team can run it. You decide the figure; MarketRent builds the process and the record around it.
Read more: the MarketRent homepage
It prepares and sends the Section 13 notice on the current Form 4A, and blocks invalid dates: the 52-week rule, the rent-period start date, and the notice period are all checked before anything goes out. How the in-force rules work is covered in our guide to rent reviews under the Renters' Rights Act.
Read more: the MarketRent homepage
MarketRent assembles them for you, from five sources. Recent lettings and completed reviews from your own book, which are the strongest evidence you have and the first thing MarketRent reaches for. Listings you have saved from the portals. Wider-market evidence through Sprift, for when your own book is thin in an area. The ONS rent index, for how the local market has moved. And published EPC records, so a comparable is matched on what a property actually is rather than just where it sits. You can also add comparables by hand at any point. They all land in the same evidence pack behind the figure you propose, which is what a landlord sees when you explain the number, and what stands behind it if the rent is ever questioned.
Read more: the MarketRent homepage
Yes. Your portfolio syncs in through the CRM connection: a full sync when you connect, then a nightly refresh, and review outcomes are written back. See integrations for what syncs and how the connection works.
Read more: the MarketRent homepage
Connect your CRM, choose your defaults (branding, templates, rent index and review flagging), then run one review end to end. Your first review can happen in your first week, run by whoever will actually be doing them.
Read more: the MarketRent homepage
No. You decide the figure. MarketRent is not a valuation calculator: it brings the market context and comparable evidence together around your figure, so the number you propose is supported, documented and easy to explain.
Read more: the MarketRent homepage
Pricing depends on your agency and portfolio. Book a demo or get in touch, and we will set out pricing for you.
Read more: the MarketRent homepage
Yes. You can try MarketRent before you are billed, with no payment details up front. How the trial works, and your pricing, is agreed on your demo call.
Read more: the MarketRent homepage
The product
No. A valuation calculator answers one question. MarketRent runs the whole review, from due date to documented outcome, which is what turns about an hour of work into about seven minutes.
Read more: the product page
Yes. You draft and send the notice from the review itself, and MarketRent validates the statutory dates first (the 52-week rule, the rent-period start date, and the notice period), blocking anything invalid. Sent documents cannot be edited; re-issuing creates a new document, so the audit trail holds.
Read more: the product page
No, it does not file applications on your behalf. It builds the case-ready documentation that would support one: the evidence pack, the process record, and a summary of how the outcome was reached. The aim is that you never need it.
Read more: the product page
No. MarketRent supports process and evidence management. It does not provide legal advice. Agents should seek independent legal guidance where needed.
Read more: the product page
Why MarketRent
Because since 1 May 2026 every assured tenancy in England's private rented sector is periodic and every rent increase runs through the statutory Section 13 process on Form 4A: at least two months' notice, once a year, challengeable at tribunal. That is a workflow change as much as a legal one, and it repeats for every tenancy, every year. Our rent reviews guide covers the rules in full.
Read more: Why letting agents choose MarketRent
A defective notice is open to referral: Form 4A itself invites tenants to refer a notice to the Tribunal if, for example, it gave less than two months' notice. MarketRent validates the dates before anything is served and keeps a record of every document sent.
Read more: Why letting agents choose MarketRent
Because when a rent is challenged the figure only holds if the evidence behind it stands up, and the better outcome is that it is never challenged. Before the Act, tribunals set the rent below the landlord's notice figure in 75% of comparable cases (MarketRent analysis of published First-tier Tribunal decisions: pre-May-2026 private-landlord cases, n=667). Under the in-force rules the Tribunal can only confirm or lower your figure, never raise it.
Read more: Why letting agents choose MarketRent
In published pre-Act cases the median wait from tribunal application to decision was 124 days (MarketRent analysis of published First-tier Tribunal decisions, n=604). Increases are no longer backdated, so the old rent stays payable until the decision. Being right about the figure does not get that income back.
Read more: Why letting agents choose MarketRent
Letting agents in England running rent reviews under the Renters' Rights Act: agents who want time back to spend on winning instructions, a clear way to demonstrate their value to landlords, and an evidence-led rent review process that avoids tribunal delays.
Read more: Why letting agents choose MarketRent
MarketRent was founded by Rajeev Nayyar and Duncan Careless, after more than a decade building software for UK lettings. The full story is on our about page.
Read more: Why letting agents choose MarketRent
Integrations
MarketRent integrates with most major property CRMs. Request the connection, your whole portfolio syncs in, and it refreshes nightly. We are onboarding agencies in cohorts as each integration goes live, so get in touch and we will confirm where yours sits.
Read more: CRM integrations for rent reviews
Property addresses and references, current rent and frequency, the tenancy and rent dates your CRM holds, landlord and tenant records with contact details, and property type and bedrooms where available. Synced tenancies are categorised automatically as reviewable, let-only, or vacating, so your review list is ready to work from on day one.
Read more: CRM integrations for rent reviews
We are onboarding agencies in cohorts as each CRM integration goes live. Get in touch and tell us which CRM you run, and we will let you know as soon as yours is ready and bring you into that cohort.
Read more: CRM integrations for rent reviews
Five sources: your own portfolio (completed reviews and lets can sync in automatically), listings you save from the portals, Sprift for property data and wider-market evidence, the ONS rent index for local-authority context, and published EPC records. You can also select comparables by hand.
Read more: CRM integrations for rent reviews
Further integrations with software, data, and tenancy referencing providers are planned over the course of 2026. We prioritise the connections agencies ask for most. If yours is missing, tell us.
Read more: CRM integrations for rent reviews
Pricing
Pricing depends on your agency and the size of your portfolio. Book a demo or register your interest and we will set it out for you. The exact figure is confirmed on the call and in your order form.
Read more: Book a demo
By Direct Debit. Your contract details sit in the order form you review and accept during setup, and nothing is billed before you have accepted it.
Read more: Book a demo
Yes. The Free Rent Indexation Tool is free with no account needed, whether or not your agency uses the platform. It gives a reference point, not a review.
Read more: Book a demo
Terms are agreed before anything is billed: what you would pay, and when, is set out on your demo call and confirmed in your order form.
Read more: Book a demo
The Free Rent Indexation Tool
It turns published ONS data into an indexed rent reference point. Enter a postcode, property details and the current rent, and you get an indexed figure and range with local-authority context.
Read more: the Free Rent Indexation Tool
No. The index shows how rents across the local authority have moved on average; it never values one property. It frames the conversation. Your figure still rests on comparables, condition and local factors, and on your judgement.
Read more: the Free Rent Indexation Tool
Published ONS rental data: the Price Index of Private Rents, the UK's official rent statistics, published monthly down to local-authority level in England. PIPR measures the whole rented stock, not just new lets, and it is published periodically, so it can lag the latest market conditions. That is why comparables sit alongside it in a full review.
Read more: the Free Rent Indexation Tool
No. The tool is free, with no account needed. It is separate from the MarketRent platform, which runs the whole review.
Read more: the Free Rent Indexation Tool
No. The tool is for England only. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland operate under different legislative and data frameworks.
Read more: the Free Rent Indexation Tool
Because an index shows the average movement in local rents, not a valuation of a property: street, condition and features are not in a local-authority average. The range frames the conversation; comparable evidence of similar nearby lettings does the rest. Our rent reviews guide covers how the two fit together.
Read more: the Free Rent Indexation Tool
Put the rules to work across your portfolio
Reading the rules is one thing; running them over every tenancy, every year, is another. MarketRent checks the statutory dates, builds the evidence, and documents every step.