Section 13 Notice: Rent Increase Rules for Landlords and Tenants

You let a home in England, the tenant has been there a year or more, and the rent has not moved. Similar homes nearby now let for more. A section 13 notice is the formal way to propose a higher rent.

For most private tenancies, the notice is Form 4A. It has to reach the tenant at least two months before the new rent starts, and the rent can go up no more than once every 52 weeks. If you are the tenant and one has just arrived, the date that matters most is the start date written in the notice.

Article updated: November 2026

What Is a Section 13 Notice?

A section 13 notice is a landlord's rent increase notice, proposing a new rent under section 13 of the Housing Act 1988. The Renters' Rights Act 2025 changed the rules for private assured tenancies in England from 1 May 2026. Social housing let by a private registered provider, such as a housing association, is on a different timetable.

A small number of private tenancies are still on the old rules for now. They are ones where a section 8 or section 21 notice served before 1 May 2026 is still going through the possession process, as set out in Schedule 6 of the Renters' Rights Act 2025. GOV.UK's forms guidance explains which forms those cases use and when they move to the new rules.

For a private assured tenancy in England, the notice is Form 4A, apart from those saved cases. A private assured agricultural occupancy uses Form 5A. Social housing assured tenancies let by housing associations and other private registered providers keep the rules from before 1 May 2026, including Form 4, until October 2027, according to government guidance on social housing. From then, a rent increase by notice moves to a separate rule, section 13A, with at least one month's notice.

When Can a Landlord Increase Rent?

No more than once every 52 weeks, and the first rise cannot start until 52 weeks after the tenancy's first rent period began. Those limits come from section 13(2), which also requires at least two months' notice.

Section 13 sets no percentage limit on how much the rent can go up. The check on the amount is the tribunal, which decides the open-market rent for the home if the tenant challenges.

Form 4A's notes turn the timing into three tests. The new rent can only start on a day that passes all three:

1. It is at least two months after the notice is served.
2. It is at least 52 weeks after the tenancy's first rent period began or, for a later rise, after the last increase took effect. Sometimes the gap has to be 53 weeks.
3. It falls on a rent day, meaning the first day of a rent period. In the form's own example, a monthly tenancy that started on the 20th has its new rent start on the 20th.

The extra week stops the increase date creeping earlier each year, because 52 weeks is slightly less than a calendar year. It applies when 52 weeks would put the new rent more than six days before the anniversary of the first increase made after 11 February 2003, the date the rule began.

Put together, the earliest start is the first rent day on or after both the two-month mark and the 52-week mark, or the 53-week mark where the extra week applies.

Notices served before the Renters' Rights Act changes still count. Government guidance for tenants says a Form 4 notice served before 1 May 2026 keeps its notice period and its increase, even if the new rent starts after that date, and the tenant can still challenge it. Where such a notice proposed a rent starting on or after 1 May 2026, and immediately before 1 May 2026 the tenant could still challenge it or was waiting for a tribunal decision, the 2026 commencement regulations keep the old challenge rules for it. The newer limits on what a tenant pays after a challenge apply to notices under the new rules.

How to Issue a Section 13 Notice

To issue a section 13 notice on a private assured tenancy in England under the new rules, the landlord fills in Form 4A and serves it on the tenant. Form 4A asks for these details about the rent:

• the current rent and how often it is paid
• the date the tenancy started
• the date of the most recent increase, if there has been one
• the date of the first increase after 11 February 2003, which decides whether 52 or 53 weeks apply
• the proposed new rent
• the date the new rent starts
• any bills included in the rent, such as council tax, water or energy

If the tenant challenges the figure, it is measured against what the home could let for on the open market, on the same tenancy terms, under section 14.

GOV.UK's tenant guidance lists three ways to give the notice: in person, by post, or by email if the tenancy agreement allows it. The form's note to landlords adds that the landlord needs to be able to show the notice was served, using any method the written tenancy agreement names.

HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) lists five things a valid section 13 notice must do:

• give at least two months' notice
• not increase the rent within 52 weeks of the last increase
• start the increase on the correct date
• include the tenant's correct details, such as name and address
• be on the correct form and signed by the landlord

Each point is something a tenant can raise at the tribunal, which makes the list a quick check on a finished notice.

The Role of Tenancy Agreements in Rent Increases

A tenancy agreement can no longer raise the rent on its own. Section 6 of the Renters' Rights Act 2025 means a rent review clause or a separate agreement cannot push the rent up on a private assured tenancy covered by the new rules.

Even if the tenant agrees to pay more, the rise only counts if it goes through Form 4A. Under section 13(4A), the rent can go up only through a section 13 notice or a tribunal decision. After a notice or a decision, the two sides can still agree a lower figure.

The same changes made existing and new private assured tenancies periodic, meaning they roll on with no fixed end date, apart from the saved cases above. Social housing assured tenancies were left out, according to the 2026 commencement regulations.

The agreement still sets the rent day, which is the only day a new rent can start, and whether email counts as a way to serve the notice.

Two transition rules cover rent review clauses on private assured tenancies under the new rules:

• A rent review increase agreed before 1 May 2026 but due to start after it does not apply, according to government guidance.
• If a rent review clause raised the rent before 1 May 2026, a section 13 notice served on or after that date cannot make the next rise start until at least 52 weeks after the earlier one. That is regulation 7 of the same commencement regulations.

Challenging a Rent Increase

A tenant who thinks the proposed rent is too high can apply to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber), as long as the application goes in before the start date in the notice. That deadline comes from HMCTS guidance. Until the tribunal decides, the tenant does not have to pay the new rent, as Form 4A tells tenants.

A challenge to the rent can be made online or on form MR1, but a challenge only to whether the notice is valid has to use the paper MR1, and HMCTS lists the fee as £47. There is no fee for a notice dated before 1 May 2026 or for a social rented home, and help with fees may be available.

If the tenant also says the notice is not valid, the tribunal decides that first. HMCTS says an invalid notice gets no rent decision, and the tenant does not need to pay the proposed rent.

If the notice is valid, the tribunal decides the open-market rent. Under section 14, that is what the home could be expected to let for on the open market, on the same terms as the existing tenancy apart from the rent. It is not an average of local rents.

HMCTS asks applicants for rents from similar nearby homes, and says actual agreed lettings carry more weight than figures from letting agents or property websites. It also asks about the home's features and any repairs or improvements. Form 4A adds that the tribunal can consider the condition of the property.

For a notice under the new rules, the tenant never pays more than the landlord proposed, even though Form 4A says the tribunal's figure might be higher. Under the new section 14ZB, the rent payable is the lower of the two.

The same section sets the start date. If the decision comes before the proposed start date, the new rent starts on the date in the notice. If it comes after, the rent normally starts on the first rent day on or after the decision. The tribunal can set a later date if the usual one would cause the tenant undue hardship, but that date must fall within two months of its decision.

Implications of the Section 13 Notice for Landlords and Tenants

For landlords, section 13 turns the rent into a once-a-year decision on a fixed calendar. A notice served a few days too late for one rent day has to name a later one.

Under the new rules, the figure in the notice works as a ceiling: section 14ZB means the tenant never pays more than it, whatever the tribunal finds.

A landlord can propose a rise for any reason. If it is challenged, section 14 points the tribunal at the open market, not at the landlord's own costs, such as a higher mortgage payment.

The rent can change only once in 52 weeks, while the mortgage, tax and running costs can change during the year. That gap is one part of whether buy-to-let is worth it.

For tenants, GOV.UK's tenant guidance sets out at least two months' warning and no more than one rise a year. The HMCTS guidance explains how a tenant can ask the tribunal to check both the paperwork and the figure.

Section 13 Notices: Details

The current text of section 13 is mostly about timing. It also sets two further rules. An assured agricultural occupancy uses the first anniversary of the tenancy, rather than 52 weeks, for its first rise. And the new rent takes effect on the date in the notice unless, before then, the tenant applies to the tribunal or the two sides agree a lower rent or no rise at all.

Older guides describe the law before 1 May 2026, when the notice period depended on how often rent was paid. That meant one month for a monthly tenancy. Contractual periodic tenancies with their own binding rent review clause sat outside section 13. For a private tenancy outside the saved cases, a guide that quotes one month's notice for a monthly tenancy today is quoting the old rule.

Case Study: Rent Increases in Practice

This is a made-up example that uses only the date rules in section 13 and the Form 4A notes.

A monthly tenancy of a flat starts on 20 June 2026, with rent due on the 20th of each month. 52 weeks later is 19 June 2027, and the new rent has to start on a rent day, so the earliest possible first increase is 20 June 2027.

The landlord serves Form 4A by hand on 1 April 2027, naming 20 June 2027 as the start date. That is more than two months' notice, so all three tests pass.

If the tenant does nothing before 20 June 2027, the new rent starts that day. The next increase can start no earlier than 52 weeks later, which is 18 June 2028. That moves to the next rent day, 20 June 2028.

If the tenant applies to the tribunal before 20 June 2027 and the decision arrives on 5 August 2027, the rent normally changes on the next rent day, 20 August 2027. The new figure is the tribunal's open-market rent or the landlord's proposal, whichever is lower. If the rent goes up, the 52-week clock for the next increase then runs from 20 August 2027.

FAQ

Why Section 13 Rent Increases Matter

On a private assured tenancy covered by section 13, a section 13 rent increase is now the only way to raise the rent, apart from the saved cases above.

For landlords, the Form 4A cycle is now part of the yearly routine of owning an investment property in England. Form 4A asks when the tenancy started and when the rent went up before. Those dates, the rent day and the date the notice is served set the earliest day the next rise can start. A landlord checks them before serving a notice. A buyer can check them before buying a home with a tenant in place, such as buy to let property for sale or below market value properties sold with the tenancy running.

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