Section 13 notice: how to raise the rent in 2026

Quick answer

To raise the rent on an assured periodic tenancy in England, serve a Section 13 notice on the prescribed form. The new rent can start no earlier than the later of two dates: two months after the notice is treated as served, and 52 weeks after the rent last changed. It then moves to the start of a rent period. The tenant can refer the increase to the First-tier Tribunal before it takes effect.

What changed on 1 May 2026

The tenancy reforms took effect on 1 May 2026. Section 21 ended. Fixed terms became assured periodic tenancies.

Section 13 became the way to increase the rent. At most once every 52 weeks, with at least two months’ notice.

Filling in the form is the easy part. Plenty of tools do it. The work is making sure the figure, the date and the proof of service hold up if the tenant challenges.

The two dates that set the earliest new rent

Work out both dates. The later one wins.

• Two months after the notice is treated as served.
• 52 weeks after the rent last changed — by a Section 13 increase, a tribunal-set rent, or the start of the tenancy.
• Then move forward to the start of the next rent period (the rent day).

Selling the property does not restart the 52 weeks. Nor does changing agent. The clock runs from when the last increase took effect, not from when its notice was served.

A notice that never took effect can be served again. You lose the two months’ notice — and longer if nobody spots the defect until the tribunal.

Put your own dates into the free Section 13 rent increase calculator. It shows the earliest start date and the last day the tenant can apply to the tribunal.

How the service method moves the date

The two months run from when the notice is treated as served. That depends on how you serve it.

• By hand, to the tenant or left at the property: treated as served the same day.
• First-class post: treated, conservatively, as served on the second working day after posting.
• Email: only if the tenant agreed in writing to email service. Treated, conservatively, as served on the second working day after sending.

A weekend or bank holiday can cost several days. If it pushes the date past a rent day, it can cost a whole month.

Serve every tenant named on the tenancy. Keep a copy of exactly what was served, not a later edit.

The form

Form 4A is the prescribed form for a Section 13 rent increase (SI 2026/354). Abide.Rent uses the current GOV.UK version.

The form states the current rent, the proposed rent and the date the new rent starts. If that date is too early, the notice may never take effect.

Price it before you serve

The tribunal cannot set a rent higher than the one you proposed. Asking for more than the market will bear does not protect you. Evidence protects your figure. It does not raise it.

In Abide.Rent’s analysis of the first 77 tribunal decisions under the new rules, 60% set the rent below the landlord’s proposal, 40% confirmed it, and the median cut was 5%. In 18%, the rent did not go up at all. On a £1,500 rent proposed at £1,650, a 5% cut is about £990 in the first year. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Check the figure first with the rent increase tribunal risk checker.

Section 13 checklist

• Current rent, and the date it last changed.
• Proposed rent, backed by your own achieved lettings nearby.
• Landlord approval on the record.
• Every joint tenant identified and named.
• Form checked against the gov.uk prescribed-forms library.
• Service method chosen, and proof kept: a photo, a certificate of posting, or the sent email plus the tenant’s written consent.
• Earliest start date and the tribunal deadline in the diary.

The full process, step by step, is in the free Section 13 rent review playbook.

Where Abide.Rent fits

Rent reviews in Abide.Rent work out the 52 weeks from the file and flag a date that looks too early. The landlord approves on the record. You send the notice. We keep how it was sent, whether the email was reported as opened, and when the tenant confirmed.

What tribunals decided in the first cases under the new rules

Case	Rent: current → proposed → decided	Why
LON/00BB/MRA/2026/0009	£3,103 → £3,180 → £3,180	Nine agreed lettings in the same block beat the tenant’s asking rents
BIR/00CS/MRA/2026/0013	£1,360 → £1,500 → £1,360	Landlord relied on a portal price guide; £47 fee repaid to the tenant
MAN/00BN/MRA/2026/0043	£1,650 → £1,700 → £1,450	Nearby flats advertised for less; the rent went down
HAV/21UD/MRA/2026/0019	£860 → £1,300 → £860	No increase until damp repairs were finished
MAN/00EJ/MRA/2026/0034	£1,200 → £1,700 → £1,300	Per-room student lets were not comparable to a family let
MAN/00BM/MRA/2026/0049	£895 → £925 → £925	Start date moved for hardship after the tenant showed her income and outgoings

Across the 77 new-rules decisions, 60% of rents were set below the proposal and 18% ended with no increase at all. Tribunals need evidence for hardship: ‘a mere assertion of undue hardship would not be sufficient’ (BIR/37UD/MRA/2026/0005, citing Anderson v Kokins & Kokina [2024] UKUT 0091 (LC)).

Source: Abide.Rent analysis of 846 First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) market-rent decisions published on gov.uk between 1 March and 12 October 2026, 79 of them under the rules in force from 1 May 2026.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Abide.Rent tracks this for every property you manage. Free for a month, no card.

Not legal advice.