How the rent band is worked out
The band comes from comparable lettings first, then your own lettings nearby, and only then from an area average, which is not evidence.
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Every rent review shows a band: the range a market rent for the home is likely to fall in. The band always says where it came from.
Who this is for: letting agencies and landlords.
What you are deciding
How much to rely on the band when you choose the figure to propose.
Your options
- Comparable lettings. Where the review, or your comparables for the same district and size, hold enough lettings, the band is built from them. This is evidence.
- Your own lettings. Otherwise, from at least three of your own lettings of the same size, current or ended, started in the last year, in the same postcode district or within two miles of the home. Also evidence.
- Area average (ONS). With too few lettings, the band falls back to the Office for National Statistics' average rent for the area. This is an area average, not evidence.
- Housing allowance rate. Where there is no ONS figure, the Local Housing Allowance rate is shown as a floor. Also not evidence.
Why the source matters
The tribunal decides on lettings of similar homes nearby. An area average describes a whole district, all sizes and conditions together, so it tells you little about one home. When the band says it is an area average, add comparable lettings to the review before relying on it.
Reports that total up possible increases count only reviews backed by evidence. Area-average figures are shown separately as indicative.
A worked example
On Monday 16 November 2026 an agent opens a review for a two-bedroom flat in BL9. At first the band reads £980.00 to £1,120.00, labelled as an area average, because the agency has only two two-bedroom lettings in BL9. She adds an ended letting from 1 March 2026 just over the district line, 1.4 miles away, and two let-agreed letters. The band now reads £1,080.00 to £1,185.00 from comparable lettings, and the area-average note disappears.
What Abide.Rent does for you
- Says on every band which source it came from and whether that source is evidence.
- Uses your ended lettings as well as current ones, and those within two miles across a district line.
- Keeps area-average figures out of the totals of evidence-backed increases.
If something goes wrong
- The band says “This is an area average, not evidence.”
What to do: No comparables or similar lettings of your own were found nearby. Add comparable lettings to the review to base the band on evidence. - The opportunities report shows no £ uplift for a property
What to do: Uplift is only counted where the band comes from evidence. Area-average rows show an indicative figure apart from the total.
Common mistakes
- Quoting an area average to a landlord as the market rent.
- Forgetting ended lettings. A home you let last spring is still good evidence.
- Proposing at the top of an area-average band without any lettings behind it.
What to do next
More in Rent reviews
What the tribunal can and cannot doThe tribunal decides the market rent. It cannot set more than the landlord proposed, cannot backdate, and can delay the start for hardship.
Area statistics and tribunal decisionsArea statistics show what tribunals did in each postcode district. The decisions list holds every published decision. Both show risk, not a rent.
How the rent range is worked outEach rent review shows a defensible range for the home, and where your proposal sits against it, with the evidence behind it.