A Section 13 notice is how a landlord proposes a new rent for a tenancy. The prescribed form is Form 4A.
Who this is for: letting agencies and landlords.
The Form 4A, filled from the tenancy and the review.
What you are deciding
The date the new rent should start, given when you can serve.
Your options
- At least two months after service. The start date must leave the minimum notice. Serve later and the earliest start date moves later too.
- The first day of a rent period. If rent is due on the 1st of each month, the new rent starts on a 1st.
- At least 52 weeks since the tenancy began or the last increase. A start date inside that time is refused.
How to do it
- Start a rent review and settle the figure.
- Get the landlord's approval if this property needs it.
- Generate Form 4A from the review.
- Compare it with the current Form 4A on GOV.UK, sign it, serve it and record how it was served.
A worked example
Rent is £1,250.00 a month, due on the 1st, on a tenancy that began on Saturday 1 March 2025. The proposal is £1,325.00. Form 4A is handed to the tenant on Wednesday 4 November 2026, so it counts as served that day. Two months on is Monday 4 January 2027; the next first day of a rent period is Monday 1 February 2027, so that is the earliest start date Abide.Rent accepts. A start date of Friday 1 January 2027 is refused for too little notice.
What Abide.Rent does for you
- Checks the notice period, the rent period and the 52-week gap before generating the notice.
- Fills Form 4A with the rent the landlord approved.
- Says which check a date fails, so you can choose another.
If something goes wrong
- “Only one increase can be proposed in 52 weeks.”
What to do: The last increase took effect less than 52 weeks before the start date. Choose a later start. - “Increase must start at the beginning of a tenancy period (note A4).”
What to do: Choose the day rent is due as the start date. - “Form 4A lists council tax, water, fuel, communication services and fixed service charges only.”
What to do: Only those bills go in question 4.7; leave others out. - “Form 4A waits on an acknowledgment that the prescribed form has been checked”
What to do: Tick that you have checked the form, then sign.
Common mistakes
- Using Form 4A to seek possession for arrears. That is a Section 8 notice on Ground 8.
- Proposing more than you can support. The tribunal cannot set a rent higher than the one in the notice.
- Serving a notice printed weeks ago. Generate it again so it uses the current official form.
What to do next
Keep reading
All help articlesMore in Notices
Following a tribunal referralFrom the tenant's application to the decision: record the directions, prepare and send your statement, and keep track of an inspection or hearing.
Generate and serve a noticeCreate a rent increase notice or a possession notice for a property, check it, sign it and serve it.
Why is my notice date being rejected?Abide.Rent checks the start date of a new rent three ways. Here is what each message means and how to fix it.