A Section 13 increase must give the tenant at least two months, counted from the day the notice is served to the day the new rent starts. The start date must also be the first day of a rental period.
Who this is for: letting agencies and landlords.
Serve notice: the notice period, in months.
What you are deciding
The earliest valid start date for the new rent.
Your options
- Serve by hand or email. Counts as served that day, if the email service is agreed in writing.
- Serve by first-class post. Counts as served on the second working day after posting.
- Choose a later start. Any start date after the minimum is fine, as long as it begins a rental period.
How to do it
- Open Serve notice for the property.
- Set the notice period in months.
- Read the earliest start date Abide.Rent works out from today.
- If you will post the notice, allow for the posting days.
A worked example
Rent at 12 Walmersley Road is due on the 3rd of each month. A notice posted on Thursday 10 September 2026 counts as served on Monday 14 September. Two months later is 14 November, so the earliest start that begins a rental period is Thursday 3 December 2026, not 14 November.
What Abide.Rent does for you
- Works out the earliest valid start date.
- Refuses a start date that is too early or does not begin a rental period, and says why.
If something goes wrong
- “Section 13 Form 4A needs at least two months' notice, not … weeks (Ground 8 is a different notice).”
What to do: Set the notice in months, at least two.
Common mistakes
- Confusing this with Ground 8's four weeks' notice: they are different notices.
What to do next
Keep reading
All help articlesMore in Notices
Bring past notices and dates onto the recordRecord a notice you served before you used Abide.Rent, a safety record you gave the tenant on paper, or a request received long ago, each with the day it really happened.
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.
Record how a notice was servedRecord the method, the date and any tracking reference. Abide.Rent works out the date a posted notice counts as served.