While there’s no legal cap on how much a private landlord can increase rent, there are still a few things to consider before going ahead with the uptick.
The rules around rent increases can vary depending on where your property is, the type of tenancy you have, and what’s written in your agreement, so it’s worth staying on top of the details.
To help you find the right balance and keep things running smoothly with your tenants, let’s break down the key things to keep in mind when increasing your property’s rent in England.
- How often can a landlord increase rent?
- Increasing rent for periodic and fixed tenancies
- What is a fair rent increase for existing tenants in 2025?
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How often can a landlord increase rent?
Before proposing a rent increase, it’s important to consider how often you’re allowed to do so and how much notice you need to give your tenants.
If your tenants pay rent weekly or monthly, you’re legally required to provide at least one month’s notice before increasing the rent. This isn’t just good practice – it’s necessary.
Now, when it comes to how often you can increase the rent, the general idea is to aim for once a year. However, this can vary depending on the type of tenancy (whether it’s fixed-term or periodic) as well as any rent review clauses in the agreement and whether the tenants agree to the change.
If your tenancy agreement includes a rent review clause, whether for a fixed-term lease or a rolling (periodic) contract, you’ll need to follow the terms set out in that clause. These usually allow for annual rent reviews.
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Increasing rent for periodic and fixed tenancies
For periodic tenancies, it’s generally uncommon to raise the rent more than once a year. Yet, technically, you are allowed to increase the rent more than once a year, if your tenants agree.
In some cases, landlords might implement two increases within a year as a way to gradually align the rent with current market rates.
For fixed-term tenancies, rent can only be increased if the tenancy agreement contains a “rent review clause” or if the tenant agrees to the increase. Without such a clause and without the tenant’s consent, the rent cannot be raised during the fixed term. If a rent review clause is included, the agreement must clearly state when and how the rent increase will occur.
However, if your fixed terms are renewed every six months, you could potentially introduce two rent increases in a year – one with each renewal. This approach allows for smaller, incremental adjustments rather than a single larger increase.
If you’re considering this two-step method, it’s best to have an open and honest discussion with your tenants, explaining that the gradual increase is intended to ease the transition.
Last but not least, you can use a Section 13 notice to raise the rent. Just remember, this can only be done once every 12 months.
What is a fair rent increase for existing tenants in 2025?
While there isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer to this question, a common approach among private landlords is to align rent increases with wage inflation.
By following this approach, a rent increase is also more likely to be manageable for your tenants, reducing the risk of them falling behind on payments.
For example, the ONS said annual pay growth (excl. bonuses), was 5.9% in December 2024 to February 2025. This suggests that a rent increase of around 5% could be reasonable in mid-2025, as it reflects the pace of average wage inflation.
If you’re still feeling a bit unsure about how to bring up a rent increase, our smart rent collection service can help. It takes care of collecting rent and keeping an eye on late payments – and it also makes it simple to suggest a rent increase to your tenants when the time feels right.
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You REALLY need to check facts about this. Most of what you said does NOT apply in Scotland. Your landlord clients in Scotland could be inadvertently breaking the law if they follow your advice here.
This applies to England only.
Yes Mark, and the article needs to make that clear.
Hello,
Hope someone can advise accordingly.
We have rented our property for 19 years, we maintain all issues and pay for all emergency repairs.
We’ve done lots of renovations and made it our life time family home.
We have a good relationship with our landlord and both parties never mither.
Over the 19 years our landlord has always wanted cash for his rent each month and our arrangement suited both parties.
He’s always kept the rent to a minimum on the understanding we MAINTAIN the house.
He’s now asking for a £500 increase per month but here is the issue, we don’t have a tenancy agreement in place… we only had one for the first year and everything just continued verbally.
The £500 increase we cannot afford on top of paying for emergency and maintenance insurance plans ??
What shall I suggest??
Kind Regards
A tenancy agreement becomes periodic at the end of the original fixed term so you will have a tenancy agreement in place, it just rolls on.
I also offer tenants lower tham market rents where they look after more maintenance than a typical tenant, but there is a limit to how much under market rates is viable from a landlords perspective, and landlords remain legally responsible for maintenance and with renters reform bill increasing responsibilities this sort of arrangement can cause issues.
I think if you are looking after maintenance and have been there 19 years a discount of around 20% below market rates is reasonable so you could offer that. It’s upto landlord though and after 19 years he may just be looking to sell unless he can get a high income.