Challenging a Rent Increase: What You Can Actually Do

If a rent increase notice has landed and it feels steep, you're not simply stuck with it. Here's what the process actually involves.

First, check it's a valid notice

Since May 2026, a rent increase can only come through a formal Section 13 notice, with at least two months' written warning, and only once every 12 months. If what you've received doesn't match that — a text message, a verbal request, anything less than the proper notice period — it isn't valid, and you're not obligated to pay the increase.

What a genuine challenge looks like

If the notice is valid but you think the new rent is above what the property would actually achieve if it were re-let today, you can apply to the First-tier Tribunal. The fee is £47. The tribunal looks at real comparable properties and decides what the open-market rent genuinely is — and it cannot set your rent any higher than what your landlord originally asked for, so there's no real downside to a genuine challenge.

What actually helps your case

• Genuine comparable properties — similar size, similar condition, similar area — currently advertised or recently let for less.
• Any issues with the property that would reasonably affect its value if you were viewing it fresh today.
• How the proposed rent compares to what similar properties on the same street, not just the same postcode, are actually achieving.

What it won't do

A tribunal challenge doesn't evaluate whether you personally can afford the new rent — only whether the figure reflects a fair open-market rate. It's a market-value question, not an affordability one.

The honest trade-off

The process takes time, and your rent stays at the old rate while it's ongoing — but if the increase genuinely is above market, gathering a few honest comparables and applying costs very little to try.