When can the new rent start?
Find the earliest date a rent increase can take effect after you give your tenant a Form 4A notice, also called a section 13 notice.
Enter the tenancy dates to see when the new rent can start.
How this is worked out
We use the same code that fills in Form 4A in Lettance. Under section 13 of the Housing Act 1988, the new rent cannot start before the latest of these dates:
- two months after you give the notice
- 52 weeks after the tenancy began
- 52 weeks after the last increase took effect, or 53 weeks in the case Form 4A note A3 explains
If the last increase was agreed with the tenant or came from a rent review clause before 1 May 2026, GOV.UK guidance says to wait at least a year from it. We cannot tell how it was made, so we use the later of the two. The new rent then starts on the first day of a rental period.
Where a month has no matching day, we choose the later date. A later date never makes the notice invalid; an earlier one can.
- Increase rent only by a section 13 notice on Form 4A, at most once a year
Rent can only go up through the section 13 process: serve Form 4A at least two months before the increase, no increase in the first 52 weeks, and at least 52 weeks between increases. Rent review clauses no longer work.
- Tenant challenges to rent: do not charge the higher rent until the tribunal decides
A tenant can refer a proposed increase to the First-tier Tribunal before it takes effect, or challenge the starting rent in the first 6 months. The tribunal cannot set more than you proposed, and the higher rent is not payable until it decides.