Rent decisions › guide

What changed on 1 May 2026

The Renters' Rights Act 2025 came into force for these purposes on 1 May 2026. This page sets out what it changed for rent increases and for rent repayment orders in England, and what the first decisions under the new rules show. The numbers are small so far, and this page says so where it matters.

Rent increases (Section 13)

What	Notice served before 1 May 2026	Notice served on or after 1 May 2026
How a landlord raises the rent	A Section 13 notice, for periodic assured tenancies (or a rent review clause in the agreement)	A Section 13 notice only, for any assured tenancy other than a relevant low-cost tenancy (s.13(1))
Notice period	One rent period (a month for monthly rent), six months if yearly	At least two months, whatever the rent period (s.13(2)(a))
Form	Form 4, or a letter with the same information	Form 4A
Fee to apply to the tribunal	No fee	£47 (none for a social rented property); help with fees on a low income
What the tribunal can set	Any open-market rent, higher or lower than the landlord's figure	The open-market rent if lower than the proposed rent, otherwise the proposed rent: never higher than the notice (s.14ZB(5))
When the new rent starts	Normally the date in the notice, so a decision months later could be backdated	The period after the determination, or the notice's date if later, or a later date for undue hardship (s.14ZB(3))

So from 1 May 2026 a referral to the tribunal cannot make the rent higher than the notice proposed and cannot be backdated. Which rules apply, and whether the £47 fee is due, follow when the notice was served (S.I. 2026/421 reg. 8; form MR1: no fee if "the landlord served you the notice of increase before 1 May 2026").

The first decisions under the new rules

85 comparable decisions on notices served on or after 1 May 2026 have been published: the tribunal set the rent below the landlord's figure in 64% (54 of 85); the typical rise proposed was +10.5% and the typical rise decided +5.3% (medians, n=85). Under the old rules, 76% of 1,794 were set below the landlord's figure; proposed +21.8%, decided +10.9% (n=1,746).

Small numbers so far. Decisions are published weeks or months after they are made, the first new-rules notices could only start to reach the tribunal from mid-2026, and 85 decisions is not enough to say whether the new rules have changed what tribunals decide. The figure will move as decisions are published; this page is computed from the database each time it is shown.

Rent repayment orders

What	Offence before 1 May 2026	Offence on or after 1 May 2026
Maximum the tribunal can order	12 months' rent	24 months' rent (s.44 as amended)
Time limit to apply	The offence committed in the 12 months ending with the day of the application	2 years (s.41(2)(b) as amended); for a continuing offence, counted from its last day
Who can be ordered to pay	The immediate landlord	Also a superior landlord or licensor, and a director, manager or other officer of a company landlord where the offence was committed with their consent or caused by their neglect (GOV.UK, Shelter)
Offences	Unlicensed HMO or house, illegal eviction or harassment, violence for entry, improvement or prohibition notice breaches, banning order breach	The same, plus knowingly or recklessly misusing a possession ground, letting or marketing within 12 months of using the moving-in or selling ground, and continuing breaches of the tenancy reform requirements (Housing Act 1988 s.16J)
Factors in the amount	Conduct of landlord and tenant, the landlord's finances, convictions (s.44(4))	The same, plus rent the tenant received for the home, financial penalties and any previous rent repayment order against the landlord (s.44(4)(aa), (c), (d))
When the tribunal must order the maximum (s.46)	Only if both: the landlord was convicted of the offence, or received a financial penalty for it with no prospect of appeal left; and, on a tenant's application, the offence is violence to get in, illegal eviction or harassment, an improvement notice, a prohibition order or a banning order. Never, on a tenant's application, for an unlicensed HMO or house	If either: the landlord was convicted of the offence, or received a financial penalty for it with no prospect of appeal left; or the landlord has at any time, for any tenancy or home, been convicted of, received a financial penalty for, or had a rent repayment order for another offence that is the same offence (an unlicensed HMO and an unlicensed house count as the same, s.46(4A)). Any offence in the list

Under both versions of s.46 the tribunal does not have to order any amount that, because of exceptional circumstances, it considers unreasonable for the landlord to pay (s.46(5)). Where a continuing offence runs across 1 May 2026, the old rules apply to the part before that date and the new rules to the part from it (S.I. 2026/421 reg. 11).

No published rent repayment order decision yet concerns an offence on or after 1 May 2026: every figure on this site's rent repayment order pages is under the old 12-month maximum. The calculator applies the split for a period that runs across the date.

Where to go next

How to challenge a rent increase, with the full notice rules.
Rent repayment orders: who can apply and what tribunals ordered.
The rent challenge pack and the rent repayment order pack.

Sources

Every sentence above was checked against these on 20 Oct 2026. If they change, this page is wrong until it is checked again; the official pages are the current word.

This is information, not legal advice. Past decisions are not a prediction: each tribunal decides on the evidence in front of it. For advice about your situation, contact Shelter (0808 800 4444) or a local renters' union.