How much can my landlord increase my rent?

The short answer

No percentage cap exists in England. Your landlord can propose any figure they like.

What they cannot do is impose it. On an assured tenancy the increase has to come on a prescribed form, it can normally only happen once a year, and you can refer it to the First-tier Tribunal before it takes effect. The tribunal then decides what the property would actually let for, and that figure is the rent.

What the tribunal has actually done

Of 1,040 decisions we hold where both the proposed and the determined rent were recorded, the tribunal reduced the rent in 731 and confirmed the landlord's figure in 206.

Where it came down, it came down by 13.3% on average. In 114 cases the rent it set was at or below what the tenant was already paying, which is to say there was no increase at all.

That is not a prediction about your case. It is what happened in the cases that were brought, and the tenants who brought them had reason to think the increase was too high. But it is the closest thing to an answer that exists.

What makes an increase too high

The tribunal decides the open market rent: what this property, in this condition, would let for now. Not what you can afford, and not what the landlord needs.

• What comparable homes nearby actually let for — the single biggest factor.
• The condition of the property, including disrepair and anything the landlord has not fixed.
• What is and is not included: furniture, utilities, council tax, services.
• Improvements you or a previous tenant paid for, which are not the landlord’s to charge for.

What to do next

Find the date on the notice when the new rent is due to start. You have to apply before it. Then check what homes like yours are actually letting for, so you know whether you have a case worth making.