Is my rent increase notice valid?

Why this is worth doing first

If the notice is defective, the increase fails on its own terms. The tribunal never reaches the question of what the property is worth, and you do not have to prove anything about comparable rents.

It takes five minutes and needs nothing but the notice itself.

The checks

Go through these against the document in front of you.

• It is on a prescribed form — Form 4A, or Form 4 if served before 1 May 2026, or Form 5A or 5 for an agricultural occupancy. A letter, email or text is not.
• Every tenant is named, correctly and completely, including joint tenants.
• Your landlord is named — the landlord, not only the letting agent.
• The property address is right, including the flat number.
• You were given at least the minimum notice before the new rent starts.
• The rent has not already been increased within the last twelve months.
• The new rent is expressed to begin on the first day of a rental period.

If something is wrong

Say so, in writing, and say which requirement you think it fails. You do not have to be certain, and you do not have to be a lawyer — you have to put the point.

Do not let it run past the deadline while you argue about it. If the date the new rent starts is approaching, apply to the tribunal and raise the validity point there.