What makes a rent too high?

What counts

These are the things that move an open market rent.

• Comparable properties nearby: what homes of similar size and type are actually letting for.
• Size. Floor area is on the Energy Performance Certificate, measured by an assessor, and your landlord cannot argue with it.
• Condition: damp, disrepair, an old kitchen or bathroom, poor insulation, single glazing.
• What is included in the rent — and what is not.
• Improvements you or a previous tenant paid for. The landlord does not get to charge for those.

What does not count

These are true, and they are often the reason somebody is challenging, but they are not what is being decided.

• What you can afford. The tribunal is not means-testing the rent.
• What your landlord paid for the property, or what their mortgage costs.
• How long you have lived there, or how good a tenant you have been.
• That the increase feels unfair. It has to be above the market, not above what is comfortable.

Hardship is separate, and worth raising

Affordability does not change the rent the tribunal sets, but it can change when you have to start paying it. If paying from the date on the notice would cause you hardship, say so on the application — the tribunal can delay when the new rent becomes payable.