Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment has been made of the effectiveness of existing protections against unreasonable rent increases.

At present, rent increases can happen through a variety of mechanisms including contractual rent review clauses and Section 13 notices. Tenants can currently only challenge a rent increase when it is carried out via Section 13 of the Housing Act 1988.

Once commenced, our Renters’ Rights Act will ensure that all rent increases in the private rented sector will be made using the same process. Landlords will be able to increase rents once per year to the market rate – the price that would be achieved if the property was newly advertised to let. To do this, they will need to serve a simple ‘Section 13’ notice, setting out the new rent and giving at least 2 months’ notice of it taking effect. Tenants who receive a rent increase that they feel is not representative of the market value will be able to challenge the increase at the First-tier Tribunal.