A quiet casualty of the Renters’ Rights Act, and one that’s catching out landlords who assumed their existing paperwork had them covered: rent review clauses agreed before 1 May 2026, setting out a future increase, may simply no longer be enforceable.
What changed. Before the Act, it was common for tenancy agreements to include a rent review clause — a term specifying that rent would increase by a certain amount, or to a certain figure, at a defined future point, agreed at the outset of the tenancy. Under the new regime, rent can only be increased through one route: a Section 13 notice using Form 4A, served with at least two months’ notice, once per year. Any increase that was agreed under an old-style rent review clause but that would take effect on or after 1 May 2026 is not permitted under the new rules, regardless of what the original contract says.
In practical terms, landlords who had “next year’s rent” written into a contract signed some time ago are discovering that provision simply doesn’t operate any more. The rent stays where it is until a proper Form 4A notice is served through the new process.
The data already shows the effect. Hamptons’ analysis found that 23% fewer sitting tenants received a rent increase in May 2026 compared with May 2025 — a fall that sits 16% below the five-year average for that month. Some of that shift reflects landlords who deliberately front-loaded increases before the Act came into force, anticipating exactly this change. But a meaningful portion is likely to be landlords who assumed their existing rent review clause would simply carry on working, and are only now finding out it doesn’t.
What this means going forward. The date you first serve a Form 4A notice effectively becomes your new annual clock — the earliest point you can serve the next one is defined relative to that date, not to your tenancy’s original start date or any previous informal review point. Getting the first one right, and served properly, sets up the whole future rhythm of increases for that tenancy.
A practical check worth making now. If you have any tenancy with a rent review clause you were relying on, don’t assume it’s still doing anything. Confirm the current rent actually in effect, check whether any assumed increase has actually gone through Form 4A, and if it hasn’t, that’s the notice to serve — properly, through the correct process — rather than treating the old clause as self-executing.
This is a small, easily overlooked change next to the abolition of Section 21, but it has a direct, immediate effect on cash flow for any landlord who was relying on a contractual review clause rather than the statutory process to keep rent moving with the market.
General information, not legal advice. Property Lounge, Guildford.
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