Can the tribunal put my rent up?
This is the question that stops most people applying. Under the Renters’ Rights Act the answer is no — the tribunal cannot set a rent above the one your landlord proposed.
Under the current rules
For a notice served under the Renters’ Rights Act, the tribunal cannot determine a rent higher than the figure the landlord proposed. The outcome sits between what you pay now and what has been proposed: it can come down, or it can be confirmed, but it cannot land above the number already on your notice.
In the decisions we hold that were made under the Act, this has held in every one — 125 of 125, none above the proposal.
Before the Act, the risk was real
On notices served under the earlier rules, a tribunal could set a rent above what the landlord asked for, and did. It happened in 100 of the 878 earlier decisions we hold — a little over one in nine.
This is why the form you were sent matters. A Form 4 notice was served under those earlier rules; a Form 4A was not.
The risk that is left
The real one is the deadline. You have to apply before the date the new rent starts, and if you miss it the increase takes effect whatever your evidence would have shown.
The second is smaller but worth knowing: the tribunal can confirm your landlord’s figure. It did so in 206 of the cases we hold. You are then paying what you would have paid anyway, having spent the time and, for notices from 1 May 2026, the fee.
Check your own increase against local rents
Enter your postcode and see how rents for homes like yours have changed, what they cost now, and what the tribunal has decided nearby.
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Reviewed by Ant White, Founder, on 1 September 2026. Last updated 28 August 2026.
This is information, not legal advice, and nothing here predicts what a tribunal would decide in your case. Free advice on your own tenancy is available from Citizens Advice and Shelter.