Tenants should expect fewer but bigger rent hikes under new Renters' Rights Bill

Tenants should expect fewer but bigger rent hikes under the new Renters' Rights Bill, fresh analysis from estate agency Hamptons reveals.

The cataclysmic shake up to the rental market means landlords are now constrained to just one rent rise a year, which comes with strict criteria.

This fresh rule is already feeding through to the market.

Fewer tenants saw their monthly payments rise in May 2026 when compared with last year, Hamptons said.

The number of existing renters that saw payments climb in May was 23 per cent lower than last May and 16 per cent below the five-year average for the month, according to analysis of Connells Group data by estate agency Hamptons.

Prices were already cooling as squeezed tenants struggle to keep up with sky-high monthly payments, which has in turn tempered demand in expensive locations.

However, property experts say a plummet in the number of rent hikes in May marks a wider ‘structural shift’ in how rents are hiked.

Under the previous system, rents would be reviewed when a new tenancy agreement was signed, or during a tenancy according to terms stated in the contract. These systems allowed for more frequent increases.

But now contracts are rolling, with no more fixed term tenancies.

This means that landlords can only increase rents once a year in line with market rates, including on existing lets.

Rents can no longer be hiked in the first year of a tenancy, which means many landlords have had to press pause on hikes since 1 May.

Aneisha Beveridge, of Hamptons, says: ‘One of the first impacts of the Renters’ Rights Act has been a reduction in the number of existing tenants seeing their rent rise.

‘While this partly reflects a backdrop of slower rental growth, falls suggests landlords have, at least initially, been less likely to increase rents than under the previous system where changes predominantly coincided with a tenant signing a new contract.’

This means that rent rises in May tumbled when compared with previous years.

If the number of rent increases seen last month were repeated for the rest of the year, just 31 per cent of tenants would see their rent rise when landlords are allowed to do so, Hamptons estimates.

That’s down from 40 per cent in the year to May 2025.

More landlords could increase rents in the coming months as they adjust to the new rules. However, it is expected that there will be a shift in the way landlords hike prices in the long term.

As landlords can now only increase rents on existing lets once every year, tenants should brace themselves for fewer but bigger price hikes.

Previously, renters may have expected their monthly payments to be hiked little and often. Rents were often reviewed once a year according to their contracts, and sometimes also at a halfway 'break clause', as well as if a new tenancy was signed.

But now the legislation means tenants are likely to see at most one hike in payments every year, that brings them in line with market rent.

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For example, the tenants that did see a climb in payments in May saw a 5.4 per cent climb. This is above the 1.1 per cent increase in rents on new lets, as landlords hiked prices for existing tenants to catch up to market levels.

Landlords can continually adjust their prices on new lets, but the strict new rules mean investors must hike prices up to the market rate when they are allowed to once every year.

Tenants in Scotland – where rent controls have been in place for longer – see fewer rent increases overall, but they see larger adjustments when they do occur.

Scottish landlords that did increase rents in May did so by 7.7 per cent.

Ms Beveridge adds: ‘If the pattern seen in Scotland plays out in England, tenants may see their rent rise less often going forward. However, the size of the increase may be larger, bridging the gap that can build up between what tenants are currently paying and the prevailing market rate.

'Last month, the average rent increase in Scotland was 7.7 per cent, higher than in any other region in Great Britain.’

She adds: ‘While rental growth on newly agreed lets remains cool by recent standards, landlords appear to be taking a more cautious approach when selecting new tenants.

'Many are showing a willingness to wait for the right tenant rather than accept the first offer, which has reduced the number of homes let and helped to keep a lid on rental growth for new tenants.'