Rent increases

Your rent should not go up during the fixed term of your tenancy.

What are a ‘fixed term’ tenancy and a ‘periodic’ tenancy?

When you agree a tenancy, the agreement is usually for a fixed ‘term’. Often this term is the first six months, year, or three years of the agreement. 

After the fixed term ends, your tenancy does not end. Instead, it automatically becomes ‘periodic’ – it continues, rolling on from period to period. The length of that period is either a month or a week, depending on whether you are due to pay rent monthly or weekly.

Sometimes there is no fixed term – you and the landlord just agree from the start that you will rent for an indefinite period of time, from month to month or week to week.

If your tenancy is periodic from the beginning of the tenancy, your landlord is generally unable to evict you during the first six months.

Even if your tenancy has become periodic, your landlord cannot end it without serving formal legal notice.

If you are worried about your landlord forcing you to move out, please see our section on evictions for more detailed information.

For information on tenancies, please see:

• Shelter

Your landlord can't increase the rent during a fixed-term tenancy unless:

• there is a clause in your agreement that says when and how the rent can be increased. The clause must be fair and understandable or
• you agree to the increase.   

For further information on rent increases, please see:

• Shelter

Find out if your landlord or agent has been convicted of housing offences.