The ability to increase the rent on private rentals is driven by the tenancy agreement. This is an agreement between the landlord and the tenant. The agreement can be written down or oral.

The tenancy can either be:

• fixed-term (running for a set period of time)
• periodic (running on a week-by-week or month-by-month basis)

The type of tenancy agreement dictates when you can consider increasing your rents. For a fixed-term tenancy, you can only increase the rent if your tenancy agreement permits this, otherwise, you can only raise the rent when the fixed term ends. For a periodic tenancy, you can usually increase the rent once a year.

You should note, that any rent increase should be seen to be fair and realistic in line with reasonable rents on the open market. If your tenants think the rent increase is unfair, they can ask the First Tier Property Tribunal to adjudicate and decide the right amount.