It is becoming increasingly difficult for policymakers to ignore the affordability crisis in the private rented sector. In recent weeks, the media was awash with speculation that the Government was considering an emergency 12‑month rent freeze. While these reports were decisively shot down by the Government, the moment exposed both the severity of the crisis facing renters and the political urgency now attached to rising rents, as the cost‑of‑living squeeze is set to tighten further as a result of the war in Iran.
This speculation coincided with a concrete shift in how rents are regulated in England. Just days later, the Renters’ Rights Act came into force on 1st May. Behind the headline abolition of section 21 ‘no‑fault’ evictions, the Act also quietly reshapes how renters can challenge rent increases in the private rented sector.
An existing legal process allows renters to challenge unfair rent hikes by applying to the First-tier tribunal for a market rent determination. An independent panel assesses whether the landlord’s proposed rent reflects what the property could reasonably achieve on the open market. If the increase overshoots that benchmark, the tribunal will reduce the rent accordingly.
Before the Act, this process was fraught with risks. Renters challenging a rent increase could be hit with a retaliatory section 21 eviction, face a large backdated bill following a tribunal decision, or end up with the tribunal setting an even higher rent than the landlord had originally proposed. The Act removes these dangers, making the process far less risky for tenants and strengthening the tribunal as a safeguard against unfair rent increases.
At Z2K, we see first‑hand the difference that being able to exercise legal rights can make to someone’s financial security through our frontline advice and representation work. We also know that high housing costs sit at the heart of the UK’s poverty crisis. Our previous research with low-income renters in inner London showed that unaffordable rents are one of the strongest drivers of insecurity in the private rented sector.
That’s why, as the Renters’ Rights Act came into force, we wanted to understand how the rent tribunal system was working in practice before the reforms take effect at scale. The result was our new research report, No More Back Doors: Delivering New Renters’ Rights to Challenge Unfair Rent Increases, launched to coincide with the Act’s implementation.
What we found was striking. When renters challenge rent increases, the system delivers significant financial protection. On average, renters who take their case to the First‑tier Tribunal are £1,140 a year better off than if they had accepted their landlord’s proposed increase. That is a meaningful sum for any household, and a vital safeguard for those already struggling to make ends meet.
Success rates are high, too. Renters win in 71% of cases, suggesting that landlords – often assumed to have a firm grip on market values – are routinely over‑pricing their properties. In a small but significant number of cases (around 5%), the tribunal goes beyond blocking the increase and actually reduces the rent below the original level.
The tribunal also builds housing quality directly into the price renters are expected to pay. Market rent determinations don’t just look at local rents – they also look at the home in question, reducing rents where landlords have let standards slide. This isn’t a marginal feature of the system. Our research shows that property quality was considered in 77% of decisions, underlining how central this safeguard is, and how widespread poor standards are.
But while the system can be effective, it is barely being used at all. Just over 1,000 market rent determinations were made over a two‑year period, despite the private rented sector being home to 4.7 million households in England. The Act is unlikely to decisively change this: evidence from Scotland shows that relying on renters to bring individual cases allows many unreasonable rent increases to slip through unchecked.
Even when used, the tribunal does not always prevent hardship. In the average decision we reviewed, the tribunal granted a rent rise of £144 a month, an increase that many renters simply cannot afford. The system offers little protection against the risk of financial crisis or homelessness.
In the longer term, the Government has committed to creating a more modern and efficient new body to handle rent challenges. Done well, this could fix key tribunal weaknesses – shifting towards proactive enforcement, reducing reliance on renter‑led applications, and strengthening protections against hardship and homelessness. It could also improve on what works now by embedding clearer, more streamlined assessments of property conditions.
These reforms won’t solve the private renting affordability crisis on their own, with private renters still handing over an average 34% of their income in rent. But they are a meaningful step towards tackling the worst excesses of unreasonable rent hikes, and will be vital in ensuring that the abolition of section 21 and the Renters’ Rights Act as a whole are not fatally undermined. Turning these new protections into reality will require all of us to play our part in encouraging renters to make use of their new rights. Renters cannot afford for this opportunity to be missed.
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