Editor's note: This brief was summarised by The Property AI Team from a report by The Negotiator. Read the original article for full details.
Landlords Won Full Rent Rises in Only 28.4% of September Tribunal Cases
Research by Cyborg Finance shows landlords secured their proposed rent increase in full in only around a quarter of recent tribunal cases. The firm analysed 74 First-tier property tribunal decisions in England during September.
Of those 74 cases, 21 (28.4%) resulted in landlords receiving their proposed rent increase in full. A further 29 cases, or 39.2%, ended in a partial increase.
Twelve cases, or 16.2%, concluded with no increase at all, while a further 12 ended with either a reduction or a rejection.
That means 53 cases (71.6%) ended with a smaller increase than requested, no change, a rent reduction or a struck-out case.
Across the 68 cases where there was a change in rent, combined monthly rent rose from £93,285 to £99,509, a net increase of 6.7%. This calculation includes cases where rents were reduced or unchanged. Average monthly rent moved from £1,372 to £1,464 — approximately £92 more a month, or £1,104 annually.
The aggregate increase edged up from 6.3% in August to 6.7% in September, a rise of 0.4 percentage points. Cyborg Finance noted these figures describe the analysed tribunal decisions, rather than rent increases across the private rented sector as a whole.
The research comes as the Renters' Rights Act gave tenants more powers to appeal against rent changes.
Cyborg Finance's wider tracker also shows an average of around 91 days between service of a landlord's rent notice and a tribunal decision, across cases with both dates recorded since May 2026.
Mark Hosker, Mortgage Adviser at Cyborg Finance, said the rent a landlord proposes and the rent a tribunal determines are not always the same, and that landlords should be ready to support proposed rents with comparable local evidence. He also said tenants should remember that challenging an increase does not guarantee their rent will stay unchanged, noting that more than two-thirds of September cases still resulted in an increase, with rents rising 6.7% overall. He added that with a challenge potentially delaying higher rent payments by around four months, and nearly three-quarters of landlords failing to secure their full proposed increase, the £47 tribunal fee could prove money well spent.
Source: The Negotiator