Rent Rises of Up to 88% Still Approved in England Despite Renters' Reform Act

Editor's note: This brief was summarised by The Property AI Team from a report by Guardian Property. Read the original article for full details.

Rent Rises of Up to 88% Still Approved in England Despite Renters' Reform Act

Rent increases of up to 88% are still being approved in England despite Labour's pledge to curb unfair rises, according to analysis by London Renters Union (LRU). Tenants and landlords have said the tribunal system is "not working for anyone", citing long delays and a lack of consistency in how "fair market rent" is decided.

Tenants are challenging rent increases in record numbers since the Renters' Reform Act came into effect in May, which made the process easier and less risky for renters. However, analysis of data from May to October by LRU showed that 80% of tenants who went through the tribunal process saw their rent go up, by an average of £1,200 a year — although in most cases it was less than the landlord's proposed increase.

In 36% of cases, the landlord's proposed increase was approved in full, and in 42% of cases the rent increase was reduced. In 16% of cases the rent increase was cancelled, and in 6% rent was lowered.

In one case, a rent tribunal approved an 88% rent increase on a property in Dagenham. The tenant, who paid rent via housing benefit, argued the increase would lead to undue hardship but still saw his monthly rent go up from £1,200 to £2,250. In another case, a tenant who challenged a £17 a month rent increase received a £200 rent decrease after the tribunal ruled the rent was actually too high.

Tenant unions have expressed concern over rent increases of 30% or more being regularly approved. Jae Vail from LRU said the system was "just clearly not doing what Labour said it would do in their manifesto, which was helping people challenge unreasonable rent increases". He added that renters were starting to face long delays to have their cases heard, and tenants in London have been asked to attend hearings in the Midlands due to backlogs.

The reforms, which took effect in May, mean the tribunal can no longer increase rent higher than the landlord's application, and rent increases can no longer be backdated to before the tribunal decision. The abolition of "no fault" evictions also reduced the risk of landlords retaliating against tenants. The cost of applying is £47.

Chris Norris, chief policy officer at the National Residential Landlords Association, said the system "wasn't working for anyone" and there were concerns inaccurate decisions were being made by an overstretched workforce. He said it was "very difficult for landlords to trust and have faith in the system", adding that no more capacity or resource had been put into the tribunal system by the government, with only just over 30 full-time judges across the country working on this. He also said there were concerns tenants unions were encouraging members to challenge all rent increases, which he described as an "abuse of the system".

Oxford Renters Union has asked its members to pledge to say no to rent increases by taking them to tribunal, with the goal of "freezing rents and lowering the market rate for all Oxford renters".