Rents in London cluster into three very different markets — central prestige, inner-zone professional, and outer-zone commuter. If your landlord proposes a 10% rise, whether that's defensible depends almost entirely on which of those three you're in and where your current rent already sits on the local band.
Below is a borough-by-borough breakdown of 2-bedroom flat rents for April 2026. Figures are from the ONS Private Rental Market in London ad-hoc release (Q1 2026, published April 2026), aggregated up from per-postcode-prefix medians to the borough level. The lower / median / upper columns are the lower-quartile, median and upper-quartile rents — what the First-tier Tribunal uses when it assesses an open-market rent challenge.
The headline numbers
- All-London 2-bed flat median: ~£1,800/mo
- Inner London median: ~£2,500/mo
- Outer London median: ~£1,725/mo
- Most expensive borough: Kensington & Chelsea at ~£3,325 median (upper quartile £3,829)
- Cheapest borough: Havering at ~£1,500 median (lower quartile £1,400)
- End-to-end spread: the most expensive borough is 2.2× the cheapest — wider than any other major UK city
Median 2-bedroom flat rent by borough
Ranked highest to lowest by median rent. Lower / Upper are the lower-quartile and upper-quartile bands — the range most actual tenants pay.
| # | Borough | Zone | Lower | Median | Upper |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kensington & Chelsea | Central | £2,808 | £3,325 | £3,829 |
| 2 | Westminster | Central | £2,618 | £2,950 | £3,413 |
| 3 | Islington | Inner-N | £2,381 | £2,750 | £3,100 |
| 4 | Hammersmith & Fulham | Inner-W | £2,099 | £2,500 | £3,000 |
| 5 | Camden | Inner-N | £2,037 | £2,350 | £2,700 |
| 6 | Tower Hamlets | Inner-E | £2,000 | £2,350 | £2,700 |
| 7 | Lambeth | Inner-S | £2,100 | £2,300 | £2,500 |
| 8 | Wandsworth | Inner-S | £1,938 | £2,251 | £2,569 |
| 9 | Hackney | Inner-N | £1,950 | £2,250 | £2,600 |
| 10 | Richmond upon Thames | Outer-W | £1,800 | £2,125 | £2,450 |
| 11 | Southwark | Inner-S | £1,875 | £2,075 | £2,327 |
| 12 | Brent | Outer-N | £1,850 | £2,000 | £2,150 |
| 13 | Haringey | Outer-N | £1,700 | £1,875 | £2,199 |
| 14 | Ealing | Outer-W | £1,662 | £1,866 | £2,013 |
| 15 | Greenwich | Outer-E | £1,700 | £1,850 | £2,200 |
| 16 | Merton | Outer-S | £1,494 | £1,800 | £2,025 |
| 17 | Lewisham | Inner-S | £1,600 | £1,775 | £1,925 |
| 18 | Barnet | Outer-N | £1,625 | £1,763 | £1,910 |
| 19 | Enfield | Outer-N | £1,625 | £1,750 | £1,875 |
| 20 | Newham | Outer-E | £1,584 | £1,728 | £1,950 |
| 21 | Hounslow | Outer-W | £1,650 | £1,713 | £1,800 |
| 22 | Harrow | Outer-N | £1,600 | £1,700 | £1,850 |
| 23 | Waltham Forest | Outer-E | £1,500 | £1,696 | £1,830 |
| 24 | Barking & Dagenham | Outer-E | £1,521 | £1,657 | £1,794 |
| 25 | Kingston upon Thames | Outer-S | £1,525 | £1,655 | £1,913 |
| 26 | Bromley | Outer-S | £1,497 | £1,650 | £1,798 |
| 27 | Redbridge | Outer-E | £1,525 | £1,650 | £1,750 |
| 28 | Bexley | Outer-E | £1,450 | £1,625 | £1,700 |
| 29 | Hillingdon | Outer-W | £1,510 | £1,607 | £1,741 |
| 30 | Croydon | Outer-S | £1,425 | £1,595 | £1,700 |
| 31 | Sutton | Outer-S | £1,375 | £1,585 | £1,707 |
| 32 | Havering | Outer-E | £1,400 | £1,500 | £1,650 |
2-bedroom flats, April 2026. City of London is omitted — residential sample is too small to publish a stable figure. Source: ONS Private Rental Market in London ad-hoc release. Use the RentCharter rent checker for a comparison against your specific postcode and property type.
The central premium
The top of the table is the central-prestige market. Kensington & Chelsea, Westminster, Islington, Camden — all sit above £2,300 median for a 2-bed flat. The upper quartile in these boroughs stretches above £3,000 (and above £3,800 in K&C). For tenants these are genuinely different markets: more turnover, a higher proportion of furnished lets, more international demand, and a longer prestige tail.
The practical implication for a renter receiving a renewal letter in central London: the borough-level median is a weaker signal than usual. A 2-bed in a 1960s ex-council block in Westminster and a 2-bed in a Victorian conversion in Knightsbridge both sit in the same borough median calculation, but the rents and what the tribunal would award are very different. Use the rent checker's postcode-prefix lookup, not the borough median.
Outer London — where the value is
The bottom of the table is the commuter-belt market. Havering, Sutton, Croydon, Bexley, Hillingdon — all median below £1,650 for a 2-bed flat. The lower quartile in several outer-east and outer-south boroughs is below £1,500. For tenants priced out of Zone 1–2 but unable to leave London for work, these boroughs are where the actual private-rental supply sits.
The narrow lower-to-upper bands in many outer boroughs (Bexley £1,450 / £1,700, Croydon £1,425 / £1,700, Hounslow £1,650 / £1,800) reflect more uniform housing stock — predominantly post-war suburban flats and conversions. That uniformity makes outer-borough rents easier to challenge at tribunal: the comparables are tightly clustered, and rents proposed materially above the local upper quartile are very visible.
What it means for your renewal
The borough median is your reality check. Three rules of thumb:
- Proposed rent below the local upper quartile: generally defensible at tribunal. Negotiate at the margin, but a referral may not lower the figure much.
- Proposed rent at or just above the local upper quartile: arguable. Worth challenging if your property has any condition issues that justify a discount. The tribunal can only confirm or lower under the Renters' Rights Act 2025.
- Proposed rent well above the local upper quartile: probably above market. The tribunal is likely to lower it. Apply before the new-rent date in the Section 13 notice.
Borough-level data is the starting point, not the answer. The tribunal wants postcode-level comparables. Run a check at RentCharter for your specific postcode and bedroom count — that's what matters at tribunal, not the borough average.
What it means for councils
If you're a London borough housing officer reading this: the bands above are what your residents face. Outer-east boroughs with tight inter-quartile ranges are exactly where Section 13 challenges have the most predictable outcomes — and where a free rent-fairness check delivered through the council brand can reduce casework load on your housing team.
Several London boroughs are already responding via selective licensing schemes (Newham being the original), PRS standards enforcement, and tenant-advice partnerships with Shelter and Citizens Advice. For councils wanting to add a free rent-fairness check for residents — without the casework load — see RentCharter for Councils.
About the data
- Source: ONS ad-hoc Private Rental Market in London, April 2025 to March 2026, published April 2026.
- Geography: per-postcode-prefix figures aggregated to borough using the prefix → borough mapping in
scripts/compute-blog-aggregates.mjs. Where a prefix straddles two boroughs the prefix is assigned to the borough holding the bulk of residential stock. - Coverage: 2-bedroom flats. Other bedroom counts and property types are available in the underlying ONS publication.
- City of London: not reported separately — residential sample in EC2/EC3/EC4 is too small for stable quartiles.
- Year-on-year growth: not shown here. The underlying dataset is a single April-2026 snapshot. Trend data will appear in a later post once two release vintages are available.
Frequently asked questions
What is the average rent in London in 2026?
The all-London median 2-bedroom flat sits at around £1,800/mo (ONS Private Rental Market in London, Q1 2026, April 2026 release). Inner London medians push to around £2,500; Outer London sits at £1,725. The spread across boroughs is wide: Kensington & Chelsea is around £3,325, while Havering and Sutton sit closer to £1,500.
Which London borough has the cheapest rent?
Havering and Sutton have the lowest median 2-bed flat rent at around £1,500 and £1,585 respectively, followed by Croydon (£1,595), Hillingdon (£1,607) and Bexley (£1,625). Outer-east and outer-south London boroughs trade lower rents for longer commutes and less transport density.
Which London borough has the most expensive rent?
Kensington & Chelsea is the most expensive London borough by median 2-bed flat rent at around £3,325/mo, followed by Westminster (£2,950), Islington (£2,750) and Hammersmith & Fulham (£2,500). The premium is part central location, part the prestige tail of properties skewing the median upward.
Is it fair for a London landlord to increase rent by 10%+ in 2026?
It depends on where you sit in the local band. If your current rent is below the local lower quartile, even a 10% increase may keep you below market. If your current rent is already at the upper quartile, almost any increase pushes you above market — and the First-tier Tribunal can lower it under the Renters' Rights Act 2025. Always run the comparison against your specific postcode using the lower/median/upper quartile band for your borough — the rent checker does this in 60 seconds.
How is the borough median calculated?
Each London borough covers multiple postcode prefixes (e.g. Westminster covers W1, SW1, NW1, NW8, W2, W9). The borough median we report is the median of the per-postcode-prefix medians from the ONS Private Rental Market in London publication. Some prefixes straddle two boroughs — these are assigned to the borough where the bulk of residential stock sits, in line with standard reporting practice.