Rent increase checker — is your increase fair?

You enter your postcode, property type, bedroom count and the current and proposed rent (or upload your tenancy letter and we read the details for you). We compare the proposed figure to lower-quartile, median and upper-quartile rents for comparable properties in your area, based on ONS private rent statistics, and tell you where it sits in the local band.

Yes — the rent check itself is free, takes about a minute and needs no account. The evidence pack is free where your council licenses RentCharter for your postcode, and free when you upload your tenancy agreement — contributing your data improves the dataset for everyone. Otherwise the pack costs £9.99; if it isn't useful, reply to your receipt email within 14 days for a full refund.

The ONS Price Index of Private Rents and the ONS Private Rental Market in London statistics, both built from rents the Valuation Office Agency collects. Where ONS publishes quartiles we show the band rather than a single average, because the spread of local rents is more informative than one figure. Where only an average is published, we show it with a ±15% band. These figures are a guide: the First-tier Tribunal decides the open-market rent for your particular property on the evidence in front of it. Full details are on the methodology page.

The checker covers England. Rent increase rules differ elsewhere in the UK — Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each have their own system, and the Renters' Rights Act 2025 framework the checker is built around applies to England only.

You can use it as part of your evidence. If the check shows the proposed rent is above the local market band, you can use it to negotiate with your landlord, or refer a Section 13 increase to the First-tier Tribunal using form MR1 (a £47 fee for notices dated from 1 May 2026; Help with Fees can reduce it). Apply before the date the new rent would start. The decision is not backdated, and under the Renters' Rights Act 2025 the tribunal can only confirm or lower the proposed rent, not raise it — but the outcome isn't guaranteed. Keep paying your current rent while you challenge.