Glossary

The rent a landlord or letting agent advertised a property for.

It does not prove what a tenant eventually agreed to pay. The comparable properties UpRently uses show advertised asking rents, not verified agreed rents. How UpRently works explains why that distinction matters.

The main type of private assured tenancy in England under the rules that took effect on 1 May 2026.

An assured periodic tenancy runs from one rent period to the next, such as monthly, and does not have a fixed end date. Most existing assured shorthold tenancies became assured periodic tenancies on 1 May 2026, and new private assured tenancies are normally assured periodic tenancies.

A former type of assured tenancy commonly used in the private rented sector.

From 1 May 2026, most existing private-sector assured shorthold tenancies became assured periodic tenancies and new assured shorthold tenancies can no longer be created. You may still see ‘AST’ or ‘assured shorthold tenancy’ in an older tenancy agreement or older guidance.

A type of tenancy covered by the Housing Act 1988.

For private renting in England, most assured tenancies are now assured periodic tenancies. The rent increase rules UpRently covers are based on the current rules for private-sector assured tenancies.

A message UpRently shows when the proposed rent is within three per cent of either the typical local rent or the top of the local range we found.

It means a small change in the evidence could change the result. It does not change the evidence-strength rating.

A rental property similar enough to your home to be useful when comparing rents.

UpRently looks for properties with the same number of bedrooms and property type, prioritising those closest to your home. Their advertised rents form the main evidence behind the comparison.

An official decision about the open market rent.

At the moment, these decisions are made by the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber). You may also see this described as a rent determination or open market rent determination.

A document showing information about a property’s energy efficiency.

An EPC also usually gives the property’s total floor area. When you select your address in the checker, UpRently fills in the floor area from your home’s EPC where it has one, and you can change it. You can look up an EPC on GOV.UK(opens in new tab) for free.

UpRently’s paid PDF report for tenants.

It includes the full set of comparable rental properties we found, up to 20, together with their addresses, distances and advertised rents, the methodology behind the comparison and a dated record of the evidence.

It can be saved, shared or used as supporting evidence. It does not guarantee how an official decision-maker will assess that evidence.

The tenant’s document is titled the Tenant Evidence Pack, and the landlord version is the Landlord Evidence Pack.

A rating showing how much local evidence sits behind your comparison: strong, moderate or limited.

The number of comparable properties sets the starting rating. Distance can then lower it because properties further away may belong to a different rental market.

Evidence strength is not a prediction of whether a tenant would win a challenge. How UpRently works explains the exact rules.

The independent tribunal that currently decides challenges to rent increases in England.

It determines the open market rent using the evidence available to it. Tenants currently apply to the tribunal if they want an official rent determination.

The government has announced that HMRC’s Valuation Office will take over initial rent determinations in future, but that change has not started yet.

A tenancy originally agreed to last for a set period, such as 6 or 12 months.

From 1 May 2026, most private-sector assured tenancies in England moved to the periodic tenancy system and existing fixed end dates stopped applying. New assured tenancies cannot be created with a fixed end date.

You may still see ‘fixed term’ in older tenancy agreements and guidance.

The amount of space inside a home, usually measured in square metres or square feet.

Size can affect how much a property might rent for, so UpRently asks for this information rather than guessing it.

The official form a private landlord normally uses to propose a new rent under the Section 13 process in England.

Under the current rules, the landlord normally has to give at least two months’ notice before the proposed new rent can start.

A separate issue the tribunal can consider when deciding when a new rent should start.

If paying the new rent from the usual date would cause hardship, a tenant can explain this in their application and provide details of their financial circumstances. The tribunal can, in some circumstances, delay when the new rent takes effect.

Hardship does not change how the open market rent itself is worked out.

A government scheme that can reduce or remove a court or tribunal fee for people who meet the financial eligibility rules.

You may be able to get help with some or all of the application fee depending on your savings, benefits and income. Our guide on help with fees explains more.

The landlord version of UpRently’s Evidence Pack.

It uses the same comparable rental evidence and methodology but explains the findings for somebody considering or proposing a rent increase. It costs the same as the tenant Evidence Pack.

A label an advertiser adds to a rental listing when they mark the home as let, usually because a tenant has agreed to take it.

It does not prove that the tenancy went ahead or tell us what rent was finally agreed. UpRently therefore still treats the rent shown as an advertised rent, and the Evidence Pack marks these listings in its table of comparables.

A company that supplies rental-market information.

UpRently uses PropertyData to provide the advertised rental listings used in the comparison. UpRently does not collect those listings directly from property websites.

The middle value when a set of numbers is put in order.

For example, if five advertised rents are arranged from lowest to highest, the third one is the median.

The Evidence Pack shows the median alongside other figures to help you understand the local rental evidence.

The form a tenant can use to ask the First-tier Tribunal for an open market rent determination.

It can be used to challenge a proposed rent increase and, in some circumstances, the initial rent during the first six months of a tenancy. GOV.UK explains how to apply(opens in new tab).

The form a landlord can use to respond to a tenant’s MR1 application.

If the landlord chooses to respond, the current process gives them 28 days. They must send their response to both the tenant and the tribunal.

The form a tenant can use to respond if the landlord submits an MR2 response.

The tribunal sends the MR3 to the tenant after the MR1 application is made.

The amount of warning a landlord must give before a proposed rent increase can start.

For a notice served on or after 1 May 2026 it is normally at least two months. GOV.UK gives one month for a notice given before then. It runs from when the notice was served, not from the date shown on it.

UpRently counts from the date on the notice and, if you tell us, from the day it reached you. It does not decide when a notice was legally served or whether it is legally valid.

The rent a landlord could reasonably expect to receive if the property were let on the open market on the same terms.

This is the figure the official rent determination process considers when a rent increase is challenged.

It is different from a fair rent, which belongs to an older system applying to a much smaller number of tenancies.

A way of showing monthly rent.

For example, £1,200 pcm means £1,200 for each calendar month.

A tenancy that continues from one rent period to the next rather than ending on a fixed date.

For example, a monthly periodic tenancy continues month by month.

Since 1 May 2026, most private-sector assured tenancies in England are periodic, and new private assured tenancies are normally periodic.

The period that one rent payment covers before the next rent period begins.

For example, if rent is payable monthly, the rent period will usually be monthly. Rent periods can matter when working out when a new rent takes effect.

A new rent proposed on Form 4A has to start at the beginning of a rent period. UpRently does not check this.

A separate estimate UpRently produces from information about your home, such as its size, age, condition, outdoor space and parking.

It is calculated differently from the comparable-rent comparison. Your Evidence Pack shows the two separately, and we do not treat the estimate as a replacement for comparable local market evidence.

The law that made major changes to private renting in England.

From 1 May 2026, its changes included moving private-sector assured tenancies onto a periodic system and changing the rules for proposing and challenging rent increases.

Our guide to what the Act changed explains the rent increase changes.

The part of the Housing Act 1988 that sets out the statutory process a private landlord normally uses to propose a rent increase for an assured tenancy.

The landlord uses a Section 13 notice, normally Form 4A. If the tenant wants to challenge the proposed amount, the rent determination process is set out in Section 14.

The part of the Housing Act 1988 that sets out when a tenant can ask for an open market rent determination.

It covers challenges to a rent proposed through the Section 13 process and, in some circumstances, challenges to the initial rent during the first six months of a tenancy.

For a notice served on or after 1 May 2026, the rent set through the process cannot be higher than the rent the landlord proposed. Notices served before then follow the earlier rules, where it can be.

Formally giving a notice to the tenant. GOV.UK says a rent increase notice can be given in person, by post, or by email if the tenancy agreement allows email. Form 4A adds that if the agreement sets out no method, the landlord can hand it over, leave it at the tenant’s address or send it by registered post.

The legal date of service can depend on how and when the notice was given, so it can differ from the date shown on the notice and from the day you received it. UpRently asks for the dates you know, but does not decide when a notice was served.

The figure UpRently uses as the main reference point for the comparable-rent comparison.

Our data provider works this out from advertised rents in the area: it puts them in order, leaves out the highest quarter and the lowest quarter, and averages the middle half. This reduces the effect of unusually high or low listings. This method is called an interquartile mean.

It is worked out over a wider set of listings than the comparable properties shown in your result or Evidence Pack, so the two figures will not always match exactly.