Free. No sign-up. England only.
Check your rent increase notice
Got a Form 4A from your landlord? Answer questions from the notice and see whether it follows the legal rules, which rule it breaks if it does not and the last day to challenge it. Every answer cites the law.
Free checklist: challenging a rent increase
A two-page PDF: deadlines, what to gather and how to fill in your own MR1. No sign-up needed. Add your email only if you want one email from us about the Rent Challenge Pack.
Rent Challenge Pack: your MR1 answers, ready to copy
Answer questions about your notice, your home and similar rents. Get every MR1 question in the form's own order with an answer made from your own facts, your covering letters and a guide with your dates. You check, sign and send it yourself. £34.99, one payment.
What the checker looks at
Since 1 May 2026 a private landlord in England who wants to raise the rent has to use Form 4A, under section 13 of the Housing Act 1988. The checker tests your notice against these rules:
- The right form. Form 4A, or a form substantially to the like effect, signed by the landlord or their agent.
- Two months' notice. The new rent cannot start earlier than two calendar months after you got the notice.
- Not in the first year. The first increase cannot start until 52 weeks after your tenancy began.
- Once a year. At least 52 weeks since the last increase, or 53 weeks in some cases.
- The right day. The new rent has to start on the first day of a rent period.
- Your deadline. To challenge the rent, the tribunal has to receive your application before the start date.
It also spots situations these rules do not cover, such as a rent review clause (which can no longer raise your rent), a housing association tenancy or a notice served before 1 May 2026.
Your answers stay on your device. The checker runs in your browser. Nothing you type into it is sent to us.
After the checker
Worked examples
Made-up notices checked rule by rule, and sample answers to the MR1 questions, so you can see what a clear answer looks like.
Should I challenge?
How the tribunal works, the £47 fee and help with fees, what the tribunal can and cannot do and what happens to your rent meanwhile.
Read the guide
Filling in your own MR1
The tribunal form, section by section, written for a tenant applying without a solicitor.
MR1 step by step
Rent Challenge Pack
Your own facts in the MR1's order, ready to check and copy, with your covering letters and your dates. £34.99.
See the pack
Frequently asked questions
Is the checker really free? +
Yes. There is no sign-up and no payment. The checker runs in your browser and your answers are not sent to us.
Does a valid result mean the new rent is fair? +
No. The checker looks at the legal rules a notice has to follow, such as two months' notice and the 52-week rule. Whether the new rent is above the open market rent is a separate question, which the tribunal can decide if you apply before the start date.
What if my notice looks invalid? +
A notice that does not meet the legal rules does not change your rent. GOV.UK says that if the tribunal decides a notice is invalid, it will not determine the rent and you do not need to pay the new proposed rent. Shelter says a tenant should get legal advice before treating a notice as invalid, so talk to Shelter, Citizens Advice or a law centre.
I live in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland. Can I use this? +
No. The checker covers England only. Each nation has its own rules on rent increases.
Do you send my answers anywhere? +
Not from the checker. The dates, rents and other answers you type into it stay on your device. If you give us your email with a download, we also receive which form you used, the checker's overall result if you signed up from your result, how you reached our site, your IP address and your browser type. If you buy the Rent Challenge Pack, your answers are saved on your device as you type and reach our server only when you download or email your files, to make your PDFs. We do not keep them and we never sell your data. Our
privacy notice explains more.
Can you help me fill in the tribunal form? +
The
MR1 guides on this site are free. If you want your own facts put into the form's order for you to check and copy, the Rent Challenge Pack (£34.99) gives you your MR1 answers question by question, your covering letters and a guide with your dates. You still sign and send your own application.
What is in the Rent Challenge Pack and how quickly do I get it? +
Two PDF files. Part 1 is what you send: every question of the MR1 form (version 08.26) in the form's own order with an answer made from what you told us, then your rent evidence table, the covering email or letter to the tribunal and the covering note for your landlord's copy. Part 2 is your guide: your dates, your notice check with the law cited, what to attach and how to send it. Straight after you pay you go to the questions, and your pack appears on the page as soon as you press "Make my pack", ready to download or email to yourself. Your order link works for 14 days, so you can come back as you find more rent evidence and make a new pack. It costs £34.99, one payment.
See the pack.
Do you send the form to the tribunal for me? +
No. You check the answers, copy them into your own MR1 (online or on paper), sign it, pay the £47 fee or ask for help with fees and send it yourself. The tribunal has to receive it before the start date in your notice. If you apply by email or post, you also send a copy to your landlord. We never contact the tribunal or your landlord and nobody at RentersExpert reads or checks your case. That keeps you in charge of your own application.
Is this legal advice? +
No. Everything on this site, including the checker and the Rent Challenge Pack, is general information about the law in England. It is not advice about your own situation. We are not solicitors and we do not act for you. For advice about your case, contact Shelter, Citizens Advice or a law centre. GOV.UK says the tribunal cannot offer legal advice either.
Can you promise the tribunal will lower my rent? +
No, and nobody honestly can. The tribunal decides the open market rent for your home from the evidence, often on the documents alone. GOV.UK says the result might end up lower than the rent in your landlord's notice or the same. By law you cannot be made to pay more than the rent your landlord proposed. Rents actually agreed for similar homes are stronger evidence than information from letting agents or websites. The pack helps you set out your own facts and evidence clearly, but the decision is the tribunal's.
Get the free checklist
A two-page PDF you can print: the rules, your deadline, what to gather and the MR1 sections. No sign-up needed. Add your email only if you want one email from us about the Rent Challenge Pack.