{ "dataset": "prices.rent", "generated": "2026-09-20T13:55:14.539Z", "licence": { "compilation": "CC BY 4.0", "compilation_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "attribution": "Tariff Tracker, tarifftracker.io, published by PEF Consulting Partners Limited", "underlying": "The figures themselves belong to the bodies named in each dataset's sources. Most are Crown copyright under the Open Government Licence v3. Supplier tariff rates belong to the suppliers who publish them. Check the source terms before you rely on any of it commercially.", "corrections": "If a figure here is wrong, say so and we will correct it and record that we did." }, "docs": "https://tarifftracker.io/api/", "fields": "https://tarifftracker.io/api/v1/dictionary", "as_of": "2026-07-31", "sources": [ { "name": "ONS, private rent and house prices August 2026", "url": "https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/bulletins/privaterentandhousepricesuk/august2026" }, { "name": "MHCLG, guide to the Renters' Rights Act", "url": "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guide-to-the-renters-rights-act/guide-to-the-renters-rights-act" }, { "name": "Renters' Rights Act commencement regulations", "url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2026/421/made" }, { "name": "gov.uk, assured tenancy forms including Form 4A", "url": "https://www.gov.uk/guidance/assured-tenancy-forms" }, { "name": "Rent Officers Modification Order 2026, LHA freeze", "url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2026/5/made" }, { "name": "Scottish Government, rent controls", "url": "https://www.gov.scot/policies/private-renting/rent-controls/" }, { "name": "Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 section 104", "url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/anaw/2016/1/section/104" }, { "name": "Renters' Rights Act 2025, section 7", "url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2025/26/section/7" }, { "name": "Housing Act 1988, section 14, showing the subsections omitted from 1 May 2026", "url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/50/section/14" } ], "caveats": [ "ONS names only London, the North East and the South East in its bulletin narrative. Average rents for the other six English regions are in the underlying dataset, which we have not published here rather than transcribe figures we did not read at source.", "No rent control area had been designated in Scotland as at the date of the government policy page we could read. The current position as at August 2026 is unverified.", "In Wales, a contract holder on a converted contract, meaning a tenancy that predates December 2022, can refer a rent notice to a rent assessment committee. Whether a contract holder on a new standard occupation contract has the same right could not be verified from a primary source, so we do not say either way." ], "data": { "vertical": "rent", "name": "Rent and housing", "tagline": "The biggest bill most people pay, the one with the least regulation, and the one that just changed the most.", "headline": { "value": "£1,393", "unit": "/mth", "label": "Average UK private rent, July 2026", "sub": "Up 3.7% over twelve months. England £1,451, Wales £843, Scotland £1,016, Northern Ireland £875.", "direction": "up", "change": "+3.7% year on year", "band": "high", "source": "ONS", "as_of": "2026-07-31" }, "benchmark": { "value": 1393, "period": "a month", "placeholder": "1393", "what": "your monthly rent", "note": "Compared against the UK average of £1,393. Rent varies more by postcode than any other bill on this site, so read this against your region rather than the national figure." }, "stats": [ { "k": "London", "v": "£2,317", "n": "Highest, up 3.0%" }, { "k": "North East", "v": "£783", "n": "Lowest, but rising fastest at 6.3%" }, { "k": "Average UK house price", "v": "£272,000", "n": "Up 2.0%" }, { "k": "Local Housing Allowance", "v": "Frozen", "n": "At January 2024 rates" } ], "tables": [ { "title": "Average monthly rent by nation", "note": "ONS Private rent and house prices, published 19 August 2026. Rents reference July 2026, house prices June 2026, except Northern Ireland which lags.", "cols": [ "Nation", "Average rent", "Annual change", "Average house price", "Annual change" ], "rows": [ [ "United Kingdom", "£1,393", "+3.7%", "£272,000", "+2.0%" ], [ "England", "£1,451", "+3.8%", "£293,000", "+1.8%" ], [ "Wales", "£843", "+4.5%", "£213,000", "+1.8%" ], [ "Scotland", "£1,016", "+1.7%", "£195,000", "+2.3%" ], [ "Northern Ireland", "£875", "+2.3%", "£202,000", "+9.2%" ] ] }, { "title": "What your landlord can and cannot do in England", "note": "The Renters' Rights Act came into force on 1 May 2026 and changed this substantially. If you are reading advice written before that date it is out of date.", "cols": [ "Rule", "What it now means" ], "rows": [ [ "How often rent can rise", "Once a year, to market rate only" ], [ "Notice required", "At least two months, using a section 13 notice on Form 4A" ], [ "Challenging it", "Apply to the First-tier Tribunal before the new rent takes effect. The Tribunal decides the open market rent." ], [ "The safety net", "The Tribunal can never make you pay more than the landlord asked for, and increases are no longer backdated. It can defer an increase by up to two months for hardship." ], [ "Section 21 no fault eviction", "Abolished" ], [ "Fixed terms", "Abolished. All assured shorthold tenancies became periodic with no end date." ], [ "Rent in advance", "Banned before signing. After signing, a maximum of one month." ], [ "Rental bidding", "Prohibited. The landlord must publish an asking rent and cannot accept more." ] ] }, { "title": "Scotland and Wales", "cols": [ "Nation", "The position" ], "rows": [ [ "Scotland", "Rent can rise once every 12 months even if the tenant changes. Challenge through a rent officer or the First-tier Tribunal. The Housing (Scotland) Act 2025 creates rent control areas capped at CPI plus 1% to a maximum of 6%, but local assessments only began on 1 April 2026 and reports are not due until 31 May 2027." ], [ "Wales", "The landlord varies rent by notice on Form RHW12, with a minimum two months' notice, and no more than once a year. There is no general rent control in Wales." ] ] } ], "facts": [ "London rents average £2,317 a month, almost three times the North East at £783.", "The North East has the lowest rents in England and the fastest rent inflation, at 6.3%.", "London house prices fell 2.5% in the year to June 2026 while rents rose 3.0%.", "Local Housing Allowance is frozen for 2026/27 at the rates set on 31 January 2024. It is not being recalculated against current rents, so the gap between the allowance and actual market rent widens every month.", "LHA was originally set at the 30th percentile of market rents as at January 2024. Rents have risen since and the allowance has not.", "The Renters' Rights Act abolished section 21 evictions and fixed terms on 1 May 2026. Every assured shorthold tenancy became a periodic tenancy with no end date.", "A tenant challenging a rent increase at tribunal can no longer end up paying more than the landlord asked for. Section 7 of the Renters' Rights Act 2025 inserts section 14ZB into the Housing Act 1988: the new rent is the open market rent if that is lower than the rent proposed, and otherwise the proposed rent. In force 1 May 2026. Before the Act there was no cap and the tribunal could and did go higher, which is what deterred people from challenging.", "The tribunal can still put your rent up. It is capped at what the landlord asked for, not at what you pay now.", "Backdating is gone too. The new rent runs from the date of the determination or the date in the landlord's notice, whichever is later, so you are never billed for the months the case took. Where that would cause undue hardship the tribunal can push it back further, but no more than two months.", "From 1 October 2030 private rented properties must reach EPC C or hold a valid exemption.", "None of that applies outside England. Wales still runs the old style open market determination for converted contracts, with no cap at the landlord's figure. Scotland has legislated the same cap in the Housing (Scotland) Act 2025 but it does not start until 1 April 2027. Northern Ireland has no rent tribunal for ordinary private tenancies at all, and controls increases by frequency instead: not within twelve months of the last one, and three months' notice." ], "support": [ { "name": "Challenging a rent increase", "what": "The First-tier Tribunal determines the open market rent, free to apply", "who": "Any assured tenant in England served a section 13 notice. You must apply before the new rent's effective date. You cannot be made to pay more than the landlord asked." }, { "name": "Local Housing Allowance", "what": "Housing element of Universal Credit or Housing Benefit, based on your broad rental market area", "who": "Renting privately and on a qualifying benefit. Rates are frozen at January 2024 levels until at least March 2027, so check the rate for your area rather than assuming it covers your rent." }, { "name": "Discretionary Housing Payment", "what": "A top up from your council where your housing benefit does not cover your rent", "who": "Anyone getting Housing Benefit or the housing element of Universal Credit who still cannot meet the rent. Apply to your local council. It is cash limited and discretionary, so apply early in the year." } ], "page": "https://tarifftracker.io/rent/" } }