Renters’ Rights Act equal rent for each month?
Maybe there are some legal eagles here who can correct me, but I cannot find anything in the law or Renters’ Rights Act to say that the rent must be the same every month.
Here is my dilemma. I have a property in an area with high seasonal demand. I am about to sign an APT for May 1st 2026. As the law stands, the tenant can give notice on May 1st and vacate the property on July 31st.
I have set the rent with the belief that this will be the tenant’s permanent home and they intend to stay indefinitely. In other words I have set a year round rental price. I now have the suspicion that this will not, in fact, be the tenant’s permanent home, and they will actually just rent it to stay until the end of August. Hence, they will have the property for the high season but pay a lower rent than for a short-term holiday home.
If I sent the rent at the ‘summer’ price for the whole lease, then nobody will rent it as the rent will be too high. So I had the idea of the following
Normal yearly rent is say 12k (1k per month)
May 1k
June 2k
July 2k
August 2k
September just £1
October £1
November £1
December onwards 1k per month
I can’t believe the law allows this, but I can’t see exactly how it prohibits it (absolutely open to correction here)
Or failing this, does anyone see another way to prevent a tenant abusing an APT to manufacture themselves a cheap holiday period let?
Paddy
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Member Since May 2015 - Comments: 2203 - Articles: 2
10:56 AM, 23rd April 2026, About 3 hours ago
An interesting concept, I have no idea of the legal situation but will be most interested in the legal opinions which no doubt will be posted.
Member Since December 2020 - Comments: 13
11:05 AM, 23rd April 2026, About 3 hours ago
Fascinating & another unintended consequence & you are right – high season rentals sometimes over 3 to 4 months almost equivalent to a whole years rent in a lot of cases. Really interested too on the variable rental as each month could be a different amount & if this is true whats the basis for a rental increase after a year ?
The initial start rental ? – the average over the year – or the highest month ?
Interesting to hear from the legal experts on this forum.
Member Since September 2018 - Comments: 3535 - Articles: 5
11:21 AM, 23rd April 2026, About 2 hours ago
interesting.
Q1 The first thing that sprung to my mind though is that could the T challenge this from Day 1 on the basis that (if they moved in in July for example ) the market rate would not be £2k per month? (even if the rent spread across the year culminated in the property being let in totality at market rate)
Q2 – Would you have to market the property to let from the start with this breakdown on the listing?
Q3 – Deposit could be no more than 5 weeks equivalent of rent – what 5 weeks would you use in this calculation? The 5 weeks @July rate or @ Dec rate?
Q4 – how the heck would this work if the tenant claimed benefits at a later date? (or how you could claim that this was non discriminatory to benefit applicants in the first place when initially advertising???)
Member Since October 2020 - Comments: 1173
11:24 AM, 23rd April 2026, About 2 hours ago
Sorry, but this wont work. The Renters Rights Act says that the only way rent for a given month can be higher than the previous month is by serving a s13 notice each time with 2 months notice, which the tenant can challenge at Tribunal.
Member Since February 2022 - Comments: 205
12:52 PM, 23rd April 2026, About 51 minutes ago
I can’t see how this can work and even if it did it’s way too risky. Either stick to regular AST or use as short term holiday. I can’t see how a hybrid of this would be of any benefit. Sounds to me like you need to find a more committed tenant. Interesting idea but one I would run away from.
Member Since August 2020 - Comments: 17
1:18 PM, 23rd April 2026, About 25 minutes ago
Looks like if you just do short lets for three busy months you could recover y almost equivalent to an yearly rental income!
Member Since May 2015 - Comments: 2203 - Articles: 2
1:22 PM, 23rd April 2026, About 21 minutes ago
Reply to the comment left by Reluctant Landlord at 23/04/2026 – 11:21
The benefit question is easy, never take tenants on benefits, they are a poison chalice because of housing benefit rules. BUT remember you must not discriminate and must give them the opportunity to apply.