Rent tribunal backlogs fuel rent control calls
12:10 AM, 5th November 2026, 4 days ago
22
Categories:
Landlords are facing calls for nationwide rent controls as tribunal backlogs leave some waiting longer for increases that cannot be backdated to before a decision.
The London Renters Union (LRU) has told the Guardian that challenging individual increases offered insufficient protection where rents across an area were rising rapidly.
Under the Renters’ Rights Act, tribunals cannot set rents above the landlord’s proposed figure, and increases cannot be backdated to before the tribunal decision.
Jae Vail, from the LRU, said tenants were facing long delays, with some in London asked to attend hearings in the Midlands because of backlogs.
Calls for rent controls
Mr Vail told the newspaper: “The system is just clearly not doing what Labour said it would do in their manifesto, which was helping people challenge unreasonable rent increases.
“What could be a better definition of an unreasonable rent increase than 40% or 80%?”
He added: “What we’re seeing right now is a really inefficient case-by-case form of rent control.
“So why not have the version that would actually protect everyone?”
Rent tribunal backlog concerns
Chris Norris, the chief policy officer at the National Residential Landlords Association, said the government had provided no additional tribunal capacity or resources, with only just over 30 full-time judges working across the country.
He raised concerns about inaccurate decisions by an overstretched workforce, saying some judgments relied almost exclusively on searches of Rightmove or similar websites.
Oxford Renters Union has asked members to pledge to challenge rent increases at tribunal, with the aim of ‘freezing rents and lowering the market rate for all Oxford renters’.
Mr Norris described any encouragement to challenge every rent increase as an ‘abuse of the system’, but tenants’ unions said there was no evidence that renters were ‘flooding the system’.
Market rent decisions
The LRU’s analysis of tribunal data from May to October found that landlords’ proposed increases were approved in full in 36% of cases.
In one Dagenham case, a tribunal approved an 88% increase, taking the monthly rent from £1,200 to £2,250 despite the tenant’s argument that it would cause undue hardship.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: “Our Renters’ Rights Act empowers tenants to challenge above-market rent increases through the tribunal – stopping private landlords from using increases as a backdoor means of eviction.
“We’re already seeing evidence that our changes are working – with cases across the country where tribunals have reduced above-market rents by hundreds of pounds a month or ruled there should be no increase.”
Tags:
fair market rent, landlord rent increases, London Renters Union, NRLA, Private Rented Sector, rent controls, rent tribunal delays, Renters’ Rights Act, tribunal backlogs
22 comments on this article
Learn from your peers’ experience
A different perspective could help you spot an issue, avoid a mistake or find a better way forward. Read the comments and add your own views if you wish.
Member Since July 2023 - Comments: 103
1:01 AM, 5th November 2026, About 4 days ago
What could be a better definition of an unreasonable rent increase than 40% or 80%?”
Well if you rent was £50 a month as you have had a kind landlords and he puts it up to £550 a month a rise of 1000% that is reasonable if market rent is £600 a month?
The landlord has an asset (the home) and say it is worth £240k, that landlord could get 5% interest on his £240k or £1000pm for doing nothing and it is the comparative value of the asset that should be used as the benchmark for rent increases not the increase itself
Where renta are lower than market the landlord is subsidising the tenant.Far more fair and reasonable for benefits to cover market rents
Member Since December 2023 - Comments: 1667
9:12 AM, 5th November 2026, About 4 days ago
Simple.
I decide the rent or the tenants find a new home.
The end.
Member Since April 2024 - Comments: 18
9:51 AM, 5th November 2026, About 4 days ago
State authorised blackmail supported by rogue charities. Its is nothing short of scandalous!
Member Since April 2018 - Comments: 703
10:05 AM, 5th November 2026, About 4 days ago
Hold on , isn’t this backlog hitting landlords not tenants. Landlords can not increase the rent if the tenant has challenged it. Another well thought out plan by Labour for rent controls. The bigger the backlog and longer it takes to resolve the better for the tenant at the expense of the landlord.
Member Since September 2018 - Comments: 3792 - Articles: 5
10:12 AM, 5th November 2026, About 4 days ago
Reply to the comment left by Cider Drinker at 05/11/2026 – 09:12
unfortunately its not as simple as though is it. In a normal world this would happen, but under a communist regime, where ironically the state doesn’t want to house people either, the PRS are being made the default provider. The powers that be want to make sure as many tenants as possible are kept housed and if that is at the cost of the private landlord, then even better.
‘Not our problem’ politics in full swing
Member Since April 2024 - Comments: 18
10:36 AM, 5th November 2026, About 4 days ago
Reply to the comment left by David at 05/11/2026 – 10:05
I guess tenants hoping to have their rent REDUCED via Tribunal appeal are being hard done by, by the delays caused by charities telling all tenants go appeal!
Member Since October 2025 - Comments: 31
10:36 AM, 5th November 2026, About 4 days ago
The whole premise of the renter’s union argument is false. An open market rent is the ultimate in pure reason. With a limited supply, the people who pay most will get the property. But if a landlord asks too much no-one will rent it. This is entirely reasonable.
Is it fair? Maybe not – But who told them life would be fair?
Is it fair that a banker earns more than a rubbish man?Is it fair that extra costs and higher risks are being constantly dumped on landlords?
This is the whining of a generation of entitled spoilt children who believe everything should be provided for them.
Rents rise because COSTS rise! It’s simple.
Member Since April 2024 - Comments: 18
10:41 AM, 5th November 2026, About 4 days ago
Reply to the comment left by Reluctant Landlord at 05/11/2026 – 10:12
Absolutely, they have made it harder to sell and this has a further knock on profits. I have one property, a 6 br hmo. I cannot sell within 12 months (plus 4 months notice) of a new tenancy agreement arising. I have one vacant room, so when filled I cannot sell that HMO for 16 months. What are the chances that someone else will leave and that time period starts all over again. My only possibility if I wanted to sell say next year is to leave that room vacant, which is a large reduction in the rent that I will be able to get for the house (not to say totally bonkers as tenants are crying out for rooms!!)
Member Since May 2016 - Comments: 1588 - Articles: 16
10:42 AM, 5th November 2026, About 4 days ago
No commentators, especially ‘Tenant Unions’ pick up on the point that if an Independent Tribunal, with a record of cutting a majority of rent increases finds that an 80% increase is justified –
1. The tenant has been significantly Under-paying far less than market rent for some time.
2. This is evidence that landlords are not rushing to increase rents at the first opportunity as it would have taken many years for an 80% increase to have arisen.
Member Since February 2020 - Comments: 408
10:58 AM, 5th November 2026, About 4 days ago
If you have any price controls including rent controls, then if they make a difference to price then pressures will show up in supply instead. It doesn’t solve a problem, it moves it.
Lack of supply will affect price where it can.