"While there had been widespread concern that landlords would rush to increase rents ahead of the Renters' Rights Act, these figures suggest a far more measured response across the market"
- Sián Hemming-Metcalfe - Inventory Base
Despite widespread concern that landlords would rush to increase rents before the Renters' Rights Act took effect, new data suggests the market response was far more restrained.
Analysis from property inventory platform Inventory Base found that only around a quarter of landlords appeared to frontload rental yield rises ahead of the 1 May deadline, when the legislation limits rent increases to once per year.
The findings arrive against a backdrop of ongoing policy uncertainty. The UK government this week reportedly stepped back from a proposed rent freeze, underlining how unsettled the direction of travel remains for landlords and tenants alike.
Inventory Base compared the latest private rental price data from the Office for National Statistics, measuring average rent growth in the first quarter of 2026 against the same period in 2025, to assess whether rents had been rising more sharply in anticipation of the new rules.
The figures show average rent in England increased by 0.77% between January and March 2026, reaching £1,434 per month. That rise was marginally below the 0.80% recorded over the same period last year.
At a regional level, the evidence for widespread frontloading is thin. In the North East, rents rose by 0.65% in Q1 2026, a marked slowdown from the 2.11% increase seen in Q1 2025. The East Midlands followed a similar pattern, with rents up just 0.44% this year against a 1.39% rise a year earlier.
Across England's nine regions, only three saw faster rental growth in the first quarter of 2026 than in 2025. London was among them, with rents rising 1.20% compared with 0.63% the previous year. Yorkshire and the Humber and the South West also recorded year-on-year acceleration.
The picture at a local level reinforces this. Across 294 local authority areas in England, just 26.9% recorded faster rent growth in Q1 2026 than in Q1 2025. In the remaining 73.1%, the incoming legislation does not appear to have prompted landlords to bring forward rent increases.
"While there had been widespread concern that landlords would rush to increase rents ahead of the Renters' Rights Act, these figures suggest a far more measured response across the market," said Sián Hemming-Metcalfe, operations director at Inventory Base. "That should provide reassurance to renters who may have been bracing for sharp, short-term increases with the new rules coming into force."
"Now, what we're likely to see instead is a shift in how and when rents are reviewed. With increases limited to once per year and subject to greater scrutiny, landlords will need to take a more considered, evidence-based approach, setting rents in line with local market conditions from the outset, rather than relying on more frequent adjustments."
"For landlords, this means keeping closer track of comparable listings and ensuring any increase can be clearly justified. For tenants, it reinforces the importance of understanding local rental values and being prepared to challenge rises that appear out of step with the market."
"In the longer term, the legislation should encourage greater stability in the private rental sector, but it may also lead to more decisive pricing at the start of a tenancy, as landlords look to future-proof against more limited flexibility."
