What renting costs in the UK now, and what the law just changed
Average UK private rent, July 2026: £1,393/mth, +3.7% year on year on the period before, source dated 31 July 2026. The biggest bill most people pay, the one with the least regulation, and the one that just changed the most.
As of 31 July 2026, average UK private rent, July 2026 is £1,393 a month. Up 3.7% over twelve months. England £1,451, Wales £843, Scotland £1,016, Northern Ireland £875.
Average UK private rent, July 2026
£1,393/mth
Up 3.7% over twelve months. England £1,451, Wales £843, Scotland £1,016, Northern Ireland £875.
Change
+3.7% year on year
Source: ONS
London
£2,317
Highest, up 3.0%
North East
£783
Lowest, but rising fastest at 6.3%
Average UK house price
£272,000
Up 2.0%
Local Housing Allowance
Frozen
At January 2024 rates
The two words that changed everything. A periodic tenancy rolls on month to month with no end date. Since May 2026 every private tenancy in England is one, so a landlord can no longer simply wait for a fixed term to expire. A section 13 notice is the formal letter a landlord must send to raise your rent, giving at least two months' notice. More words explained →
Is yours normal?
Put in your monthly rent. It is worked out in your browser and sent nowhere.
a month for monthly rent
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.
Rent varies more by area than any bill on this site, from £783 a month in the North East to £2,317 in London. Read the national figure against your own nation and region in the table below rather than against the UK average.
Not sure, or want to check your own numbers? Just ask.
Ask about any bill, or put your postcode in. Free, nothing to fill in,
and nothing you type leaves your browser.
Your postcode and your figures never leave this browser. If I cannot work out what you
mean, those words are sent to be classified, and a bill photo goes only if you send one and confirm it.
Nothing is stored either way. How that works.
Below: what is changing, what you could be paying, and what you might be owed.
The longer detail stays folded until you want it.
What you might be owedHelp that routinely goes unclaimed
What you might be owed
Routinely unclaimed. We do not administer any of these and take nothing for pointing at them.
Challenging a rent increase
The First-tier Tribunal determines the open market rent, free to apply
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.
Local Housing Allowance
Housing element of Universal Credit or Housing Benefit, based on your broad rental market area
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.
Discretionary Housing Payment
A top up from your council where your housing benefit does not cover your rent
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.
What you need to knowThe things that stop the figure being misread
What you need to know
The things that stop the headline figure being misread.
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.
Private rented properties must reach EPC C or hold a valid exemption.
The full published figuresCheck our working
The full published figures, for anyone who wants to check our working or find their own line.
Average monthly rent by nation
ONS Private rent and house prices, published 19 August 2026. Rents reference July 2026, house prices June 2026, except Northern Ireland which lags.
Scroll sideways to see every column
Nation
Average rent
Annual change
Average house price
Annual change
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%
What your landlord can and cannot do in England
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.
Scroll sideways to see every column
Rule
What it now means
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.
Scotland and Wales
Scroll sideways to see every column
Nation
The position
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.
Private rents rose 3.7% in the year to July 2026 to a UK average of £1,393 a month. London averages £2,317 and the North East £783, but the North East has the fastest rent inflation in England at 6.3%. House prices rose 2.0% to £272,000, while London house prices actually fell 2.5%.
Local Housing Allowance remains frozen at January 2024 rates, so every month of rent inflation widens the gap between what the benefit pays and what a tenancy costs.
Section 21 abolished and rent rises capped to once a year
The main provisions of the Renters' Rights Act came into force. No fault section 21 evictions and fixed term assured shorthold tenancies are abolished, and every existing tenancy became periodic with no end date. Rent can rise once a year to market rate only, on two months' notice. A tenant challenging an increase at the First-tier Tribunal can no longer be ordered to pay more than the landlord asked for, and increases are no longer backdated. Rent in advance beyond one month is banned, and so is rental bidding above the advertised price.
Local Housing Allowance frozen at January 2024 rates for another year
The Rent Officers Modification Order 2026 fixes Local Housing Allowance for every broad rental market area in England, Wales and Scotland at the rates determined on 31 January 2024, for the whole of 2026/27. Rates were originally set at the 30th percentile of market rents at that date and are not being recalculated against current rents, which have risen 3.7% in the last year alone.
Where this comes from, and where it could be wrongEvery source, and the limits
Known limits of this page
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.
30 price changes are logged on this site and every one had a date you could have known in advance. Join the
update list and we will email you when a tracked bill changes, when a genuinely useful deal or voucher code turns
up, and when a new tool lands. Free, no account, one click to stop.
Low volumeOnly when something actually changes
One click outUnsubscribe from any email
Never soldYour address stays with us, full stop
Can we use analytics cookies? We would like to set Google Analytics cookies to see which pages people use, so we can make the site better. That is the only thing they do. No advertising, and your details are never sold. Say no and the site works exactly the same. What we store.