Your landlord wants to increase your rent

If your landlord wants to increase the rent, they must follow certain steps. If your landlord doesn't follow these steps, you can't legally be expected to pay the higher rent.

You must be given at least 3 months' notice of any rent increase. Your landlord can only increase your rent once every 12 months.

You have the right to challenge a proposed rent increase by applying to Rent Service Scotland. There is a deadline for doing this.

Check that the rent increase notice is valid

The notice must be on a specific form titled 'Landlord’s rent-increase notice to tenant(s)'. It must be filled in correctly by the landlord.

The rent increase notice must tell you:

• the new rate that the landlord wants to charge

• the beginning date that the higher rent would become effective

• your rights, including to refer the proposed increase to a rent officer.

The form includes a section for you to complete and return to the landlord. If you don’t respond, you’ll have to pay the higher rate from the date on the notice.

Simply returning the relevant section of the notice to the landlord will not automatically trigger an application to a rent officer. You'll also need to apply directly to Rent Service Scotland within 21 days.

You must be given at least 3 months' notice of any rent increase. If you’ve had less notice than that but don’t want to challenge the amount of the increase, you can return the slip on the form to tell the landlord the date that you think the new rent should become effective.

If you have any problems with your rent increase notice, you should get advice.

Challenging a rent increase

The rules for challenging a rent increase changed on 1 April

The rent cap ended on 1 April 2025.

If you challenged a rent increase before 1 April, Rent Service Scotland will use the rules from before this date to decide your rent - even if your case isn’t decided until after 1 April. This means your rent increase will be capped at 12%.

If you want to refer a rent increase to a rent officer, you must apply to Rent Service Scotland within 21 days of receiving the notice.

The rent officer will decide how much the rent will be and when the rent increase will start. They might decide that your rent should be higher than the landlord’s proposed rent.

When a rent officer looks at your case, their decision will consider what similar properties are being advertised for.

Applications to challenge a rent increase can be made online. There is more information about how to apply to Rent Service Scotland on mygov.scot. 

Challenging a rent officer's decision

The rent officer will send a 'provisional' decision stating. This will state the rent they are planning to set. Both you and the landlord have 14 days to challenge this.

It's also worth sending evidence of homes similar to yours being advertised for lower rent than the provisional decision. You might be able to find this by looking at online listings. 

If you disagree with the rent officer’s final decision, you can appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Housing and Property Chamber). You must appeal within 14 days of the rent officer's final decision.

You’ll need evidence of lower rents in your area to support your appeal or evidence of why the rent officer's decision was wrong.

If you’re thinking about disputing a rent increase, you should get advice.

If you paid a rent increase you didn't have to

If you've paid a rent increase when you didn't have to, you could ask the landlord to return the difference between what the rent should have been and what you paid.

If the landlord doesn't agree, you can complain to the First-tier Tribunal (Housing and Property Chamber).

If you're an assured tenant, your rent cannot be increased unless the tenancy agreement says it can be increase or if you agree to it.

Your landlord must give you at least 1 rental period worth of notice.

If the tenancy agreement doesn't mention rent increases or the landlord tries to increase the rent other than in the way set out in the tenancy agreement, you don't have to pay the increase. You must get advice.

If you think a proposed increase is too high, you can refer it to the First-tier Tribunal (Housing and Property Chamber). This is a complicated process and you must get advice.

You can find out more about challenging a rent increase on the First-tier Tribunal (Housing and Property Chamber) website.

If you're a short assured tenant, your rent cannot be increased during the fixed term of the tenancy.

You can apply to the First-tier Tribunal (Housing and Property Chamber) to compare the rent to rents for similar tenancies in the area and set a different rent.

If you have your rent reduced, the landlord might refuse to renew the short assured agreement when it expires.

If you think that a proposed rent increase is too high you can ask the First-tier Tribunal (Housing and Property Chamber) to decide on a reasonable 'market rent'. The Tribunal might set a reasonable 'market rent' higher than the amount proposed by the landlord.

You can find out more about challenigng a rent increase on the First-tier Tribunal (Housing and Property Chamber) website.

If you want to take your rent to the First-tier Tribunal (Housing and Property Chamber) you must get advice.

If you're a regulated tenant, you must pay the rent agreed with your landlord when the tenancy started unless you agree to a rent increase in writing.

You or your landlord can apply to Rent Service Scotland to have a fair rent set. Read more about how a fair rent is set on mygov.scot.

If you want to challenge the rent set by a rent officer, you can appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Housing and Property Chamber). You must get advice.

If you're a common law tenant or non-tenant occupier and you're charged rent, you must pay the rent agreed with the landlord when you moved into the accommodation. You cannot apply to the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Housing and Property Chamber) to have the rent reduced.

If the landlord wants to increase the rent, in practice there is nothing that you can do to prevent this. You cannot apply to the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland (Housing and Property Chamber) to have the rent reduced.

If you're a Scottish secure tenant, your rent is fixed according to the landlord's housing policy and guidelines from the Scottish Housing Regulator.

Your landlord must give you at least 4 weeks' notice of any rent increase.

Your landlord must consult you about any rent increase and take your views into account. They are not bound by your views. You will not have any further recourse over rents.