Section 13A — Housing Act 1988: Increases of rent under relevant low-cost tenancies

Increases of rent under relevant low-cost tenancies 13A 1 This section applies to a relevant low-cost tenancy within the meaning given by section 13(4C).

2 For the purpose of securing an increase in the rent under a tenancy to which this section applies, the landlord may serve on the tenant a notice in the prescribed form proposing a new rent to take effect at the beginning of a new period of the tenancy specified in the notice, being a period beginning not earlier than—

a one month after the date of the service of the notice, and b in the case of an assured agricultural occupancy, the first anniversary of the date on which the first period of the tenancy began, and c if the rent under the tenancy has previously been increased by virtue of a notice under this subsection or a determination under section 14, either—

i in the case of an assured agricultural occupancy, the first anniversary of the date on which the increased rent took effect, or ii in any other case, the appropriate date.

3 The appropriate date is—

a in a case to which subsection (4) applies, the date that falls 53 weeks after the date on which the increased rent took effect;

b in any other case, the date that falls 52 weeks after the date on which the increased rent took effect.

4 This subsection applies where—

a the rent under the tenancy has been increased by virtue of a notice under this section or a determination under section 14 on at least one occasion after the coming into force of the Regulatory Reform (Assured Periodic Tenancies) (Rent Increases) Order 2003 , and b the fifty-third week after the date on which the last such increase took effect begins more than six days before the anniversary of the date on which the first such increase took effect.

5 Where a notice is served under subsection (2), a new rent specified in the notice takes effect as mentioned in the notice unless, before the beginning of the new period specified in the notice—

a the tenant applies to the tribunal under section 14(A3), or b the landlord and the tenant agree on a variation of the rent which is different from that proposed in the notice or agree that the rent should not be varied.

6 Nothing in this section (or in section 14) affects the right of the landlord and the tenant under a relevant low-cost tenancy within the meaning given by section 13(4C) to vary by agreement any term of the tenancy (including a term relating to rent).