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I got an email from my Renting Agency earlier this week saying "there is a rent review clause meaning the rent increases in line with RPI. The last few months the rents have been increased significantly and the RPI is on 11.1% but the landlord asked for a 7.6% rent increase."

There is a clause on my contract stating "It is agreed that the rent as defined in this Agreement will be reviewed on the anniversary of this Tenancy and upon each subsequent anniversary in line with the change in the Retail Prices Index (RPI) for the previous 12 months and the rent varied accordingly either by way of an upward or downward adjustment."

My question is, they are considering the RPI All Items which is at 11.1% but the RPI Rent is at 3.1%. Obviously, this is a very big difference, and as it is not specified in the contract which RPI is, can I fight this decision? Although there are some issues with the house and things haven't been done on the landlord part like painting the house which was stated in the agreement, we still like the location and would prefer not to move but does not seem fair to pay 7.6% on a house that needs a lot of work and not much as been done on the landlord part.

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    What jurisdiction is this in? I'm guessing somewhere in the UK from the mention of the RPI, but you might need to be even more specific than that.
    – Michael Seifert
    May 31, 2022 at 13:15
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    Is this a commercial or residential letting? In UK the typical residential agreement is fixed term of 6 or 12 months, and the rent is reviewed at each renewal.
    – Weather Vane
    May 31, 2022 at 14:52

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The relevant index is the one referred to in the lease, which boils down to a question of contract interpretation.

The clause in question seems to refer to RPI-All and that at a minimum seems to be a reasonable interpretation of the lease, when it doesn't specifically mention RPI-Rent.

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Please, see the link below from GOV.UK - according to this information landlord can increase your rent 4.1%.

Limit on annual rent increases 2022-23 (from April 2022)

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rent-standard/limit-on-annual-rent-increases-2022-23-from-april-2022#contents

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  • that is for social housing, and refers to CPI, not RPI. RPI is almost always higher. If your contact says RPI, that's for a reason...
    – thelawnet
    Jul 1, 2022 at 15:19

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