Fears that landlords would push through rent increases before the Renters’ Rights Act came into force have failed to materialise, according to new analysis by Hamptons.

The number of tenants who saw a rent increase last month was 23% lower than in May 2025, and 16% below the five-year average, says Hamptons which reports that while the number of increases might rise in future months as landlords adjust to the new reforms, there’s limited evidence to suggest that they pushed through rent increases in advance of the Renters’ Rights Act. The number of increases between January and April was 3% lower than in the same period of 2025, indicating that behaviour remained broadly consistent in the run-up to 1^st May.

Recorded

If the number of rent increases recorded last month were repeated for the rest of the year, Hamptons estimates that 31% of tenants would see their rent rise when landlords are able to do so (after a 12-month period). This marks a clear fall from 40% in the 12 months to May 2025, and from a peak of 50% in the 12 months to January 2024, when rents on newly agreed rentals were rising at double-digit pace

Among those tenants who did see their rent change, the average annual increase in May was 5.4%. This was unchanged from April and slightly below the 5.5% recorded in May 2025. However, the average size of increases has eased from 7.3% when rental growth peaked, representing both softer rental growth and the fact that fewer landlords are choosing to increase the rent

Aneisha Beveridge, head of research at Hamptons, says if the pattern seen in Scotland plays out in England, tenants may see their rent rise less often going forward. “However, the size of the increase may be larger, bridging the gap that can build up between what tenants are currently paying and the prevailing market rate,” she adds. “Last month, the average rent increase in Scotland was 7.7%, higher than in any other region in Great Britain.”

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