Effect of rent review clause

Contour Homes Ltd v Rowen CA TLR 13 July

Where an assured tenancy agreement itself contains a clause providing the machinery for an increase of the rent, it is not necessary for the landlord’s letter initiating a review of rent to comply with s13(2) of the Housing Act 1988. Section 13(1)(b) excludes from the provisions of the Act an assured periodic tenancy ‘in relation to which there is a provision, for the time being binding on the tenant, under which the rent for a particular period of the tenancy will or maybe greater than the rent for an earlier period’. This includes both terms providing for a specified increase in rent and terms providing the machinery for an increase of rent.