How to get your landlord rent review right this autumn: a guide for Ascot and Bracknell

10 Sep 2026

by Gemma Cusworth

In this blog

• How do I know if my rent is too low? 

• Why it matters when you review 

• Getting that right in Ascot and Bracknell 

• How do I carry out a rent review legally? 

• Can I increase rent without losing my tenant? 

• What do I do if I haven’t done a rent review in years? 

The most common mistake we see in landlord rent reviews isn’t the wrong figure. It’s the wrong month. 

We manage around 400 properties across Ascot, Bracknell and the surrounding villages. Every autumn, some of those landlords have a rent review conversation that would have been considerably simpler with different timing. Not because the increase is wrong, but because the month it lands in shapes everything that follows. 

Most landlords treat a rent review as admin. The ones who get it right treat it as a decision.  

How do I know if my rent is too low?

The landlords we work with who haven’t carried out a rent review in over a year usually fall into one of two situations. Either the rent is broadly right, and the review is simple. Or a gap has grown quietly, and the catch-up increase that follows is larger and more uncomfortable than it needed to be. 

Rents across Ascot and Bracknell have moved over the past two years. If yours hasn’t, you’re probably charging less than the market supports. That’s worth knowing, even if you decide not to act on it immediately. 

Why it matters when you review

Under the Renters’ Rights Act, you can only increase rent once in any 12-month period. That makes the review month your annual review point, and if the increase prompts the tenant to leave, the void falls at the same time of year every time. In Ascot, Sunninghill and Sunningdale, where tenants tend to be professionals and corporate relocations, demand is more consistent, and timing is more flexible. In the Bracknell family market, spring is the strongest re-let window, which means an autumn review that leads to a departure puts you back in the market at a quieter time. Choosing when to review is as much about the market as it is about the figure. 

Getting that right in Ascot and Bracknell 

The right landlord rent review figure is not a percentage. It’s a comparison. 

What are comparable properties achieving in the same area right now? What has moved in the local market since the last review? Where does the current rent sit against that? Those are the questions we work through for every managed rent review in our portfolio, and they are the right questions for any landlord to start with. 

Two patterns come up repeatedly when landlords handle rent reviews without support. The first is an increase picked without checking what the market is doing, a round number that feels reasonable but may be above or below what the evidence supports. The second is no increase at all, because the landlord doesn’t know the right figure and doesn’t want to risk the tenancy by getting it wrong. Both avoid the real question. Both create a harder conversation later. 

A steady, evidence-based increase is far easier for a good tenant to accept than a large catch-up. The landlords who handle this well treat the figure as a straightforward market question, not a negotiation to be avoided. 

How do I carry out a rent review legally? 

The landlord rent review process is more straightforward than most landlords expect. 

Under the Renters’ Rights Act, a rent increase requires a prescribed form and two months’ written notice. You cannot increase rent within the first 12 months of a tenancy. If your last increase was informal and took place before May 2026, your position may differ from a standard annual landlord rent review and it’s worth taking specific advice before you proceed. 

For every property we manage, our lettings team handles the form, the notice and the communication with the tenant.  

The process itself won’t trip you up. What matters is that it’s handled in the right order, at the right time, by someone who knows what they’re doing. 

Can I increase rent without losing my tenant?

When we talk to landlords about what concerns them most, three things come up consistently: regulatory change, rent arrears and property condition. What they don’t always say, but what often holds them back from a rent review, is the conversation itself. Telling a tenant their rent is going up, particularly one they’ve had for years, can feel like a risk not worth taking. 

That hesitation is understandable.  

A tenant who has been in a property for a year or more almost always understands that rents move. What determines how they respond is not the increase but how it arrives: clearly, with proper notice and a figure that reflects the market rather than a landlord pushing their luck. 

The landlord rent reviews that damage a tenancy are almost always the ones where the increase is large because it has been left too long, or where the communication is abrupt or poorly timed. Both are avoidable when reviews are handled consistently from the start of a tenancy. 

A good tenant, managed well, is the most valuable thing a landlord has. A rent review done properly doesn’t threaten that. It’s part of what keeps it intact. 

What do I do if I haven’t done a rent review in years? 

Not carrying out a landlord rent review for a year or two isn’t a disaster. It’s a gap to close carefully. 

What that looks like in practice: we look at your current rent against what comparable properties are achieving right now. We look at the tenancy, the tenant profile and the best timing given the re-let window for your specific area. And we tell you clearly what the right figure is, when to move and how to handle the conversation. 

You leave knowing what to do and when. That clarity is what a landlord review gives you. And it’s free. 

What our lettings team knows from experience is that managing a property well runs long past the point of finding a tenant. A landlord rent review handled correctly is part of that long-term care. When it’s done well, it protects the income, the property and the tenancy that makes both of those things possible.