Your landlord put the service charge up in the Section 13 notice: can they do that?

Rent increase notices are not always as simple as they look. A lot of Section 13 notices quietly carry two passengers: the rent going up, and the service charge going up with it. The tenant reads the new monthly figure, assumes it is all part of the same rent increase, and either pays it or challenges the lot as one thing.

That instinct is understandable, and it is wrong. The rent and the service charge are governed by different bits of law, and a Section 13 notice can do one of those jobs but not always the other. If your landlord has rolled a service charge rise into the notice, there is a real chance that part of it does not stand up, and that changes what you actually owe.

This walkthrough is for tenants in England on a periodic assured tenancy who have received a Section 13 notice that also touches their service charge. It explains what Section 13 can and cannot do, how to tell which kind of service charge you have, how to deal with the part that does not belong, and what to put in writing.

What a Section 13 notice is actually for

A Section 13 notice is the formal route a landlord uses to increase the rent on a periodic assured tenancy. It sets out the proposed new rent and the date it is meant to start, and it has to use the prescribed form and give the right notice period. Its job is the rent, and the rent only.

When a tenant refers a Section 13 increase to the First-tier Tribunal, the tribunal's task is to decide the market rent for the property. It is a rent question from start to finish. It is not a forum for arguing about cleaning costs, the gardener, or the buildings insurance premium. Those things sit in a different legal box.

That matters because if the notice tries to push up something that is not really rent, the notice is being asked to do a job the law did not give it.

Fixed service charge versus variable service charge

The dividing line is whether your service charge is fixed or variable, and the difference is not cosmetic.

A fixed service charge is a set amount written into your tenancy. It does not move with the landlord's actual spending. If your agreement says you pay a flat sum each month towards shared services and that sum is fixed, it behaves much more like part of the rent.

A variable service charge is the more common arrangement in blocks and shared buildings. It changes from year to year to reflect what the landlord actually spends on services. Your agreement might describe it as your share of the actual costs, reconciled annually, or refer to a yearly statement of account. The amount goes up if costs go up and can come down if they fall.

That second type, the variable service charge, is defined by section 18 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, and it has its own protections. The key point for you is this: a variable service charge must not be increased through a Section 13 notice. The Section 13 route simply does not reach it.

So the moment you can show your service charge is variable, any attempt to raise it inside the rent increase notice is on shaky ground.

How to read your own notice

Start with the tenancy agreement, not the notice. Find the clause that deals with the service charge and ask one question: does this amount change to track the landlord's real costs, or is it a fixed figure?

If it tracks real costs, is described as variable, refers to a yearly reconciliation, or talks about your proportion of actual expenditure, treat it as a variable service charge under the 1985 Act.

Now look at the notice itself. There are two common shapes:

• A single combined figure. The notice gives you one new monthly amount that quietly includes a higher service charge. This is the more problematic version, because it mixes a valid rent question with a service charge the notice cannot lawfully raise.
• An itemised figure. The notice separates the rent from the service charge. This is cleaner, because you can see exactly which part is the service charge and treat that element on its own.

Either way, you now know more than most tenants do: that the service charge element may not be validly increased by the notice at all.

What to do about it

The aim is to deal with the rent question properly and stop the service charge increase from sliding through unchallenged.

First, do not simply start paying the new combined amount as if it were all valid rent. Paying without comment can muddy the picture later.

Second, write to your landlord before the notice takes effect. Keep it calm and factual. Ask them to confirm how the new figure was made up, whether it includes a service charge, whether that service charge is fixed or variable, and on what legal basis any service charge increase has been made. You are not accusing anyone of anything. You are asking a fair question that a landlord acting properly should be able to answer.

Here is a short template you can adapt:

Dear [landlord or agent],

Thank you for the notice dated [date] proposing a new rent of [amount] from [date].

Please confirm how this figure is made up. In particular, does it include any element of service charge, and if so, how much, and is that service charge fixed or variable?

If any part of the increase relates to a variable service charge, please set out the legal basis on which it has been increased, given that a Section 13 notice increases the rent and does not cover a variable service charge under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985.

I would be grateful for your reply before the proposed start date so I can deal with the rent and any service charge correctly.

Yours, [name]

Third, if the rent itself also looks above the market rate for similar local properties, or the notice is procedurally defective, consider referring the rent increase to the First-tier Tribunal before the notice expires. Once that deadline passes, your options narrow sharply.

Keep the two issues in separate boxes

If your real grievance is the service charge, not the rent, remember that they travel on different tracks.

A rent dispute goes to the tribunal as a market rent question under Section 13. A service charge dispute is about whether the charge is reasonable and properly accounted for, and that is decided under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, including a separate route to the First-tier Tribunal to test whether a service charge is reasonable and payable. You can also ask the landlord for a written summary of the costs behind a variable service charge.

Mixing them up is exactly the confusion a bundled notice creates. Keeping them apart, in your own head and in your letters, is how you make sure each part is dealt with under the right rule.

The short version

A Section 13 notice raises the rent. It cannot lawfully raise a variable service charge under the 1985 Act. If your notice did both, the service charge element may not be valid, so read your agreement to confirm which type of charge you have, ask the landlord in writing how the figure was built and on what basis, and act before the notice takes effect so every route stays open.

If you are not sure whether your notice is valid, or whether the proposed rent is above the market rate, it is worth getting the notice checked before you decide what to do.