Rent Standard and Guidance
This page includes the rent standard that registered providers of social housing must comply with, information on annual updates of formula rent and rent cap levels and guidance on how to apply for an exemption to the rent standard.
Registered providers are required to comply with the Regulator of Social Housing’s Rent Standard. It includes outcomes registered providers are required to deliver in setting and increasing rents for their social housing in line with government policy as outlined in its Policy statement on rents for social housing.
The current rent standard is the Rent Standard 2026. Previous rent standards remain in force in relation to any non-compliance or potential non-compliance with them that occurred while they were in effect. We can enforce or otherwise hold registered providers to account for any breaches of the Rent Standard 2020 or Rent Standard 2023 that occurred before they were replaced by the current rent standard on 1 April 2026. These rent standards are available below.
We are also able to enforce any failure by a registered provider to comply with social housing rent requirements under the Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016 (including related regulations) that occurred while they applied. For most registered providers these statutory requirements applied from 1 April 2016 up until the Rent Standard 2020 came into force on 1 April 2020.
To ensure that registered providers use the correct annual percentage increase for formula rent and rent cap levels, they should refer to the tables in the annual update of formula rent and rent cap levels pages below.
In some circumstances, private registered providers can apply for an exemption from or a variation to a requirement of the Rent Standard – please refer to the exemption guidance below for more details. Details of separate arrangements for local authorities are published by the government and can be found in the Local authority guidance for formal applications to disapply government rent policy.
The Rent Standard has been set in response to the Government’s Direction on the Rent Standard.
Current Rent Standard and guidance
Documents relating to the current Rent Standard applicable from 1 April 2026
Previous Rent Standards
Annual update of formula rent and rent cap levels
MHCLG policy and guidance
Updates to this page
-
Updated with latest guidance as of 1 April 2026
-
Updated with the Rent Standard 2026 and related documents
-
Updated with details for 2025-26
-
Addition of guidance for the limit on annual rent increases 2025-26 (from April 2025)
-
First published.