You are scrolling Rightmove one evening and a property comes up in your own street. It has the same layout as yours and is advertised at £300 per month more than your tenant pays. Your tenant moved in during 2021. They pay on time and look after the place as if it were their own. You have never put the rent up, partly because you like them and partly because you are not sure how to raise it without spoiling a good arrangement.
We have had that conversation with Glasgow landlords since 1999. You can keep a good tenant and bring the rent up to a fair level at the same time, as long as the figure is right and the increase is done by the book. Read on for the numbers and the process.
Glasgow rents have moved a long way since 2021. The Citylets report for the second quarter of 2026 puts the average one bedroom rent in Glasgow up 36.1% over five years and the average two bedroom up 39.2%. Under a private residential tenancy, a landlord can raise the rent once in any 12 months, with at least three months’ notice given on the official rent-increase notice. The tenant has 21 days from receiving it to ask Rent Service Scotland to review it, and a rent officer then sets the open market rent. For notices given from 1 April 2027, the rent officer cannot set a rent higher than the landlord proposed, and tenants get 30 days to apply.
What five years have done to your rent
Take a one bedroom property let in 2021 at £800 per month and a two bedroom at £1,000. Apply the Citylets five-year rises and they come out at around £1,090 and £1,390 today. The market backs that up. At the time of writing, October 2026, one bedroom properties in Glasgow’s city centre and West End are mostly advertised on Rightmove at between £850 and £1,200 per month, and two bedrooms at between £1,150 and £1,700, with new build-to-rent blocks above both.
The rent arrives in full every month, so nothing prompts you to check it against the market. Over a year the gap runs into thousands, and the table sets it beside what you would receive with us managing the tenancy at the new rent.
| One bedroom | Two bedroom | |
|---|---|---|
| Rent agreed in 2021 | £800 per month | £1,000 per month |
| Fair market rent today | £1,100 per month | £1,400 per month |
| Gap per month | £300 | £400 |
| Gap per year | £3,600 | £4,800 |
| Our Already Tenanted fee, 6% of the new rent | £66 per month | £84 per month |
| Paid to you after our fee | £1,034 per month | £1,316 per month |
| More than you receive today, per year | £2,808 | £3,792 |
After our fee, the one bedroom landlord receives £234 per month more than today and the two bedroom landlord £316 more. The tenant keeps a home they know, on a rent in line with similar properties nearby. Our article on whether your property is priced right explains how we judge the rent for one property rather than an area average.
Why the timing matters
A private residential tenancy rent can only rise once in 12 months, so every year the increase waits is a year’s gap you do not get back. Two changes also make the coming months a sensible time to put things right.
The first is the way a challenge works. Today, if a tenant refers an increase, a rent officer looks at rents for similar properties in the area and sets the open market rent, which can be higher or lower than the figure the landlord asked for. For rent-increase notices given on or after 1 April 2027, section 25 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2025 changes that, and neither the rent officer nor the Tribunal on appeal can set a rent above the landlord’s figure. The number on your notice becomes the ceiling, so it has to be the right number first time.
The second is rent control. The framework has been in force since 1 April 2026. Every council must send its first report on local rent conditions by 31 May 2027, and Scottish Ministers decide from those reports whether to designate a rent control area. Inside a designated area, increases would be capped at CPI plus 1%, to a maximum of 6% per year, during tenancies as well as between them. A rent that is already £300 per month behind the market would take years to reach a fair level under that limit. Designations can only follow those reports, so a fair rent set now is the best place to start from, wherever the lines are drawn.
Our round-up of what Scottish landlords need to know about the 2026 and 2027 changes covers the other dates.
How to increase the rent for an existing tenant in Scotland
The process is short, and a mistake in the paperwork means the rent stays where it is.
- Base the figure on what similar properties nearby have actually let for. A rent officer works from the same evidence.
- Use the official rent-increase notice, signed and dated. A rise agreed by text or in conversation does not count on its own.
- Give at least three months’ notice from the day the tenant receives it, and allow 48 hours for delivery by post or email.
- Leave at least 12 months since the last increase.
If the tenant is content, the new rent starts on the date in the notice. If they want it checked, they return part 3 of the notice and apply to Rent Service Scotland within 21 days, and a rent officer aims to decide within 40 days. A figure built on the same local evidence a rent officer uses leaves a review very little to change.
Keeping a good tenant on side
Most of the work happens before the notice is sent. A tenant who has been in since 2021 will often have seen the same listings you have. What unsettles people is a form arriving out of the blue with a figure nobody has explained.
So the conversation comes first. We tell the tenant an increase is coming, show them how the figure was reached and give them a clear date. For a tenant who has looked after the property for years, the fair middle of the local evidence usually serves you better than the top of it. A long, settled tenancy with no empty weeks and no re-letting costs is worth more to you than the last £25 per month.
Good management around the rent helps too. A tenant whose repairs are handled promptly is in a far better frame of mind for a fair increase than one still waiting on a repair from last month. Our article on why your letting agent should do more than collect the rent covers that day-to-day side.
What we do, and what it costs
Our Already Tenanted package is built for this. We take over the management of your existing tenancy now. Your tenant stays, signs nothing new and hears from us with an introduction and our 24-hour emergency number. We check the paperwork, from the deposit to the safety certificates, so everything around the increase is in order before the notice goes out.
Then we do the awkward part. We work out the right figure from what has let near you, agree it with you, explain it to your tenant, serve the correct notice with the right dates and deal with Rent Service Scotland for you if the tenant asks for a review. After that we collect the rent, arrange and check repairs, inspect the property and keep every certificate up to date.
Already Tenanted is 6% of the rent, with no set-up fee, for as long as the existing tenancy continues. All prices include VAT. Every package has a minimum management fee of £60 per month. The fee is deducted from the rent before it is paid to you.
Find out what your property would let for today
Get a free instant rental valuation and see the figure in a couple of minutes, or call us on 0141 553 2677 and we will tell you the rent we would put on the notice and what it would leave you each month after our fee. There is no obligation, and if the rent you charge is already about right, we will tell you that too.
This article reflects the general position in Scotland in October 2026, with rents as published at the time of writing. It isn’t legal or financial advice.
Managing a tenancy yourself?
Our Already Tenanted package takes over your existing tenancy without disturbing your tenant, for 6% including VAT. You stay informed while we handle the repairs, certificates and paperwork.