26. (1) Section 22 of the Principal Act is amended—

(a) in subsection (2) —

(i) by substituting “90 days” for “28 days”,

(ii) by substituting “in the prescribed form” for “in writing”, and

(iii) by inserting “and the matters specified in subsection (2A)” after “have effect”,

and

(b) by inserting the following subsections after subsection (2):

“(2A) The notice referred to in subsection (2) shall—

(a) without prejudice to subsection (2) and pursuant to the condition referred to in that subsection, state the amount of the new rent and the date from which it is to have effect,

(b) include a statement that a dispute in relation to the setting of a rent pursuant to a review of the rent under a tenancy must be referred to the Board under Part 6 before—

(i) the date stated in the notice as the date from which that rent is to have effect, or

(ii) the expiry of 28 days from the receipt by the tenant of that notice,

whichever is the later,

(c) include a statement by the landlord that in his or her opinion the new rent is not greater than the market rent, having regard to—

(i) the other terms of the tenancy, and

(ii) letting values of dwellings—

(I) of a similar size, type and character to the dwelling that is the subject of the tenancy, and

(II) situated in a comparable area to that in which the dwelling the subject of the tenancy concerned is situated,

(d) specify, for the purposes of paragraph (d), and without prejudice to the generality of that paragraph, the amount of rent sought for 3 dwellings—

(i) of a similar size, type and character to the dwelling that is the subject of the tenancy, and

(ii) situated in a comparable area to that in which the dwelling the subject of the tenancy concerned is situated,

and

(e) include the date on which the notice is signed.

(2B) The notice referred to in subsection (2) shall be signed by the landlord or his or her authorised agent.

(2C) In this section ‘amount of rent sought’ means the amount of rent specified for the letting of a dwelling in an advertisement the date of which falls within the period of 4 weeks immediately preceding the date on which the notice referred to in subsection (2) is served.”.

(2) Where, before the coming into operation of subparagraph (i) of paragraph (a) of subsection (1), a notice under subsection (2) of section 22 of the Principal Act has been served on a tenant, notwithstanding the amendments to that section by subsection (1), that section shall continue to apply to—

(a) that notice, and

(b) the operation of subsection (3) of that section in respect of that notice,

as if subparagraph (i) of paragraph (a) of subsection (1) had not been enacted.