How much can a landlord raise rent in Missouri in 2026?

Missouri puts no ceiling on how much a landlord can raise rent, and state law blocks every city from setting one.

What matters instead is timing and notice. A month-to-month tenant gets one full rental period of written notice under RSMo 441.060, and a fixed-term tenant gets no increase until the lease ends unless the lease says otherwise.

Get the notice wrong, and the new rent does not take effect, no matter how reasonable the number.

The short answer: Missouri sets no cap on rent increase amounts

How much can a landlord raise rent in Missouri? Any amount, provided the tenant receives valid written notice and the increase is not discriminatory.

No Missouri statute limits the dollar figure or the percentage, and RSMo 441.043 forbids every county and city from regulating "the amount of rent to be charged" for private residential or commercial property. The National Apartment Association's rent control chart classifies Missouri as "Preemption By Statute."

The Missouri Attorney General's guide compresses the whole framework into a sentence: "A landlord can evict the tenant or raise rent with only one month's notice."

One bill would change this. HB 2996, filed in the 2026 session, would cap increases on lease renewals issued on or after January 1, 2027 at 7% plus CPI or 10%, whichever is less. As of September 2026 it is a proposal in the House, not law, and a landlord setting rent for a January 2027 renewal must comply with applicable notice and lease terms, fair-housing law, and any HCV requirements.

The rules that do apply: notice by lease type

Notice requirements turn on whether your tenant is month-to-month or on a fixed-term lease, because Missouri has no standalone rent increase statute for either. The rules below come from the termination provisions of Chapter 441 and from ordinary contract law.

Month-to-month tenancies

A month-to-month tenant must receive written notice at least one full rental period before the new rent takes effect. RSMo 441.060(4)(1) lets either party end the tenancy "by a written notice given to the other party stating that the tenancy shall terminate upon a periodic rent-paying date not less than one month after the receipt of the notice."

The statute never says "rent increase." It governs termination, and a rent increase rides on it: you terminate the existing tenancy as of the next qualifying rent-paying date and offer new terms. If the tenant stays and pays, they have accepted the new rent. That is the mechanism behind the Attorney General's one-month statement.

Two details cause most disputes.

• One month means a full rental period, not 30 calendar days from whenever you hand over the letter. The AG guide example states: "If your rent is due on the third of the month, your rental period runs from the third of the month to the third of the following month." A notice delivered on the 10th for rent due on the 3rd cannot take effect until the 3rd of the month after next.
• The month runs from receipt, not from the postmark. Section 441.060(4)(1) measures the period from "the receipt of the notice," so a letter that sits in the mail for four days shortens your margin by four days.

Oral notice fails outright. In O'Connell v. Deering, 631 S.W.3d 649 (Mo. App. S.D. 2021), the court held that a text message and a telephone call were not a writing, and that a notice giving the tenant too little time "is completely invalid and ineffective to terminate the tenancy at any date." The court did not shorten the defective notice to the next valid date; it threw it out.

Fixed-term leases

You cannot raise rent during a fixed-term lease unless the lease itself contains a clause allowing it. Missouri has no statute on mid-term increases; courts treat the lease as a contract and enforce what the parties signed. The Western District stated the governing rule in Sonoma Management Co. v. Boessen, 70 S.W.3d 475 (Mo. App. W.D. 2002): "The cardinal rule of contract interpretation is to ascertain the parties' intention and to give effect to that intention." Legal Services of Missouri applies the same principle to a new owner, who "cannot change any of the lease terms, including the amount of rent you pay, without your permission."

The increase happens at renewal. Under RSMo 441.070, "No notice to quit shall be necessary from or to a tenant whose term is to end at a certain time," so the expiration date itself is the notice. Put the renewal offer at the new rent in writing before the term ends, and have the tenant sign it.

Letting a tenant hold over without a signed renewal costs you control. Missouri courts recognize that, in a consented holdover, "the terms of the prior lease may still control," and the default presumption is year-to-year. A year-to-year tenancy carries its own notice rule under RSMo 441.050: either party ends it by written notice "not less than sixty days next before the end of the year." An annual lease that has drifted into holdover status therefore needs its renewal offer at least 60 days before the anniversary, or the old rent runs another year.

Some online guides cite RSMo 441.043 as the fixed-term lease statute. It is the rent-control preemption statute and says nothing about lease terms; it gets its own section below.

Can a landlord raise rent mid-lease or twice in one year?

Yes on a month-to-month tenancy, no on a fixed-term lease unless the contract permits it, and Missouri caps neither the frequency nor the size of the increases. How often you can raise rent follows entirely from the tenancy type.

• A month-to-month tenant can receive an increase every rental period, as long as each one is delivered in writing a full period ahead. Two increases in one year are legal. So are six.
• A fixed-term tenant generally gets one increase per renewal. A 12-month lease signed in March 2026 without an escalation clause holds its rent until March 2027.
• A mid-lease change is possible only by written amendment the tenant signs, or through a clause already in the lease. Neither party can impose it alone.

A sale does not reset these rules. Legal Services of Missouri notes that a new owner of a month-to-month unit "can change the terms of the agreement, or terminate the tenancy, after giving you written notice of the proposed change at least one month before the next rent payment is due," while a new owner of a fixed-term unit inherits the lease as written.

Why no Missouri city can cap your rent

RSMo 441.043 has barred local rent control since 1989. The General Assembly widened that ban on August 28, 2025. Subsection 1 now says no county or city, including one "with a charter form of government," may "enact, maintain, or enforce any ordinance or resolution which regulates the amount of rent to be charged for privately-owned, single-family, or multiple-unit residential or commercial rental property." That charter language reaches both St. Louis and Kansas City, the two jurisdictions most likely to attempt a cap.

The 2025 amendment, H.B. 595 & 343, passed the House 103–37 and the Senate 23–10. Governor Kehoe signed it on July 14, 2025.

It added subsection 2, which now also bars local ordinances that:

• Prohibit landlords from declining applicants whose income comes from Section 8 or other housing assistance programs
• Restrict a landlord's use of credit scores, eviction history, property damage history, or criminal history in screening
• Limit the security deposit a landlord may require
• Give tenants an automatic right of first refusal

The Missouri Independent reported that the amendment rendered unenforceable source-of-income ordinances in Kansas City, St. Louis, Columbia, Webster Groves, and Clayton. The statute keeps three carve-outs: cities may regulate property they own, sign voluntary rent agreements on subsidized properties, and restrict rents on projects funded with community development block grants. Subsection 4 lets cities ban discrimination against recipients of veterans' benefits.

Kansas City tenant unions have won rent caps at the building level, which the statute does not prevent. After roughly eight months of a rent strike, Independence Towers tenants reached a June 2025 settlement with new owner Dynasty Properties that renewed every current lease, capped year-two increases at 5%, and set rents from $730 for a studio to $965 for a two-bedroom. The agreement binds one landlord at one property.

When a rent increase is illegal

A Missouri rent increase is illegal when it discriminates against a protected class or when it arrives with defective notice. Retaliation, the third ground most tenants assume exists, has no statewide statute behind it.

Discrimination is the ground with teeth. 42 U.S.C. § 3604(b) bars discrimination in the "terms, conditions, or privileges of sale or rental" based on race, color, religion, sex, familial status, national origin, or disability, and a rent increase is a term of rental. The Missouri Human Rights Act, RSMo 213.040, adds ancestry.

The Attorney General's guide states the application directly: "Landlords cannot charge some individuals higher rent or falsely state that housing is not available for discriminatory reasons." The Missouri Commission on Human Rights lists discrimination in the "rent or deposits" among the housing practices it investigates.

For Housing Choice Voucher tenants, HUD adds a rent reasonableness test. Under the HCV Guidebook, the proposed rent cannot exceed what you charge unassisted tenants in comparable units, and "rent increases for HCV tenants over time must be similar to increases charged to unassisted tenants who have lived in their units for approximately the same amount of time."

Defective notice makes the increase unenforceable rather than punishable. If a month-to-month tenant receives a text message, or a letter that gives less than a full rental period, the old rent stays in force until a valid notice runs its course. O'Connell is the controlling case.

Retaliation is where Missouri departs from most states. Missouri lawmakers repealed the former retaliatory eviction statute, RSMo 441.620, in 1998 and never replaced it. In Leve v. Delph, 710 S.W.2d 389 (Mo. App. E.D. 1986), the court held that retaliatory eviction "cannot be raised as a defense" in an unlawful detainer action at all.

A landlord who raises rent the month after a tenant calls code enforcement violates no state statute, provided the notice is valid and the increase is not aimed at a protected class.

Kansas City's local rule is narrow. Its right-to-counsel ordinance defines retaliation as adverse action because the tenant sought legal representation, with fines of $200 to $1,000 per violation, and does not reach repair complaints.

Portfolio investors who set rents with software face a separate federal exposure. The Department of Justice sued RealPage and landlords over an alleged scheme to reduce competition in apartment pricing, and a November 24, 2025 proposed settlement requires RealPage to stop using competitors' nonpublic data in its pricing engine. If your revenue management tool pools your competitors' lease data, the federal antitrust risk comes from that tool.

Is a $300 or 10 percent increase reasonable?

A $300 increase on a $1,200 unit is a 25% jump, roughly four to twenty-five times the annual growth recorded by the listed Missouri rent indices in 2026. A 10% increase on the same unit adds $120 a month, still more than double the growth rate in St. Louis or Kansas City. Legal, in both cases. Reasonable depends on which market and which index you measure against.

The most recent primary figures for the four largest Missouri rental markets, with the index that covers each one best:

• Metro | Index and period | Rent | Year-over-year change
• St. Louis | Zillow ZORI, August 2026 | $1,443 | +3.9%
• Kansas City | Zillow ZORI, August 2026 | $1,529 | +3.6%
• Springfield | Apartment List (city), September 2026 | $1,252 | +1.0%
• Columbia | RentCafe/Yardi Matrix (50+ unit buildings), June 2026 | $1,703 | +6.37%

Sources: Zillow August 2026 rent report, Apartment List Springfield, RentCafe Columbia. Zillow does not publish a ZORI figure for Springfield, and the Columbia Yardi figure covers only buildings with 50 or more units. Third-party aggregator RentMarker reports a Columbia ZORI of $1,424, up 4.0%, as of June 2026, but that number does not appear on Zillow's own pages. Treat it as unconfirmed.

The publishers report different figures because their measurement methods cover different properties and geographies. Apartment List's median for St. Louis city is $1,152, a $291 gap below Zillow's $1,443. Apartment List tracks new-lease medians for the city, while Zillow weights a repeat-rent index to the metro's full housing stock.

A landlord with a single-family house in a St. Louis suburb should benchmark against Zillow. A landlord with a downtown unit in a 200-unit building should look at Yardi Matrix.

Renewal increases run below asking-rent growth. The BLS rent-of-primary-residence series for St. Louis, which measures what sitting tenants pay, rose +1.85% from the first half of 2025 to the first half of 2026, half the ZORI rate. Nationally, the August 2026 CPI release put rent of primary residence at +2.7% and shelter at +3.0%.

The Midwest region ran hotter at +4.5% shelter in July 2026, while the St. Louis metro came in at +2.5% shelter in June 2026.

Kansas City and Columbia are the outliers. CoStar ranked Kansas City the strongest of the top 50 markets in Q1 2025 at +3.5% against a national +1.1%. The Columbia Tribune, citing Zumper listings, reported Columbia rents up 8% in March 2026, driven by university demand.

So a 4% increase in Kansas City matches the market. A 7% increase in Columbia on a unit near campus is defensible. A 25% increase anywhere in Missouri may price out a tenant who can find a comparable unit for the old rent within a few blocks. If the tenant leaves, the resulting vacancy may cost you more than the increase would have earned.

The mobile home lot exception under RSMo 700.600

RSMo 700.600 is the only Missouri statute that restricts the amount of a rent increase, and it applies only when a manufactured home community is closing or changing use. The General Assembly enacted the section effective August 28, 2004 and has not amended it since. The Missouri Revisor's current text confirms it remains in force through 2026.

The trigger is displacement. A landlord who intends to require tenants who own their homes to vacate "due to a change in use of the property" must give written notice at least 120 days in advance, or the remaining lease term if longer. During the 60 days before that notice and at any time after it, the statute states: "The landlord shall not increase the rent, except for a rent increase based solely on an increase in property taxes."

The freeze permits only a property-tax exception. A lot rent increase tied entirely to a documented rise in Missouri property taxes survives; any other increase in that window does not. Outside a change-of-use scenario, 700.600 says nothing, and routine lot rent increases face no statutory cap.

Ordinary lot tenancies get longer notice than apartments. Under RSMo 441.060(4)(2), a landlord ending a lot tenancy of less than one year where the tenant owns the mobile home must give written notice that the tenancy ends "not sooner than sixty days from the date the rent payment next becomes due," and no lease clause can shorten it. The Attorney General's Know Your Rights guide confirms the 60-day rule. Because a lot rent increase works through the same terminate-and-re-offer mechanism as an apartment increase, 60 days is the effective notice period for raising lot rent, though no statute labels it that way.

For landlords: how to deliver a compliant rent increase notice

The statute demands three things and prudence adds four more. Missouri law requires written notice. The notice must name a periodic rent-paying date as the termination date and place that date at least one month after the tenant receives it. Nothing in Chapter 441 requires a particular form or certified mail. Chapter 441 also does not require a statement of the new rent.

Build the notice anyway as if it will be read aloud in court, because under O'Connell the judge will read it strictly. Include:

1. The tenant's name and the property address, matching the lease.
2. A statement that the current month-to-month tenancy terminates on a named rent-paying date at least one full rental period after the tenant will receive the letter. Give yourself a buffer of several days for delivery.
3. An offer of a new month-to-month tenancy starting that same date at the new rent, with the dollar amount and every other changed term spelled out.
4. A sentence that the tenant's continued occupancy and payment on or after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the new terms.
5. A request that the tenant respond in writing by a stated date, so you know whether to plan for a vacancy.
6. Delivery by a method that documents the date of receipt: certified mail with return receipt, or hand delivery with the tenant's signed acknowledgment. Certified mail is not a legal requirement, but because the statutory month runs from receipt, proof of receipt is the only way to prove the effective date. The AG guide's advice applies to landlords as much as tenants: "Do not rely on verbal statements. All promises and agreements should be in writing for your protection."
7. A dated copy kept in the tenant's file, along with the mailing receipt.

A notice that meets all seven conditions reads like this:

[Date]

[Tenant name]
[Property address]
[City], Missouri [ZIP]

Re: Notice of termination of month-to-month tenancy and offer of new terms

Dear [Tenant name],

This letter is written notice under Section 441.060 of the Missouri Revised Statutes that your current month-to-month tenancy at [property address] will terminate on [rent-paying date at least one full rental period after receipt], which is a periodic rent-paying date under your rental agreement.

Effective [same date], I offer you a new month-to-month tenancy at the same premises at a monthly rent of $[new amount], due on the [day] of each month. All other terms of your current rental agreement remain unchanged. [If any other term changes, state it here.]

If you remain in the premises on or after [effective date] and pay rent, your continued occupancy will constitute acceptance of the new monthly rent and terms. If you do not wish to accept the new terms, you must vacate the premises on or before [effective date] in accordance with your rental agreement.

Please confirm in writing by [response date] whether you intend to accept the new terms or vacate.

This notice is being delivered by [certified mail, return receipt requested / hand delivery] on [delivery date].

Sincerely,

[Landlord name]
[Landlord mailing address]
[Phone and email]

Adjust the effective date after you confirm delivery. If the return receipt shows the tenant signed on the 5th and rent is due on the 1st, the earliest lawful effective date is the 1st of the month after next, not the coming 1st.

For tenants: what to do about a rent increase you cannot afford

Count the days before you do anything else, because a short or oral notice buys you at least one more month at the old rent. The path below runs from cheapest to most formal, with the deadlines that govern each step.

1. Verify the notice. It must be in writing, and it must name a rent-paying date at least one full rental period after the day you received it. A text or a phone call is not notice. If the notice is short, the increase cannot take effect on the stated date, and you owe the old rent until the landlord serves a valid one.
2. Respond in writing. State the date you received the notice, the date your rental period ends, and whether the notice meets Section 441.060. Keep a copy. You want a record if the landlord later claims you accepted the new rent by staying.
3. Negotiate with market numbers. If the landlord asks 15% in a St. Louis market growing at 3.9%, say so, and cite the index. Offer a smaller increase in exchange for a 12-month lease, which gives the landlord certainty and you a rent freeze. Vacancy costs the landlord a month or more of rent plus turnover, and most will trade some of the increase to avoid it.

4. File a discrimination complaint if the increase targets a protected class. The Missouri Commission on Human Rights takes complaints at 1-877-781-4236, starting with the Housing Intake Questionnaire, Form MCHR-46. A signed complaint must reach MCHR within 180 days of the last discriminatory act; missing that date strips MCHR of jurisdiction.

   HUD accepts complaints for one year at 1-800-669-9777 or hud.gov/reporthousingdiscrimination. It must finish its investigation within 100 days unless impracticable.

   MCHR states it has no work-sharing agreement with HUD, so a HUD filing does not stop the 180-day MCHR clock. File with both.

   If MCHR finds probable cause and orders relief, civil penalties run up to $2,000 for a first violation, $5,000 with one prior in five years, and $10,000 with two or more in seven.

   Once a complaint has sat with MCHR for more than 180 days, you can request a right-to-sue notice. You then have 90 days to file in court. Neither agency charges a fee.

5. Call legal aid. Missouri's four Legal Services Corporation programs screen at 125% of the federal poverty line, which for 2026 is $19,950 for one person and $41,250 for a family of four.

   Legal Services of Eastern Missouri in St. Louis takes intake calls at 314-534-4200 on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings. Legal Aid of Western Missouri in Kansas City is at (816) 474-6750, and its eviction line at (816) 474-5112 opens applications at 8:00 AM each Monday.

   Mid-Missouri Legal Services in Columbia is at (573) 442-0116, and Legal Services of Southern Missouri in Springfield at (417) 881-1397. Kansas City's Right to Counsel program produced dismissal or a tenant win in about 82% of 2,042 represented cases through late 2023.

   If you are above the income limit, Missouri Tenant Help offers HUD-funded self-help documents at no cost.

Our guide to tenant rights in Missouri covers the full set of protections you hold as a renter, including habitability and deposit rights.

What else Missouri landlords cannot do

Missouri lets you set any rent, but it treats force as a crime and overcharging on deposits as double damages. Beyond notice and fair housing, four statutes draw hard lines.

• Changing the locks, removing doors, or putting a tenant's belongings on the curb without a court order makes you "guilty of forcible entry and detainer" under RSMo 441.233. Chapter 534 governs the resulting forcible entry and detainer action, one of several things landlords cannot do in Missouri. The Legal Services of Eastern Missouri tenant toolkit tells locked-out tenants they may sue for double damages plus penalties.
• Shutting off electric, gas, water, or sewer to pressure a tenant is the same offense under the same section. The only exception is action taken "for health or safety reasons."
• Cutting heat-related utilities in a master-metered building requires at least five days' written notice posted in common areas under RSMo 441.650.
• Demanding a security deposit above two months' rent violates RSMo 535.300. The same statute gives you 30 days after move-out to return the deposit or send an itemized list of deductions, requires written notice of the move-out inspection so the tenant can attend, and awards the tenant "twice the amount wrongfully withheld" if you keep money you should have returned.

A lease clause waiving any of the tenant protections in Sections 441.500 to 441.643 is void under RSMo 441.610, and the repair-and-deduct statute carries its own non-waiver rule. Our overview of Missouri landlord-tenant laws covers the rest of Chapters 441 and 535, including entry, habitability, and eviction procedure.

How Steadily helps landlords stay compliant

A defective notice costs you one rental period at the old rent; a tenant who walks over a 25% increase costs you a turnover; a burst pipe during that turnover can cost you the unit for months. Landlord insurance addresses the third loss, and only the third. Loss-of-rent coverage on a Steadily policy pays up to 12 months of fair rental value when a covered event such as fire or a plumbing failure makes the property uninhabitable. It does not pay when a tenant leaves because you raised the rent, and no landlord policy does.

Steadily writes DP1 and DP2 forms. It also writes DP3 forms for single-family rentals, multifamily buildings, condos, ADUs, mobile homes, and vacant properties in all 50 states, with liability options from $100K to $1M or more. The national average premium runs about $1,478 a year. If you own in St. Louis or Kansas City and want to know what a policy covers there, start with landlord insurance in Missouri.

When you are ready to price a policy, get a quote in minutes at quote.steadily.com; no phone call required.

FAQ

These answers summarize Missouri's rent-increase limits, notice requirements, and the main conduct the law prohibits. Lease type determines when most increases can take effect.

How much notice does a Missouri landlord have to give to raise rent?

One full rental period, in writing, ending on a rent-paying date, for a month-to-month tenant. If rent is due on the 1st and the tenant receives the letter on the 20th of March, the earliest effective date is May 1. Mobile home lot tenants who own their homes get 60 days. Fixed-term tenants get no mid-lease increase unless the lease permits it or they sign a written amendment.

Can a landlord raise rent in the middle of a lease in Missouri?

Only if the lease contains a clause permitting it or the tenant signs a written amendment. Missouri has no statute on the question; the contract governs, and courts enforce the rent the parties agreed to until the term ends.

Can a Missouri landlord raise rent twice in one year?

Yes, on a month-to-month tenancy, with valid written notice before each increase. On a fixed-term lease the rent generally changes at renewal, unless the lease says otherwise or the tenant signs an amendment. No Missouri statute limits frequency.

When is a rent increase illegal in Missouri?

When it discriminates based on race, color, religion, sex, familial status, national origin, disability, or ancestry, or when the notice is oral or too short. Raising rent after a tenant reports a code violation is not barred by any current Missouri statute; the state repealed its retaliatory eviction law in 1998.

What is a landlord not allowed to do in Missouri?

Lock a tenant out or shut off utilities without a court order, collect a security deposit above two months' rent, keep a deposit past 30 days without an itemized list, raise lot rent in a manufactured home community that is closing except for a property tax pass-through, or charge different rents to tenants based on a protected class.