After seven years of discussion, debate, a change of ruling party, two different Bills and Royal Assent, the majority of the Renters’ Rights Act 2025 is finally in effect.
The trade press inevitably carried stories of a flurry of Section 21 notices served right up until 30th April 2026, with Section 8s now the only way for landlords to regain possession of their property.
The fall out is not just confined to the trade press, with national news outlets reporting on landlord behaviour in the Act’s immediacy. There was new fuel to add to the ‘mass exodus’ fire following a survey of more than 1,200 UK landlord.
The research was carried out by Goodlord, who found 24% of the landlords questioned were actively selling or considering selling part or all of their buy-to-let portfolio.
Their thinking could be blamed on new statistics released in April. Analysis from Pepper Money and Pegasus Insights found the average landlord is now carrying £714,000 in borrowing, paying around £25,000 a year in mortgage interest alone. This is before tax, maintenance and compliance costs are taken into account. That equates to roughly £68 a day in interest, or around £8,900 per property.
For background, the research revealed 2026’s ‘average’ landlord holds approximately 6.6 properties, with each dwelling valued at £253,000.
Cost issues were also highlighted in TwentyCI/TwentyEA’s Property & Homemover Report Q1 2026. It revealed the average let agreed price in the year-to-date was £1,450pcm – a reduction of -2% in the last 12 months (-£30pcm)
It was, however, on the 1st May itself that the plight of private landlords caught the eye at the Financial Times. The headline was brutal: 700 rental homes ‘hit the market every day’ as British landlords sell up.
The journalist, James Pickford, was publishing data obtained from Savills. The agent’s tracking had found some 254,000 buy-to-let properties in Great Britain came on to the open market in the 12 months to the end of March 2026.
It’s a pretty meaningless statistic out of context but there was analytical support. That 254,000 figure was 9% more that the level of buy-to-let sales seen in March 2025 and a massive 28% more that noted in 2024.
We can’t agree more with Lucian Cook, head of residential research at Savills. Speaking to the Financial Times, he said: “for many landlords, the Renters’ Rights Act has become a clear moment in time to reassess their investment.”
While much of the Act is already in force, two major additions will be phased in later this year – and both carry a cost. The Private Rented Sector (PRS) Landlord Ombudsman and the PRS database are both mandatory requirements.
Landlords will have to pay per buy-to-let property, not as a single entity, thus increasing their outgoings. The Government hadn’t published the sign up fees at the time of writing but for landlords operating on slim margins, we expect these new costs to wipe out profits.
While the Savills figures reflect landlords who are listing their properties on the open market – one that is now fraught with difficulty thanks to the new Ground 1 A possession ruling – it doesn’t represent the buy-to-let properties being sold at auction or to professional cash buyers, including LandlordBuyer.
Our team is talking to landlords who are keen to sell with sitting tenants and rapidly end their journey in property investment. We have long offered a way for landlords to exit buy-to-let without evicting their tenants – a service that is now proving invaluable.
Start now with an online cash offer for your property or contact us if you have a more complex investment situation, such as a property portfolio you’d like to sell wholesale or dispose of in parts.