50,000 landlords have left the PRS since 2019

It has been revealed that the UK has 2.74 million unincorporated landlords and in 2020-21 they earned £41bn from rents, but the data also shows that 50,000 landlords have left the private rented sector (PRS) since 2019.

The figures from HMRC report in 2021 there were 2.71 million individuals and 300,000 partnerships declaring a rental income on their tax returns down from 2.79 million in 2019 to 20

Of the unincorporated landlords, 89% claimed some form of expenses and the figures show that property income is concentrated in London.

The capital is home to 16% of unincorporated landlords – but they account for 23% of all unincorporated landlord property income.

The next most profitable region for landlords is the South East, followed by the East of England and the South West.

UK’s most common type of landlord

HMRC says that the UK’s most common type of landlord who is letting property is private individuals, and they account for most of the rental income declared.

However, the impact of Covid can be seen in the property income declared figures from 2016 to 2017 when landlords earned £46 billion – but by 2020 to 2021 there is an 11% fall to £41bn.

HMRC explains this drop as being driven by a fall in both the number of individuals reporting property income and average property income they declare.

The figures show that from 2019 to 2020 there were 2.79 million unincorporated landlords, but this had fallen to 2.74 million last year.

That’s a shocking 50,000 landlords giving up their property in just three years.

Average income that unincorporated landlords earned

The HMRC’s figures also show that the average income that unincorporated landlords earned from UK property remained stable at £17,000 between 2016 to 2017 and 2019 to 2020.

But the average income then falls to £15,000 from 2020 to 2021.

While HMRC doesn’t explain the anomaly of income falling, it appears that the rise in rents seen this year hasn’t been high enough to cover the number of unincorporated landlords who have left the PRS.