Landlords’ next move will define the direction of the rental market
The latest data does more than describe current sentiment, it points directly to what may happen next. According to the Property118 Landlord Sentiment Survey Q1 2026, the private rented sector is now at a point where landlord decisions will determine its future direction.
Based on 2,380 completed responses, 57% of landlords plan to reduce their portfolios, 6.8% intend to expand and a significant proportion are choosing to hold and reassess. You can review the full findings here.
The implication is clear: the next phase of the market will be shaped by what landlords choose to do next.
A sector driven by individual decisions
The private rented sector is not controlled by a single policy or institution. It is shaped by thousands of individual decisions made by landlords across the UK. Each decision to buy, sell, hold or exit contributes to the overall direction of the market.
The survey data provides a snapshot of those intentions at scale. When viewed collectively, those intentions form a clear directional signal.
A balance that is shifting
Markets are shaped by balance. When buying and selling activity are broadly aligned, the market tends to remain stable. When that balance shifts, the direction of travel changes, and the current data suggests that this balance has moved decisively. With significantly more landlords planning to reduce portfolios than expand, the sector is likely to experience a gradual shift in structure and activity.
Multiple paths from the same starting point
Not all landlords will respond in the same way. Some will continue to invest selectively, others will hold their positions and a growing number may choose to exit. This creates multiple potential pathways for the sector. The outcome will depend on how these different responses evolve over time.
This is why the Q1 2026 survey is significant, it provides an early indication of how those pathways may develop.
Timing will play a key role
Intentions do not always translate immediately into action. As highlighted in the wider dataset, many landlords are delaying decisions, choosing to wait for greater clarity before acting. This means that changes in the market may unfold gradually rather than all at once. However, delayed decisions can still shape outcomes. Over time, as those decisions are implemented, their cumulative effect becomes visible.
A defining period ahead
The private rented sector is entering a period where direction is not being dictated from the outside, but determined from within.
Landlords are reassessing their strategies, evaluating their options and deciding how they wish to engage with the market going forward.
For now, one conclusion stands out: the future of the rental market will be shaped not by policy alone, but by the collective decisions landlords make from this point onwards.
A conversation worth having?
If you are weighing up your own strategy, whether that’s to sell, expand, or restructure to improve profitibility, it is worth having a discussion with a Property118 consultant to take a closer look at how your portfolio is structured as a whole now, and to forecast the outcomes based on multiple scenario’s.
These conversations are typically most useful for landlords with established portfolios and relatively modest borrowing who are beginning to reflect on how their assets could work more effectively in the years ahead.
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Member Since April 2023 - Comments: 2
10:44 AM, 20th April 2026, About 2 days ago
Many of us became landlords through unfortunate events, such as incapacity of close relatives, while many others become trapped when their own home becomes unsaleable for one or more of the usual, now long known problems that largely stem from long leasehold tenure.
There is a great lack of truth from successive governments about leasehold problems and how to address them. Fundamentally, dishonest irresponsibility is being dressed up, falsely, as Feudal Law.
As we see from the Prime Minister’s predicament today, both elected and unelected officials paint themselves into a corner through failing to OWN their mistakes. With land law, through unaccountable lack of truth – lack of fraud prosecutions and lack of affordable civil justice – they paint thousands of us into a corner too. A corner where we have no free or honest Next Move as referred to in the headline of this article.
With contractual leasehold tenure, we have only broken promises to sell, largely thanks to government failures. For us, the introduction of Renters Rights before those of Leaseholders is unforgivable.
Member Since May 2024 - Comments: 18
3:19 PM, 20th April 2026, About 2 days ago
So, you are sitting with £200000 in investments and interest rates are 0.5%. Obviously a 4 or 5 percent return through letting property sounds attractive. There isn’t much admin and apart from just keeping things in order maintenance wise, which you do anyway as it preserves your capital value, it is a low input operation. Fast forward to now, you can get over 4 percent from a building society so little financial advantage to renting over investments. Now you have loads of form filling, record keeping, electricity checks, EPC refreshing and Making Tax Difficult on the horizon. Tenants have more rights in terms of things like keeping dogs etc, it takes nearly a year to get rid of a bad tenant and there is a 2% tax penalty for rental income. No tax relief on borrowing and lots of other problems. With capital appreciation probably not happening you would be foolish to enter this market and wise to get out.
Member Since August 2025 - Comments: 2
5:28 PM, 20th April 2026, About 2 days ago
Reply to the comment left by Richard at 20/04/2026 – 15:19
And of course if you have that 200k in an ISA all the income and capital gains are tax free. As a higher rate taxpayer I’d need near 10% after costs to match the 4.5% cash ISA. And nearer 15-20% to match what I’m getting in the shares ISA.
That’s the alternative, which tenant lobby groups don’t seem to get.