Landlord exodus deepens as RICS warns of worsening rental shortage

Got to hand it to Kier and Rachael, after spooking the country last summer with speeches putting the fear of God into everyone and then leaving an agonising wait of several months until a late October budget (which seemed to fly in the face of the one concept Labour had got right – growth was desperately needed), this year they have managed to top that with continual tax rise uncertainty over the totally inadequate fiscal headroom that is at the mercy of every tiny percentage point alteration of forecasts five years out – with a budget only a few weeks before Christmas which is bound to put the lid on any spending in a period that is make or break for many retailers and depress the property market at what is its slowest time of year.

For wilful stupidity they get ten out of ten..

It’s a train crash in slow motion. The Rent Act 1977 effectively wiped out what remained of the private rented sector (PRS).

Under that regime, tenants enjoyed rents fixed at roughly a third of open market value, combined with lifetime and successor occupancy rights, while landlords remained fully responsible for maintenance. Tenants were also granted the right of first refusal on sale — at prices reflecting their low regulated rents and perpetual tenancies — which decimated capital values.

It took a decade, until the Housing Act 1988, for legislation to revive the PRS, and another ten years before the necessary infrastructure — letting agents, lenders, and management systems — evolved to sustain it.

Now, history is repeating itself. The government has turned to offshore hedge funds to finance high-rise “rabbit warrens” at inflated rents while simultaneously dismantling the PRS. These funds operate on a ten-year horizon — long enough to extract their profits before transferring the estates to the state. When that happens, private home ownership will be gone, and the socialist dream will be complete.

P.S. Retaliatory rent increases or similar actions by landlords are precisely what the Government wants. They are slowly bringing the pot to the boil so that, when the time comes, they can claim a greater political victory by “protecting tenants” through regulations that effectively nationalise the benefits of the Private Rented Sector while leaving the risks with landlords. It’s a calculated move to secure votes, not fairness. Landlords are playing a game of chess without knowing either the rules or the Government’s ultimate objective — and nothing short of a change in government will alter the course.

Reply to the comment left by Person Of The People at 09/10/2025 – 10:25
Fortunately, Labour will be consigned to history by then, and just maybe, we will have a government of the people, for the people.

Reply to the comment left by Person Of The People at 09/10/2025 – 10:46
Landlords learn the rules and build their business around them, but when the rules are changed without considering the very landlords who actually deliver the service, they have 2 choices; stick or fold. With so many folding, the only victims are tenants, and they need to be made fully aware of why they face their predicament.

R.R.B. is a killer and it’s not for me! The authorities are after money. You rent out a palace but the inspector comes along “ oh there’s a spider on the ceiling that’ll be a £40,000 fine please sir”! They say RRB is for tenant welfare errr, I don’t think so.

The game is rigged in that the endgame is to sell off most rental housing stock at ” fire sale ” prices to Lloyd’s Bank’s subsiary,Black Stone,Black Rock,Legal and General’s subsidiary and the remaining corporate landlords
The second part of the agenda is to make UK mortality even worse ( it is already the worst in Western Europe since 2017) thus killing off pensioners through healthcare rationing,financial pressure and driving restrictions plus letting pensioners kill themselves through sedentary lifestyles and poor diet.
This then stops the drain on the NI fund which has been insolvent since 2000 and frees up houses for the creditworthy to buy with the new corporate landlords able to cherry pick the ones they want.
The dross which remains will go to local authorities and to firms like Serco which will put asylum seekers and illegal migrants ,again at bargain basement ” blue light” special prices.
Before this Fabian Socity Socialist utopia emerges fully the Bond Markets and the IMF will give the present government the ultimatum of ” no more borrowing ” for you.
At that point the King,riddled with cancer which his own doctors have pronounced is incurable or his rightful heir,will have to prorogue Parliament and force a General Election ,probably by 2027 or face violent civil unrest.
Civil unrest will make the Civil list and the Sovereign Grant less easy to pay and for it to be harder to justify a Monarchy.
Thus I think commonsense will prevail leading to prorogation of Parliament and a Reform win.
Small landlords should get into other asset classes or be landlords in ” user friendly ” countries ,larger ones should wait and prepare and lobby behind the scenes with the new government for local government reorganisation( fewer councils with 80% less staff) and for reinstatement of tax incentives to make it worthwhile being a landlord.

Don’t rely on section 8 to get your property back remember asylum seekers are more important than citizens. Sex offenders get less time than protestors. Up is down left is right! Your tenant will be the priority not you.

Reply to the comment left by NewYorkie at 09/10/2025 – 11:26
As a Person Of The People I agree.

Its the government and so called lawyers and lords insist removing section 21 and the tenant crying over it are the bad and abusive tenants not good tenants who are proud to live in rental properties and establish good relationship with labdlords. By killing private rental sector with removal of section 21 will only create difficulty in finding rental properties for good tenants make the economy suffer as is evident where not many properties are selling. Good old labour days where everyone be forced to live on benefits and strain the economy further.
Its about time the government to take action and reverse the change to re establish housing market which if it earnes the money for landlords well it only gets invested back in the economy to support the country . If nothing is done except slapping more taxes to create poverty it will soon show in the next election. Without businees creation no country can survive.
Joe