Rents continue rising as summer price spike looms
11 months ago | 4 comments
Landlords plan rent rises before Renters’ Rights Bill becomes law
12:01 AM, 4th June 2025, 11 months ago
5
Nearly half of Britain’s buy to let (BTL) landlords (44%) are set to increase rents ahead of the Renters’ Rights Bill becoming law.
That’s according to a Landbay survey which found that higher rents will impact tenants who could see an average monthly rent rise of £74 – or a 6% increase.
Increasing the rent by that amount is higher than the current inflation rate of 3.6%.
The survey highlights that landlords with four to 10 properties are most likely to put rents up (32%), followed closely by those owning 16 to 30 properties (28%).
Properties in the South East face the highest likelihood of rent increases, with the North West also significantly affected.
‘Sharp rise in rents’
Landbay’s sales and distribution director, Rob Stanton, said: “This sharp rise in rents in the short term shows the unintended consequence of this new regulation, as landlords look to act now and pre-emptively raise rents in fear of future cost implications or difficulties, and to protect their investments.
“By forcing the hand of landlords in this way, there is a real risk of worsening the cost-of-living crisis that so many private renters are currently facing.”
He added: “Any good and reasonable landlord will agree with protecting the rights of tenants, but they also believe that the rights of the property owner should be protected too.
“There’s no doubt we need to balance reform with support and safeguards for landlords to make sure that the rental market continues to play the important role it does in the UK’s housing mix.”
Annual rent rise cap
The news of potential rent rises is down to the Renters’ Rights Bill restricting landlords to a single annual rent increase at the market rate for newly advertised properties.
Tenants can contest excessive increases via a first-tier tribunal.
However, uncertainty surrounding the bill, particularly the planned abolition of Section 21 ‘no-fault’ evictions, is driving landlords to act pre-emptively.
A previous Landbay survey revealed that 75% of landlords are concerned about their ability to evict problematic tenants once Section 21 is removed.
The survey also found that 89% of landlords plan to raise rents within the next year, with over a third targeting increases of 3-10%.
However, 11% of landlords indicated they would not increase rents, suggesting some restraint amid the regulatory changes.
Tags:
Buy to let, Cost of Living Crisis, Housing market, PRS, Rent increase, rental prices, renters rights bill, section 21, Tenant rights, UK Landlords, UK property
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Member Since December 2023 - Comments: 1587
7:51 AM, 4th June 2025, About 11 months ago
“ Nearly half of Britain’s buy to let (BTL) landlords (44%) are set to increase rents ahead of the Renters’ Rights Bill becoming law.”
ALL landlords should increase rents annually, if only to keep pace with inflation (CPIH was 4.1% in April by the way).
I’m not sure when the RRB will be enacted but it may well be at least 4 – 6 months away. I would hope that the other 56% have already increased rents.
Member Since May 2018 - Comments: 2021
10:32 AM, 4th June 2025, About 11 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Cider Drinker at 04/06/2025 – 07:51
I’m not going to be increasing rent: That is because as I am aware of the provisions of the Renters Rights Bill, and on the advice of my agent, I have ALREADY increased the rent on the advice of my AGENT.
I didn’t use to do this years ago; years ago on the advice of my AGENT I used to hold rents DOWN a bit to minimise the risk of void periods. Many small landlords did the same.
The effect of SNP and labour policy in this area is that it drives rents up. George Osborne (conservative) also removed the ability of small landlords to offset their finance payments against their rents and the effect of that and increases in CGT mean that an increasing number of landlords now incorporate. The majority of landlords in the market are small portfolio landlords, the tax changes have a disproportionate impact on them and therefore on the whole market; I think that this is probably reflected in the figures in this survey showing that a greater proportion of small landlords are going to have no option but to raise rents as a direct consequence of previous tax changes and the Renters Rights Bill.
The Renters Rights Bill dramatically increases the risk, not just for the small proportion of landlords who break the rules, but for the majority of good landlords who do something socially useful by investing in safe and secure rental accommodation. Any good agent will tell the landlord to raise the rent now.
The provisions of the Renters Rights Bill preventing a tenant from offering higher than advertised rent or landlords from accepting it mean that landlords will now have to dramatically increase the ADVERTISED rent for their new lets, then just take the highest offer.
Labour, Conservative and the SNP have all sent a clear message to the market: If you aren’t an incorporated business then we don’t really want you…we only want to milk you for tax. They know that they can’t bully incorporated businesses in the same way and incorporated businesses also know that. Limited companies are a more powerful club.
The unintended consequences…the collateral damage of poorly-thought through government policies…will be inflicted upon tenants.
Member Since February 2016 - Comments: 45
11:08 AM, 4th June 2025, About 11 months ago
Sadly I have to serve notice on some tenants as their rents are way below the market rate. This means I cannot remortgage as the lender will down value the house, requiring me to put tens of thousands cash in to the properties in question. I absolutely wont do that and cannot anyway. Raise the rent I hear you say, but that will be impossible once the Renters Rights kicks in as the jump required will be way above what that bill allows. So I have to sell.
Well done labour making folks homeless.
Member Since December 2023 - Comments: 1587
1:56 PM, 4th June 2025, About 11 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Beaver at 04/06/2025 – 10:32
The Renters Rights Bill and proposed EPC changes have one main unintended consequence. That is a significant reduction in the availability of rental properties.
No problem for those that can afford to buy. Rather than rent a small house or flat, they’ll tend to buy a 2 or 3 bedroom home (SDLT means we shouldn’t plan to have the rungs of the housing ladder too close together).
Those that can’t afford to buy will struggle to find a rental property that they can afford. They are likely to spend decades in temporary accommodation whilst newcomers to the U.K. take priority for social and private rental properties. The government hopes that U.K. nationals will stay with their parents.
Member Since May 2018 - Comments: 2021
4:23 PM, 5th June 2025, About 11 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Cider Drinker at 04/06/2025 – 13:56
Whilst the UK government might indeed hope that UK nationals will stay with their parents that’s not what families and parents hope for.
The fact is that with Rachel Reeves’ IHT changes and CGT changes UK families are under threat from labour. Both the conservatives before them and labour now have sent out a message to landlords – if you are not in a limited company we don’t want you and the only reason we are not after you in a limited company is that we can’t afford to bully limited companies in the way that we bully and harvest small portfolio landlords.
Labour say one thing but do something else: In terms of their actions they are sending the country a clear message – don’t invest in fixed assets unless it’s in a limited company, and if you can do it, get the ownership of any assets offshore. That’s especially IP but you do now have to start wondering about plant and machinery. Even 2 years ago it was reported that nearly half of UK’s offshore wind turbine capacity was owned by foreign entities.
https://news.sky.com/story/nearly-half-of-uks-offshore-wind-capacity-owned-by-state-owned-foreign-entities-analysis-shows-12705500
These days it’s not just big energy or pharmaceutical companies that can get some or all of their assets offshore: Even a small business can do it.
That’s a really unhealthy thing to be doing when you need to invest in energy security and increase defence spending to 3.5-5.0% of GDP.