Landlords raise rents after Renters’ Rights Act implementation
2 weeks ago | 21 comments
Landlords plan to ditch letting agents and self-manage
12:07 AM, 10th November 2026, 4 days ago
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More than half of landlords using a letting agent expect to take on management themselves within two years, including the associated compliance work, research reveals.
The August Landlord Survey found that 58% of those currently using an agent say they are likely to manage all their properties themselves.
Among landlords who pay or have paid for management, 58% report fees of at least 11% of rent.
For someone with five properties each bringing in £1,000 a month, a 12% management fee amounts to £7,200 a year.
Landlord compliance workload
The firm’s chief executive, Richard Samuel, said: “Government has been adding obligations to landlords for a decade without anyone adding up the hours.
“Quarterly digital tax reporting is the first one landlords can put a number on, and it is days, not minutes.”
He added: “Add the new database, the ombudsman, periodic tenancies and the paperwork around every rent increase, and the small landlord is now running a compliance function with no staff.
“Some will pay an agent, some will leave, and the rest need tools that do most of this for them.”
Letting agent changes
Almost two-thirds (65%) of the 276 landlord respondents have changed their management arrangements in the past two years.
While 27% have left an agent to manage their properties themselves, 26% have moved in the opposite direction and started using one.
Compliance and legal complexity were the most common reasons for changing arrangements, ahead of wanting more control, poor service and fees.
Across the survey, 69% of landlords say they are likely to be managing all their properties themselves within two years.
Digital tax reporting
Among landlords within the scope of Making Tax Digital, three-quarters expect each quarterly update to require at least four extra hours.
Four to eight hours per update was the expectation for 41%, which is equivalent to 16 to 32 hours across a year’s quarterly submissions.
A further 34% expect each update to take more than a working day.
Tags:
August landlord survey, Buy to let, landlord compliance, Landlords, Letting Agents, Making tax digital, property management fees, quarterly tax updates, Self managing landlords
18 comments on this article
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Member Since May 2018 - Comments: 2704
3:23 PM, 11th November 2026, About 3 days ago
Reply to the comment left by Ian Cognito at 11/11/2026 – 15:02
The point is not to be complacent: Be at least as prepared as your tenants. Your tenants will be using AI.
You should be using AI and so should your agent, if you are using one.
Just a simple AI query gives me this in seconds:
To find publicly available information on rented prices, you can refer to the following resources:
Home.co.uk: Offers comprehensive rental price data in the UK, including current asking rents and trends, sourced from multiple local letting agent listings.
https://home.co.uk/rental-prices/
Office for National Statistics (ONS): Provides private rent price statistics, including indices and annual percentage changes, which can help you understand the rental market.
https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/datasets/priceindexofprivaterentsukmonthlypricestatistics
Rent Checker: A tool that compares your rent to typical rents for similar properties in your area, helping you determine if your rent is within the market range.
https://housetrix.co.uk/tools/rent-checker
Live Tables on Rents: Offers the latest data tables on rents, lettings, and tenancies, which can provide insights into rental prices.
https://rentcharter.org/market-rent-checker
These resources will help you access the most current and authoritative information regarding rented prices in your area.
Member Since January 2020 - Comments: 161
4:20 PM, 11th November 2026, About 3 days ago
Reply to the comment left by Beaver at 11/11/2026 – 15:23
Thanks Beaver
I’d not seen home.co.uk before. I like it!
One I use that’s not on your list is:
https://homelet.co.uk/homelet-rental-index
When asking for a rent increase, I have always provided evidence of % change since check-in or last increase and then applied this to the current rent. I don’t see why RRA should change this.
I will sometimes attach a Homelet pdf or screenshot, and provide ONS data along with links to similar properties being advertised. If very few, I will highlight the fact.
My goal is to show existing tenants that, despite the increase, they will be renting from me at slightly-below-market level, based upon the specifics of the property, its location and the service they are receiving.
Member Since May 2018 - Comments: 2704
4:37 PM, 11th November 2026, About 3 days ago
Reply to the comment left by Ian Cognito at 11/11/2026 – 16:20
Thanks for sharing. AI just gave me this one as well when I tried searching using AI for a given postcode for a 3-bed semi-detached:
https://offrly.co.uk/property-to-rent/
Portals also count. AI tells me (again in seconds) that the top 5 property rental portals are Rightmove, Zoopla, OpenRent, Spareroom, and Gumtree. This might all seem complex but in reality you can get AI to do most of the work.
Member Since May 2018 - Comments: 2704
12:40 PM, 12th November 2026, About 2 days ago
By coincidence This is Money just reported something relevant quoting information from Spareroom:
https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/buytolet/article-16284471/Rents-surge-commuter-towns-work-home-flat-sharers-seek-escape-cost-cities-like-Manchester-Bristol.html
What they say amongst other things is: “Room rents are climbing in commuter towns as tenants seek to escape the cost of living in a big city, data shows….It now costs a record £769 per month to rent a room in Britain, according to the flat share website Spareroom….Rent in seven out of nine British regions reached new highs in the three months to September, and 21 towns and cities saw rents go up at least 3 per cent year-on-year. ”
They focus on Stockport and quote figures saying that rents in Stockport rose 10.4% in the year from September 2025 to September 2026 as the area where rents have gone up most. So taking this example, if you were seeking a 10% rent increase, your tenant quoted average rental figures from September 2025 at a tribunal and the tribunal thought this seemed to be reasonable because the figures were only a year old but you didn’t have any figures to say that CURRENT MARKET RENT had increased for YOUR PROPERTY then you could lose just because you were less well-prepared than the tenants.
And if you needed to demonstrate why your property justified the 10% rise because it wasn’t directly comparable to the properties that the tenants were talking about then you might need to be able to say WHY your property was different. This article for example talks about working from home, so in this example available home office space at your property might be a reason why it was worth more but additional parking or proximity to transport networks might all be relevant. When it comes to what we mean by a COMPARABLE property we need to be comparing apples with apples, not with pears just because the tenants’ data is based on historical averages for e.g. 3-bed-semis or 2-bed flats for a region.
Member Since January 2020 - Comments: 161
1:39 PM, 12th November 2026, About 2 days ago
Reply to the comment left by Beaver at 12/11/2026 – 12:40
The point you make well is that a landlord (or agent) seeking a rent increase must now be prepared to devote time and effort to their proposal.
That should not be a cause for complaint.
Member Since May 2018 - Comments: 2704
2:08 PM, 12th November 2026, About 2 days ago
Reply to the comment left by Ian Cognito at 12/11/2026 – 13:39
Absolutely correct: And every landlord should use AI because it’s a game-changer. Some things have not changed so the 3-bed semi with off-road parking for two cars near all the schools and transport networks with good broadband is still worth more than the 3-bed semi 2 miles away in an inaccessible location even if both properties have the same number of rooms, are in the same region and are part of what a tenant might present as the same dataset at a tribunal.
But AI gives you almost instant access to better information, also to much more information, together with a means of organising it rapidly and presenting it. And it’s there, on your phone, on your iPad, on your PC, linked to your spreadsheet package and word processing package. Every landlord should be using it before talking to an agent and definitely using it before risking going anywhere near a tribunal.
Member Since September 2018 - Comments: 3799 - Articles: 5
4:20 PM, 12th November 2026, About 2 days ago
Reply to the comment left by Ian Cognito at 11/11/2026 – 15:02
tenant is going to have a problem showing that. and judge is not going to be able to make a decision if no empirical evidence is provided.
As it stands a lot of listings show available or let. The only figure being the advertised amount. Even if the LL or T called the agent, it is unlikely they will give the actual let figure so where would anyone get this info?
Member Since May 2018 - Comments: 2704
4:49 PM, 12th November 2026, About 2 days ago
Reply to the comment left by Reluctant Landlord at 12/11/2026 – 16:20
This is true….and the thing to watch out for is that tenants (probably using AI) will go for lower estimates of rental value, which may be historical.
Zoopla has a rental valuation calculator:
https://www.zoopla.co.uk/rental-valuation/
On The Market has a rental valuation calculator:
https://www.onthemarket.com/rent-checker/?msclkid=f0ea77afef1b1f5870c31d5a02515750&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=%7CM%7CRental%20Valuation%7CRental%20Calculator%7C&utm_term=let%20to%20buy%20calculator&utm_content=Rental%20Valuation%7CUK%7CE%7CRental%20Calculator
Spareroom has a rental value calculator:
https://www.spareroom.co.uk/rentchecker
And of course, it always makes sense to check AI.