Landlords push asking rents higher as tenant demand surges

The PRS is a business and should follow financial supply and demand.
More demand and less supply = higher rents. Simple

These findings match my observations from discussions with local agents, who tell me they are asking 10% above previous levels a) to allow for RRA ban on bidding, b) reflect risk premium for RRA and c) cover licensing and other cost/risks. In most cases tenants are agreeing rents close to asking.
I am central London and it is not clear from the piece the area Chestertons are seeing these results; they cover London zones 1 and 2

Reply to the comment left by Rod at 25/08/2026 – 13:35
My agent advised me to increase the rent last year in advance of the RRA coming in and I accepted that advice: Increasing rent isn’t just about “testing” the market; the RRA increases costs and risks, especially for small portfolio landlords.

My wife drive into Maidstone today and noticed 15 For Sale boards and no To Let Boards.

Reply to the comment left by Fergus Wilson at 25/08/2026 – 18:59
I think that was always predictable. I am a small portfolio landlord, I know lots of other small portfolio landlords, but I use an agent. Ten years ago my agent used to advise me to reduce the rent slightly to decrease the risk of a void period. I didn’t raise rents annually and neither did any other small landlord that I knew. Now, because labour have introduced their Renters Rights Act, every small portfolio landlord that I know is either selling or raising rents and agents are advising small portfolio landlords to increase rents.

There was one bit of the Renters Rights Act that labour introduced that I have no objection to: That is the bit about only being able to raise rents once a year. But because of labour and their Renters Rights Act small landlords are now either selling or raising rents annually as high as they can and they are planning to do it EVERY year when previously they might not have raised rents for years.

I do not know how many, if any, if the 15 were owned by landlords.

Tenants are very static and reluctant to move

I don’t know if anybody knows the proportion of former tenanted homes up for sale. Savilles estimated it at 697 properties per day in March and estimated that this was 28% higher than the previous year:

https://www.mortgagestrategy.co.uk/news/700-formerly-rented-homes-put-up-for-sale-every-day/

My guess is that if this estimate was correct this would have been partly driven by fears about rises in capital gains tax on top of the Renters Rights Act, although those landlords old enough to remember would also be conscious of the risk of rising interest rates when the economy stagnates and government debt climbs.

What I do know is that labour did not ask the Competition and Markets Authority what effect on rents their Renters Rights Bill would have (including the anti-discrimination clauses and in effect the right to have a pet). I also can’t see any evidence on line anywhere that labour asked any organisation that might know, what the risks of animal ownership are, as they were putting their bill together.

And again….I know that since the Renters Rights Act EVERY small landlord that I know, if not selling, is planning to raise rents annually, when previously they did NOT raise rents annually and many had not done it for years. The article at the start of this thread talks of landlords ‘testing’ the market: However, small portfolio landlords are now raising rents or planning to raise rents because whilst previously they did not NEED to raise rents annually, as a consequence of labour RRA they now DO need to.

The Renters’ Rights Act has shifted legal and financial risk onto landlords, which changes how they set initial prices and manage ongoing tenancies.

Impact on New Tenancies
– Higher starting prices: Landlords advertise properties above true market value.
– Negotiation buffers: Higher initial quotes give landlords room to negotiate down.
– Competitive bidding: This creates a reverse bidding environment, similar to a Dutch auction, where tenants compete from an inflated baseline.

Impact on Rent Increases and Risk
Annual adjustments:
– Landlords shift to predictable, yearly rent increases close to market rates.
– Income cushions: Regular increases build a safety net against unexpected voids.

Tribunal balance: Landlords weigh the risk of a tenant appealing to a First-tier Tribunal (an official body that resolves property disputes) against their need for income protection.

Limited safeguards: Landlords can no longer rely on large advance rent payments or higher deposits to offset financial risks.

Administrative and Dispute Challenges
Adversarial evictions: Ending a tenancy becomes more formal and confrontational.

AI-generated complaints: Agents and local councils report a rise in long, inaccurate, AI-drafted tenant complaints regarding legal points.
Proposed limits: Councils now consider word limits for complaints to focus on core facts—an approach private landlords may adopt in their own tenancy terms.

The moral of the RRA:
Performative politics (with no impact statements or Lords amendments) produces p*ss poor PRS for tenants and landlords.

All of this I agree with: And the additional burden of the labour RRA disproportionately affects small landlords (the bulk of the market). Larger, incorporated landlords are less affected by it.