Landlords selling up is putting tenants at risk of homelessness – NRLA

Landlords selling up is putting tenants at risk of homelessness – NRLA

0:01 AM, 31st July 2025, About 5 months ago 7

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A sharp rise in landlords selling their properties has left thousands of private renters in England at risk of homelessness, government figures reveal.

The National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) has analysed the data and found there has been a 19% jump in households seeking council support to avoid losing their homes between late 2024 and early 2025.

Between October and December 2024, around 5,500 households in England’s private rented sector needed local authority assistance after their landlords decided to sell.

This number surged to more than 6,500 in the first three months of 2025, marking a huge.

It says that the government now needs to focus on keeping landlords in the PRS and to encourage investment.

Landlords selling is a tenant disaster

The NRLA says that landlord’s selling up is the primary reason for tenancy terminations, outstripping other causes by nearly three times.

The organisation’s chief executive, Ben Beadle, said: “For millions of renters across the country, whether a landlord sells a property or not will decide the fate of where they live.

“Landlords selling homes is disastrous for tenants.

“Even if properties sold end up back in the rental market, that’s scant comfort for those who have been forced to move as a result.”

He added: “In the Autumn Budget the Chancellor needs to support responsible private landlords to invest in new decent quality, long term homes to rent that tenants desperately need.”


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Cider Drinker

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Member Since December 2023 - Comments: 1519

8:46 AM, 31st July 2025, About 5 months ago

Finally, something sensible from the NRLA.

The government squeezes more and more money from the housing market. From Section 24 to SDLT, from CGT to the RRB or Selective Licensing Council tax premiums, it seems that every year the costs just keep rising.

This pushes up rents and makes defaulting by tenants more likely. Less money for heating their homes means more damp and mould.

The RRB won’t stop the flood of landlords wanting and needing to sell. If anything, the raft of new charges and potential penalties for non-compliance will exacerbate the flood.

Government needs to convince my children that they would like to become landlords. Time is running out – the first property is sold already, with vacant possession. One or two will be sold each year.

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Jo Westlake

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Member Since June 2015 - Comments: 295

9:57 AM, 31st July 2025, About 5 months ago

Some will evict tenants so they can sell but a lot of us will just wait until a property is vacant. There won’t be the “nasty, greedy landlord making blameless family homeless” headline. It will be nice and quiet with no disruption to anyone but it will still be lost rental units making future rental housing harder to obtain.

Who is going to house the less than gold-plated tenants? Private landlords have always been very flexible towards the slightly imperfect tenant. We will weigh up the human aspect and make our own decisions. Large scale corporate landlords are accountable to share holders and can’t display the same level of flexibility.

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John Grefe

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Member Since May 2022 - Comments: 107

10:16 AM, 31st July 2025, About 5 months ago

Reply to the comment left by Cider Drinker at 31/07/2025 – 08:46
That’s what we are doing, selling bit by bit. Governments of both colours don’t care about the renting business. Which I think started with section 24/George Osbourn!

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Vance Harvey

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Member Since February 2025 - Comments: 15

10:19 AM, 31st July 2025, About 4 months ago

When I first read about the RRBN coming in a few years ago I decided that this was the last straw on all the other taxes et al against landlords, so am now gradually selling up.
Also with the Governments constantly vilifying and demonising landlords and with the imbecilic selective licensing that is a tax on landlords (I refer to it as Mob Money, as it’s just like the Mafia grabbing ones money). And now the Councils are being given lots more power to attack landlords.
So I’m selling off all my props and the tenants will have to find elsewhere to live – 2 flats are going through the sales process now, then 4 more to sell off.

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Judith Wordsworth

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Member Since January 2015 - Comments: 1346

10:43 AM, 31st July 2025, About 4 months ago

Well that’s a surprise, lol

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Reluctant Landlord

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Member Since September 2018 - Comments: 3344 - Articles: 5

11:43 AM, 1st August 2025, About 4 months ago

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statutory-homelessness-in-england-january-to-march-2025/statutory-homelessness-in-england-january-to-march-2025

Interesting graphs to show that there are a LOT more reasons than just LLs selling which are causing these rapid increases….none of which are attributable to the PRS at all!

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The_Maluka

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Member Since May 2015 - Comments: 2089 - Articles: 1

8:51 AM, 2nd August 2025, About 4 months ago

Fake news, there is no evidence that landlords are selling, Matthew Pennycook has spoken!

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