Rent controls risk landlord exodus – Propertymark

Supply of homes to the market is part of the issue.

Another part of the issue is that in the UK, non-incorporated small-portfolio landlords have dominated supply to the market; penalising these landlords OF COURSE affects supply, and only an ignorant fool wouldn’t see that this will drive rents up..

However, the other part of the problem is that small portfolio landlords tended to hold rents down a bit, and their agents also used to advise them to hold rents down a bit to decrease the risk of a void period: But the combined effects of the Labour Renters Rights Act is to increase cost and risk, particularly for the small portfolio landlord, so both small landlords and their agents are putting rents up as a direct consequence of the Act itself.

The Labour Renters Rights Act is driving competition out of the private rented sector and both indirectly and directly driving rents up. The true left-wingers behind the Act won’t care about this because to them market failure just gives them excuse to call for more left-wing policies….when socialists’ policies fail they just say “….well, that just proves that we need more socialism.”

The Labour Renters Rights Act is a piece of extreme left-wing legislation and it is driving rents up.

The only way to exert pressure on rent inflation, is to increase supply. I learned that first week of O level economics!
Like lots of landlords, I am reducing supply for renters (2 properties gone, 2 to go).
Some lefty types say “well the house doesn’t disappear, it just means an owner occupier moves in”.
And that only goes to show how dim they are, because its a different market.
I tried to sell my properties to my tenants, but they didn’t want to buy. They actually WANT to rent. That’s why they were renting……doooh!

And whilst it is true that reducing supply pushes up prices…..I use an agent and ten years ago my agent used to advise me to hold rents down a bit to reduce the risk of a void period…but now the same agent advises me to put rents up….and all GOOD agents are advising landlords to put rents up when they can, as high as they can, just in case they can’t do it later.

That’s what happens when extreme left-wing governments interfere in a private rental market….they always drive rents up.

Two days ago a landlord (actually a landlady) came to see me.

She has sold up because of over regulation of the rental sector.

It s a pyrrhic victory if the number of properties available for rent is reduced!

Reply to the comment left by Fergus Wilson at 14/08/2026 – 11:11
It is of course a pyrrhic victory, but many of the people driving the Labour renters rights act were both too immature and too ignorant to understand what a pyrrhic victory is.

Reply to the comment left by Beaver at 14/08/2026 – 11:35
Indeed!

Reply to the comment left by Fergus Wilson at 14/08/2026 – 12:03
Indeed, and indeed again. And I think those of us who are old enough to remember Denis Healey ‘making the pips squeak’ and Gordon Brown taking over from Tony Blair (before pretending that he was resolving the economic crisis and collapse in the housing market that accompanied his premiership) can also recognise that the MOST extreme, immature and ignorant politicians who are out there at the moment are the politicians who are still calling for rent controls.

Reply to the comment left by Beaver at 14/08/2026 – 12:08
You are spot on!
When Andy gives the left wing Mayors like Sadiq Khan autonomy over housing one of the first things they will introduce are rent controls.
It is just a matter of time.

Everyone has to live somewhere!
The problem is that the number of houses required is double the amount built.
Hence, the problem is getting worse!
It is all very well saying it will be alright tomorrow but where do they live today?

Reply to the comment left by Stella at 14/08/2026 – 13:28
There are some people in councils who very quietly do a really good job (and I know some of them). These are the people who quietly facilitate local charities to deliver services that the council should not deliver. Housing charities that do house people for example. The reason Councils do this is that SOME charities (not of course Kids Company) do a good job of e.g. housing people more cheaply because the people working for the charity are committed to the charity’s objects and don’t get public sector pensions. The GOOD chief executives of councils support these people and these activities but they do it QUIETLY because they know that doing it QUIETLY helps them balance the books, keeps costs down, gets people housed.

I have been trying to keep an open mind about Mr. Burnham.

However, if you made a lot of public pronouncements along the lines of “…nobody in this city goes without a bed”, do you think that in a world where you can see the news on your mobile phone from anywhere, this might attract people without a bed to that city or to that region? Could this perhaps come over as “my city is paved with benefits”? And does this help the people with the regional accents in that city who have, perhaps through no fault of their own, ended up on the streets?

I’m still left with the question “…what did Mr. Burnham learn as mayor of Manchester?” I don’t really have many questions left about Sadik Khan because he’s answered all of them, whilst in fact Mr. Burnham has been avoiding answering questions and doesn’t appear to be spending any significant amount of time talking about how he’s going to facilitate growth in the economy, including in the critically important housing market.

The Labour Renters Rights Act is extreme left-wing legislation: It is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.