Student rental market hit by Renters’ Rights Act
2 weeks ago | 7 comments
Renters’ Rights Act blamed for shrinking rental supply
8:05 AM, 4th September 2026, 1 week ago
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The Renters’ Rights Act has caused unintended consequences, with tenants struggling to find affordable places to live as landlords sell up.
The Daily Mail reports a growing imbalance between supply and demand as rents keep rising.
Propertymark urges the government to invest in the private rented sector to keep good landlords in the market.
Market is oversaturated
Many young people in London are struggling to find an affordable place to rent as rental supply drops.
Laura Meyer, 28, told the Daily Mail, a shortage of rental properties is driving competition among tenants.
She said: “The market is oversaturated right now, with fewer landlords and more people looking.
“One of the agents told me that normally in the summer she gets about 50 calls a day, but, because of the Renters’ Rights Act, she is getting more than 120. I have now put offers on three places, none have been accepted and I’m still looking. I’ve probably had to view about 50 places at this point.”
Lydia Holt, 25, also told the Mail she has been looking for a new place to rent in September but is finding it tricky to find anywhere affordable.
She said: “In Finsbury Park in London where I rent now, we got a three-bed for between £2,800 and £2,900, which is just shy of a grand a month each.
“Whereas now when we were looking at two beds you wouldn’t get anywhere decent for under the £2,800 mark. So it’s gone up around £400 each a month.
“When we spoke to estate agents they said: “We are just putting properties on the market for 20% more than what we think they should go for, because that’s what we think people would have offered.”
Biggest change in 30 years
Nathan Emerson, chief executive of Propertymark, told Property118 the Renters’ Rights Act has had unintended consequences for the rental market, although it may still be too early to assess its full impact.
He said: “Across England, the Renters’ Rights Act represents one of the biggest changes to the lettings sector in over 30 years, strengthening tenant protections but also creating unintended consequences. Some landlords are now reassessing whether they can remain in the sector, with others choosing to sell.
“This risks reducing private rented stock and putting heightened pressure on housing supply at a time of growing demand. Ultimately, the sector needs continued investment and appropriate support for good-quality landlords to ensure a diverse supply of homes keeps pace with ongoing real-world pressure already widely seen within the marketplace currently.
“However, considering we are only three months into the Renters’ Rights Act being implemented, it may still be too early to tell what proportion of them have started selling their properties as a result.”
The news comes as rent tribunal cases have surged since the Renters’ Rights Act took effect.
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Member Since May 2018 - Comments: 2511
11:26 AM, 5th September 2026, About 6 days ago
Reply to the comment left by Andrew57 at 05/09/2026 – 11:10
About 4.7 million households live in the private rented sector in the UK, amounting to about 19% of total households: Labour’s Renters Rights Act is one of the most stupid pieces of legislation that the United Kingdom has ever seen because it drives costs up and drives competition out of a private market that almost a fifth of households in the UK depend upon.
MPs (including labour MPS) get paid a basic annual salary of £98,599 per annum and of course they get expenses on top of that. Labour’s Rental Reform Bill Right was actually a situation where a group of elite public sector employees were paid a lot of money by the taxpayer to do a job but just weren’t doing their job properly. Hardly any labour MPs have ever run a business; they should have asked the Competition and Markets Authority what the effect of their bill would be on competition and rents; they should also have asked organisations who know about the risks of animal ownership what the effect of giving tenants rights to keep animals would be as well (and been prepared to listen to the answer).
Member Since October 2020 - Comments: 1344
11:56 AM, 5th September 2026, About 6 days ago
In the past most risks could be costed and to some extent mitigated by high rents. However, the RRA introduced a raft of civil penalties for trivial mistakes. In some cases little more than admin errors. A £40,000 civil penalty plus a 2 year rent repayment order would wipe most landlords out and probably take every penny of equity they have in the property. For this reason the RRA risks can’t be costed and this is not longer a safe business to be in.
Member Since May 2018 - Comments: 2511
12:52 PM, 5th September 2026, About 6 days ago
Reply to the comment left by DPT at 05/09/2026 – 11:56
Up to a point risks can be mitigated for some properties by using an agent that knows market rents and processes, but using an agent itself increases market rents; everything about the RRA is inflationary.
But otherwise, yes, I agree with you. The RRA adds a lot of extra risks and these INCLUDE significant additional regulatory risks. Labour’s RRA has taken what was a low-risk investment offering a modest return (despite the protestations of extortion by ultra-left-wing-parties like the Greens) and made this into a high risk investment with a low return. Many landlords would now be better off investing in bonds, tracker funds, or even just directly in equities via investment platforms that weren’t available a decade ago.
And as of spring next year because of Rachel Reeves’ inheritance tax changes they will probably also be better off investing in overseas investments because of the increased risk of an IHT bill in the UK if investing in UK land and property. There is nothing about the labour RRA and current labour fiscal policy that is good for the UK economy and tenants do not benefit from it because it drives competition out of the market.
Member Since October 2020 - Comments: 1344
4:15 PM, 5th September 2026, About 6 days ago
Reply to the comment left by Beaver at 05/09/2026 – 12:52
Unfortunately most agents I’ve met know little more about the law than the average landlord. Also under the RRA, landlords are not immune to fines, penalties and RROs of they use an agent.
Member Since October 2019 - Comments: 435
6:09 PM, 5th September 2026, About 6 days ago
RRA will cause LLs to sell up cause more homeless??? No,I don’t believe it, it’s a mith, it’s not true, never, it’s a sick joke, get real, this is 2026 not the Middle Ages, no one is stupid enough to make a law like that! .
Member Since June 2024 - Comments: 1
9:03 AM, 7th September 2026, About 5 days ago
Reply to the comment left by Beaver at 04/09/2026 – 16:28
Go LTD you can then claim the financial expenses of interest
Member Since May 2018 - Comments: 2511
9:36 AM, 7th September 2026, About 5 days ago
Reply to the comment left by GB at 07/09/2026 – 09:03
I know. But unless you can claim rollover relief you get hit by CGT.
Member Since April 2017 - Comments: 15
6:57 PM, 7th September 2026, About 4 days ago
Reply to the comment left by Beaver at 16:38
@beaver thanks. I have bought US ETF funds. I have bought SPY , SOXX ( semiconductor index ), NVDA , Micron ( MU ). Google, Amazon a year ago. Their one-year returns are much better than investing in the property. One year return are SPY +19.52%, SOXX +116.55%, NVDA +35.05%, MU +755.36% , Google +63.15%, AMZN +11.82%. Those are capital gain. Really eye opener for me. I am now planning to sell my other properties. The returns from individual shares and ETFs (especially US businesses, not UK shares) are significantly higher than those from property investing in the UK.
Member Since April 2017 - Comments: 15
7:27 PM, 7th September 2026, About 4 days ago
Reply to the comment left by Beaver at 04/09/2026 – 16:28
@Beaver Yes, that’s exactly what I’ve been doing. About a year ago, I started investing in US ETFs and individual stocks. My ETF holdings include SPY (S&P 500 ETF), SOXX (Semiconductor ETF), and QQQ (Nasdaq-100 ETF). For individual stocks, I own NVIDIA (NVDA), Alphabet (GOOGL), Amazon (AMZN), and Micron (MU) etc.
Compared with UK property investing, the capital growth has been significantly better. The added advantage is that investing in shares involves far less hassle, with much less paperwork and fewer regulations to deal with.
Over the past year, my returns have been:
• SPY: +19.52%
• SOXX: +109.75%
• QQQ: +25.97%
• NVDA: +35.05%
• GOOGL: +47.38%
• AMZN: +11.82%
• MU: +695.64%
For me, investing in US businesses through stocks and ETFs has produced far superior returns compared with investing in UK property. As a result, I’m gradually selling some of my property holdings and reallocating that capital into US equities, where I see better long-term growth opportunities and fewer day-to-day management headaches.