Small landlords need support to adapt to Renters’ Rights Act – The Property Ombudsman

“Good landlords have nothing to fear from this.”

Joseph Goebbbels said something similar, he also said;

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.”
– A lot of good landlords will be out before they believe this propaganda.

Help to ‘maximise our obligations ‘ what a weird thing to say. Landlords need a a way to maximise their income but somehow I don’t think they understand.

A naïve misunderstanding of how markets operate.

In a vibrant and successful market, where tenants have genuine choice because they earn enough to pay the market price for the goods and services they desire, landlords compete on price, service and quality. If landlord A does not perform, the tenant takes their rent to landlord B. That is how markets discipline poor providers.

In a failed economy, where increasing numbers cannot afford the market price for accommodation, governments move in to redistribute assets and wealth through taxation and regulation. That is the context in which these interventions arise. These regulations are not principally about tenants who can afford market rents and already have choice; they are about protecting those who cannot afford the market price in a failed economy.

Once government has regulated the market, the next logical step is to regulate rents when it becomes politically expedient. History shows the path. Prior to 1989, rents were regulated to well below half market levels.

The principle is already embedded elsewhere. Government already regulates what housebuilders can sell properties for through affordability regulations linked to what government considers an “affordable rent”, and in some cases to even lower “social rent” benchmarks. Both sit well below open market rents. That requires a housebuilder to dispose of a new £600,000 property for, say, £274,000 to ensure someone who can’t afford the market rent can live in it – probably with their rent being paid for through housing benefits which in turn is paid for by the housebuilder in taxes. For many it is a home for life at zero cost.

Regulating rents will also reduce the housing benefits bill at a stroke and yet parts of the PRS persuade themselves that this policy thinking is not coming down the tracks for them, and that teaching landlords how to “adapt” is the answer. Adapt to what? It is no different from teaching someone how to become a good prisoner — or, in this case, a compliant housing officer — while still carrying all the capital, regulatory and occupational risks.

And for those who don’t think a government could do this go back to the 70s when income was taxed at 83% and investment income at 98%. It just takes an electorate who have no hope of ever owning their own homes and the political will and we have them right now. The Renters’ Rights Act 2025/6 is just the beginning and was mentioned at least six times in PMQ’s today.

A masterstroke in socialist planning.

… and now that landlords are locked in, they will be required to bring homes up to whatever the government deems to be a decent home standard. That will be one of the biggest transfers of wealth in history.

Normally, governments would tax the electorate to raise the money to build and manage council house estates. This time, they have simply passed regulations making private landlords responsible for the council’s housing obligations. And they do not need to teach landlords anything. Landlords will soon fall into line when a council imposes a couple of exemplary £40,000 fines.

Gone are the days when council housing officers had the task of finding and allocating homes. All they now need to do is visit private landlords with a clipboard and a pad of penalty charge notices.

Reply to the comment left by Paul Essex at 29/04/2026 – 13:19
… she got it right but ommitted some words… she meant to say:

“… many small-scale landlords would benefit from additional guidance on how councils will best seek to maximise on the landlords new obligations.”

29/04/2026 PMQs. Badenoch to Prime Minister:

“Instead of getting a grip on the economy, the Chancellor is briefing out rent controls to curry favour with left-wing backbenchers.”

How many still need an interpreter…

I’m a small landlord.

I do not need additional guidance, I understand the rules.

The problem is that the rules are grossly unfair.

If you want to support good landlords, make sure that the courts are fit for purpose and allow eviction of a bad tenant within 28 days of a report being submitted. All good landlords fear housing someone for free for a year whilst being legally bound to maintenance and other running costs.
“Good landlords have nothing to fear” is a daft comment from someone who has no one to house.

German and French Rental systems are much better for tenants and landlords, but the UK government have fudged it, making a worse system than either of these.

This is deliberate. By forcing even more private landlords to give up the fight and exit the business the government wins twice : (1) the Treasury collect a bumper crop of capital gains tax from landlords selling up, and (2) the explosion in evictions literally drive desperate tenants to the doors of Build To Rent developers … tenants willing to pay a higher price just to have somewhere to live. The RRA policies stink of collusion and corruption, while politicians smile about how they’re really working hard to help tenants.
Tenants in BTR properties meanwhile, moan about how the developer only thinks of profit, has inadequate tradespeople support, and it’s taking months to get problems fixed, because they’re Number 57 on the backlog list.