We are feeling SO trapped?
We had planned to sell our 4 BTLs when we retired in 2015, but time seems to have slipped by, and we are still trapped with 3 of them. Two of them have been tenanted by the same people since 2006, and the third is currently vacant.
With all the nasty stuff coming down the line at private landlords, and as we are now in our mid-late 70s, we decided to grasp the nettle, and so, in the autumn of 2025, we put all 3 on the market with an agent who would list them on an auction site, hoping to sell them quickly to another investor.
None of them sold. We took the 2 that are tenanted off the market, leaving just the vacant one, where it has been ever since, sadly still with no serious interest. The interest-only mortgage ends in September, when it will either need to be repaid or we will need to find another deal.
Now we’re wondering whether we should re-let the vacant one and put the other 2 on the open market, sucking up the Early Redemption fees on their (newish) mortgages should they sell.
Our questions are:
- What is the last date we can issue a Section 21 before the Renters’ Rights Act comes in?
- What is the longest notice we could give our tenants at that time?
And should they still fail to sell within a reasonable time (since we will be covering both mortgages, full council tax x 2, vacant property insurance x 2 etc which will eat up our pension pots) would we be able to re-let them after issuing the Section 21s before the RRA comes in, or would we need to leave them empty for a year as by then the RRA would be in force?
Or … should we just stick with our good tenants (selling if/when they move out), keep our fingers crossed we can weather the legislation, the expense of getting all 3 up to an EPC C (not to mention deciphering Making Tax Difficult) and leave it to our kids to sort the mess out when we’re pushing up daisies???
Denise
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Member Since January 2023 - Comments: 318
10:11 PM, 19th January 2026, About 3 months ago
Reply to the comment left by DavidM at 13:26
I would be more worried if you are in a selective licence area. As the council clipboarder inspectors will be inspect properties looking for penalty raising income and now the fines are crippling for any landlord so that is my biggest worry.
Reform will not save us as the councils have the power now in law and it will take years for any ‘new’ government to revoke this bad legislation so it is not going to get better from here.
Yes LLs are selling desperately so Labour will crash the PRS economy in a few years time but it won’t matter as they won’t be in power after next election and it could take 10 years to bring PRS back to balance i.e. Less power to tenant and ‘take back control’ for LL
Member Since December 2025 - Comments: 49
10:12 PM, 19th January 2026, About 3 months ago
Triple glazed rarely improves epc vs double glazing in uk due to less solar gain
May help you more when new epc methodology comes in which will apparently concentrate more on fabric of building and less on energy cost.
What other improvements will depend on your property you need an assessor to come and tell you options (insulation, more efficient heating, led lights; solar and water heating etc etc)
Member Since November 2015 - Comments: 584
10:29 PM, 19th January 2026, About 3 months ago
Denise, I wouldn’t panic if I were you. You really don’t have anything to be concerned about regarding the two occupied properties.
Make the decisions that you need to make based on all your personal circumstances, but please don’t be panicked into anything based on the incoming regulations. They really shouldn’t make a great deal of difference to you. If you can wait out the market you’ll be in a much stronger position.
So, I’d suggest you carry on as you are with your two occupied properties. You will still be able to get your properties back under the new regulations because selling up is a valid reason to give your tenants notice.
For your empty property, you have two choices. 1) reduce your property to a realistic price and put it back in an auction. (you’ll save on outgoings if you can get a quick sale). If you sell on the open market, the legal side of the sale process (after you’ve accepted an offer), is taking in excess of 6 months!
2) If you can’t afford to significantly reduce your reserve price, then you’ll have to get back on the merry-go-round and relet it and remortgage.
Personally, I’m not concerned about the changes coming in. As long as you have a good LTV; the property is in good condition; you’re very very careful about which tenants you allow into your property AND you follow the regulations to the letter I’m confident that all will be well in almost all cases.
We had two properties listed to sell for several months in 2024 and barely had any viewers. The market was dropping and we’d missed the boat. We didn’t HAVE to sell and we weren’t prepared to reduce the prices to the level that it was becoming evident would be required, so we relet them both, remortgaged and 12 months down the line we have no regrets and no immediate plans to sell anything. We’re going to wait until our new 5 year fixed mortgages are coming out of their fixed terms and consider selling one or two then IF the market is strong.
To be honest the reason we put them on the market at all was that we were feeling really discouraged and ground down with all the anti-landlord regulations and sentiment and we just wanted to make a start on reducing our portfolio, reducing our workload and freeing up some money. Ultimately though we bounced back and we are feeling much more positive.
Sadly the real losers in all this regulatory quagmire are the tenants rather than the landlords.
Member Since May 2014 - Comments: 620
9:03 AM, 20th January 2026, About 3 months ago
Reply to the comment left by SGhai at 19/01/2026 – 19:23
The deadline of 2028 does not apply if you already have tenants in the property and if they continue to rent the property then you would have to comply by 2030.
I understand that under certain circumstances we could apply for an exemption.
As these rules do not apply to homeowners the property would not have to be demolished and selling any type of property on the open market should not be a problem.
Member Since December 2025 - Comments: 49
9:41 AM, 21st January 2026, About 3 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Stella at 20/01/2026 – 09:03
Even the 2028 and 2030 dates are only dates proposed in a govt consultation so not yet firm/in legislation.
Just as in the 1970s when E became the minimum there will be a cost cap exemption. Currently it’s proposed that above £15,000 cost there will be a 10y exemption.
“The English Housing Survey reports that the cost of upgrading an EPC D rated home to an EPC C is approximately £6,000. This rises to more than £12,000 for an EPC rating E home, and £17,000 for those homes with an EPC rating of F or G.”
and these are averages, many properties will cost more