Who is really putting rents up?

Landlords with one to three properties were more than twice as likely as those with ten or more to have made no rent increase at all in the past year (35.8%, base 514, against 16.4%, base 421). The landlords putting rents up most are those with the largest portfolios, and they expect to keep doing so.

These figures come from our Q3 2026 Landlord Sentiment Survey, which ran from 1 to 8 October 2026. 1,654 landlords took part and 1,472 completed every page. For the full results, including how sentiment has moved since Q1 and Q2, see the main Q3 2026 results article.

This quarter, for the first time, we asked landlords how much they had increased rents across their portfolio in the last 12 months, and what they plan to do over the next 12. The main article reported the headline answers: 26.4% made no increase and 20.9% raised rents by more than 5% on average (base 1,502), while 18.6% plan to go above inflation next year and 23.7% plan to hold or reduce rents (base 1,497). Here we look at which landlords sit behind those numbers.

The smallest landlords have held rents; the largest have raised them

The share of landlords making no rent increase falls steadily as portfolios grow: from 37.8% of single-property landlords (base 172) and 34.8% of those with two or three properties (base 342), to 25.3% with four to nine (base 529), 18.1% with ten to 24 (base 277) and 13.2% with 25 or more (base 144).

Large rises run the other way. 14.5% of single-property landlords raised rents by more than 5% on average, against 27.1% of those with ten to 24 properties and 29.2% of those with 25 or more.

Put another way, landlords with ten or more properties make up 28.8% of those who answered, but 38.0% of those who raised rents by more than 5% (117 of 308). Landlords with one to three properties make up 35.1% of respondents, but 47.5% of those who made no increase at all (184 of 387).

Key Insight: The image of the small landlord pushing up rents does not match what our respondents report. The smallest landlords are the most likely to have left rents alone. Larger landlords are more likely to raise them, and by more. This pattern held when we also took account of region, borrowing, management, losses and age.

The same split is set to continue

Plans for the next 12 months follow the same pattern. Only 9.9% of single-property landlords plan above-inflation rises (base 171), against 25.5% of those with ten to 24 properties (base 278) and 28.0% of those with 25 or more (base 143). Taking the broader groups, 28.7% of landlords with one to three properties plan to hold or reduce rents (base 513), against 18.3% of those with ten or more (base 421).

What landlords did last year is a strong guide to what they plan next. Of those who made no increase in the past 12 months, 44.1% plan to hold or reduce rents again (base 395). Of those who raised rents by more than 10%, 54.2% plan another above-inflation rise (base 72), as do 36.8% of those who raised them by between 5% and 10% (base 242).

Not everyone is staying on the same track. 10.9% of last year’s non-increasers (43 landlords) now plan an above-inflation rise. Some landlords explained in their own words that they had held rents for as long as they could, but that rising costs now leave them no choice.

Key Insight: The rental market described by our respondents is running on two tracks. One group, mostly smaller landlords, has held rents and expects to keep doing so. Another, more often with larger portfolios, has raised rents and expects to go on raising them faster than inflation. Average figures hide both.

London has held rents most; the North has seen the largest rises

Landlords who own property only in London were the most likely of any group to have made no increase (35.6%, base 194), against 25.6% of those who own only outside London (base 1,138). Only 15.5% of London-only landlords raised rents by more than 5%, against 22.4% of those outside London.

Looking at broad areas, 26.9% of landlords with property in the North (North West, North East, Yorkshire and the Humber) raised rents by more than 5% (base 402), against 15.9% of those with property in London (base 359). Landlords with property in Yorkshire and the Humber had the lowest share making no increase of any region (15.9%, base 113).

The same gap shows in plans for next year. 32.0% of London-only landlords plan to hold or reduce rents and 12.9% plan above-inflation rises (base 194), against 21.9% and 20.0% of landlords outside London (base 1,133).

Key Insight: Large rent rises are more common outside London, particularly in the North. In the capital, where rents are already highest, landlords are the most likely to have held them. The London difference remained when we allowed for portfolio size, borrowing and management.

Debt-free and hands-on landlords are the most restrained

A third of mortgage-free landlords (33.8%, base 506) made no increase, against 19.7% of those borrowing 51% to 70% of their portfolio’s value (base 360). Mortgage-free landlords are also the most likely to plan to hold rents next year (29.2%, base 504).

Landlords who manage their own properties were more likely to have frozen rents (30.8%, base 587) than those whose properties are fully managed by agents (21.5%, base 395). The share raising rents by more than 5% was almost identical (22.1% against 20.5%), which suggests agent-managed portfolios tend to see regular, moderate increases rather than large ones.

Key Insight: Landlords without mortgage costs have the most room to leave rents unchanged, and many have used it. Self-managing landlords, who deal with their tenants directly, are also more likely to hold rents. Both patterns held when portfolio size was taken into account.

Losses are pushing landlords towards future rises

We expected landlords with the heaviest losses to be the most likely to have frozen rents. The data does not show that clearly.

Landlords whose whole portfolio is making a loss after costs and tax did make no increase more often (35.6%), but only 73 respondents are in this group and the difference is not statistically reliable. Many of them are single-property or London-only landlords, the two groups already most likely to hold rents. Across all landlords with any part of their portfolio in loss, the share making no increase (26.8%, base 388) was the same as among those with no losses (26.6%, base 933).

Where losses do make a difference is in plans for next year. 23.7% of loss-making landlords plan to raise rents above inflation, against 17.8% of those with no losses (bases 388 and 930).

Key Insight: For landlords already making a loss, the past year’s restraint looks increasingly hard to sustain. They are more likely than others to be planning real-terms rent rises over the coming year.

What made little difference

Age made almost no difference to whether landlords froze rents: between 25.1% and 28.4% of each age group made no increase (bases 194 to 522). Landlords letting to tenants receiving benefits were close to the average, with 28.9% making no increase and 23.1% raising rents by more than 5% (base 225). Landlords planning to exit the sector completely were somewhat more likely to have held rents (32.5%, base 369).

In landlords’ own words

Rents came up in 128 of the answers to our open questions about landlords’ biggest issues and what would keep them in the sector, and a third of those came from landlords who had made no increase. Four themes stood out:

• Keeping good tenants: several landlords describe long-standing tenants paying well below market rent. One explained a policy of “a reluctance to increase rents until a property becomes empty”, because tenants then rarely leave.

• Fear of challenge: some landlords said they expect tenants to challenge any increase under the Renters’ Rights Act, and that the delays involved mean rents for existing tenants fall behind the market.

• Costs being passed on: licensing fees, the new landlord database charge, tax changes and interest rates were all cited as reasons for increases, including by landlords who had held rents until now.

• Affordability: others said their tenants are already at the limit of what they can pay. One landlord times increases to Local Housing Allowance reviews to protect tenants on benefits.

How we analysed the results

• Questions: Q23 (average rent increase across the portfolio in the last 12 months, base 1,502) and Q24 (rent plans for the next 12 months, base 1,497), compared with portfolio size (Q9), regions owned in (Q8), share of portfolio making a loss (Q25), management (Q13), gearing (Q14), age (Q27) and tenant type (Q11).

• Bases: percentages are of landlords who answered both questions in each comparison, so bases vary. Fourteen respondents who reported owning no properties are excluded from portfolio size comparisons.

• Groups: “more than 5%” combines the “over 5% up to 10%” and “over 10%” answers. “Hold or reduce” combines those two answers. Gearing bands were merged into no mortgages, up to 50%, 51% to 70% and 71% or more. Respondents under 55 were combined into one group. Landlords whose losses covered “a quarter to a half” or “more than half” of their portfolio were combined. In the regional analysis, “London only” and “outside London only” are mutually exclusive; the broader areas overlap because landlords choose every region they own in.

• Small numbers: no group with fewer than 50 respondents is reported. Differences are described as meaningful only where they pass a standard statistical test at 95% confidence. The main differences (portfolio size, London, gearing and management) were also checked to make sure they still held when the other factors were taken into account at the same time.

• What the questions measure: Q23 is each landlord’s own estimate of the average increase across their portfolio, not the rent on new lettings, and it counts landlords rather than properties. “Inflation” in Q24 was not defined.

• Comparisons over time: both questions are new in Q3 2026, so there is no trend yet. They set a baseline for Q4.

• Who took part: respondents are self-selecting Property118 readers, not a random sample of all UK landlords. They are mostly experienced landlords aged 55 or over, and every question in Q3 could be skipped.

What Does This Mean for Landlords?

Average rent figures suggest a sector raising rents broadly in line with inflation. Beneath that average, our respondents describe two quite different groups. Smaller, often mortgage-free landlords, many of them self-managing, have held rents for tenants they want to keep. Larger landlords, and those in the North, have been more likely to raise rents, sometimes sharply, and expect to continue.

For policymakers, that matters. The landlords most likely to keep rents low are also the ones our earlier analysis showed are most likely to leave the sector altogether when they sell. If they continue to go, the homes they let at below-market rents may not stay at those rents.

For landlords already making a loss, the pressure is moving in one direction. They are more likely than others to plan above-inflation rises, and several told us in their own words that years of restraint are no longer affordable.

These are new questions and the first set of results, based on what landlords tell us rather than recorded rents, and from engaged Property118 readers rather than every landlord in the UK. Repeating them in Q4 will show whether the two tracks are holding or starting to converge.

Have Your Say

Have you held rents for long-standing tenants, or have rising costs forced your hand this year? Please tell us in the comments below; your experiences help explain what the numbers show.

Look out for the Q4 2026 survey at the end of December. The more landlords who take part, the stronger the evidence we can put in front of journalists and policymakers. Read the full Q3 2026 results.