Why invest in property today amid tightening legislation?

We started investing at the same time, being self employed we got none of the gold plated pensions enjoyed by the people dreaming up the rules.
As well as providing a pension for us we planned to leave a portfolio to the children for their pensions. They no longer want to be involved in the toxic business and the reward/ risk balance is not good if you just have a couple of properties. We are now down to the one property and hope to be fully out by mid 2027, avoiding MTD.

Reply to the comment left by Paul Essex at 04/02/2026 – 08:51
Yes exactly the same as me. Bought in 1978 and now I’m desperate to get out ….. I thought they would help to pay if I went into a home and my children would inherit something to help them….. no they want nothing to do with it……. I’m out …. Two lovely tenants one 84 years old and one in her 50s undergoing chemo. I’ve tried selling with tenants in situ but I charge so little no one wants them so I have to evict them something I’ve never done before. I feel awful about it.

Unless using leverage over a decent time frame is the objective, becoming a landlord now by buying a physical property with cash to get a return makes as much sense as wanting to make an INVESTMENT return from any other sector – and instead of buying shares and letting the Directors run the operation and pay out dividends – setting up a business yourself with all that goes with it.

Most wouldn’t buy a single plot of land and attempt to project manage a new build with the main objective being to make money when there are plenty of FTSE house builder shares to choose from if that sector appeals.

With the availability of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs, which can be put in ISAs using the £20k annual allowance), to me it is pretty much the same equation for wanting an investment stake in property rental.

(LL since 1990, 13 properties sold, just one left).

Property118 Article response (04/02/26):

It is painfully obvious that the current government’s role is to rattle sabres as loudly as possible; to create a near-unbearable cacophony & consternation within the PRS: to encourage/frighten/force a significant number of us to bow out. To de-stagnate the status quo.

Effectively, they are shaking the proverbial tree & waiting, with slavering jaws below, on whatever drops out…

The true short-term motivation for all this tree-shaking, of course, is to generate a glut of primary revenue & secondary taxable traffic: from stamp duties & legal expenses, all the way down through the nuts & bolts of physical moving costs.

Similarly, almost every aspect of the proposed EPC-uplift mandate, along with the DHS, both of which have many of us so aggravated, will clearly generate an enormous back-end yield for the HMRC: from a fervour of newly-comissioned surveys, all the way down to building materials & workforce necessities.

The spectre of the LL database – which is patently designed for the goverment to witch-hunt its way through the sector, exposing non-compliance & garnering fees-aplenty along the way – is an AI-driven reality lurking just around the corner…

And, to add insult to injury, the MTD tech-hurdles & hidden costs of compliance (software, IT-savvy personnel, etc) will doubtlessly put the final nail of bureaucracy in the coffin for many-a LL.

In the mid-term, the market will be be flooded with ‘affordable’ properties, allowing the government to tick a box on the housing shortage front.

But, ultimately & in spite of everything, the country & our government(s) cannot do without the PRS…

They will never be able to field the sector on the taxpayer’s dime and it would be impractical to hope that the PRS flotsam stock miraculously percolates to sympathetic & tractable corporations.

There have already been some reductions/amendments to certain proposals; eg: £15k down to £10k ceilings of max EPC expenditure; potential exemptions for properties that simply cannot reach the EPC goals [etc] – and potentially, as this political storm blows itself out & various unavoidable practicalities make themselves known, there will be yet further amendments to the RRA…

It is my quiet hope that, when rents inevitably skyrocket to help LLs meet EPC demands; when burgeoning rental shortages become a problem for those who cannot afford to buy even the ‘affordable’ properties; the government will eventually get bored of LL-bashing & the pressure will ease off.

Whilst it might feel a bit like slow-dancing in a burning room, I do have to remind myself of the long-game. Do the admin, ensure standards are cautiously observed & hold fast…

Reply to the comment left by Alex at 04/02/2026 – 17:31
I agree they will ultimately have to back off, but only after the consequences start to heavily rebound on them.
So things will get worse and the PRS will no longer exist as an option.
Except of course, the Corps will still be there, ready and willing to ‘hold them to ransom’ for housing the masses.

I still think the lure of votes in a ‘rent freeze ‘ will be too hard to resist.