Why Property118 Is Changing Its Tone
For more than a decade, Property118 has reported every major change affecting private landlords in the UK: legislation, taxation, finance, and policy. We’ve also become a forum for landlords to share experiences, challenge ideas and, at times, vent their frustrations.
That honesty has always been our strength, but over time, the tone of landlord news in general (not just on our platform) has shifted towards the negative. Every new law is framed as a threat. Every Government consultation feels like an attack. Every article becomes another reason to give up.
It’s easy to see why. Alarmist headlines drive clicks. They play on fear and outrage, which spread faster than reason, yet they also leave readers feeling anxious, angry and powerless.
We want to change that.
From Alarm to Authority
The truth is that most landlords are already professional, compliant and committed to doing things properly. They don’t need more headlines telling them the sky is falling. They need calm analysis, practical guidance and a sense of control.
That’s where Property118 is heading next. Our focus will remain firmly on the facts, but the tone will shift from alarm to authority, from what’s wrong to what you can do about it.
Every article we publish will now follow a simple principle: readers should leave feeling better informed and more in control than when they arrived.
What Will Change
News will stay factual, but calmer. We will continue to report every major development affecting landlords, but with measured language and balanced context.
Commentary will resolve, not inflame. Even when the news is difficult, we will focus on the practical actions responsible landlords can take to protect their position.
Best practice will take centre stage. Case studies and success stories will become the heartbeat of the site, showing how clarity, structure and planning lead to better outcomes.
Dialogue will remain open. The comment section will always have room for honest opinion, but we encourage contributions that share experience and solutions, not despair.
Why It Matters
Landlords face enough uncertainty from regulation and policy change. They don’t need more anxiety from the media that serves them.
By adjusting our tone, we aim to attract and retain the community of landlords who are still building, improving and planning ahead. Those who believe property is a long-term business, not a short-term gamble.
It’s time to move beyond fear.
Property118 will still hold regulators and policymakers to account, but we’ll do it through facts, insight and commercial reasoning – not outrage.
Closing thoughts
If you’ve ever finished a news article about landlords feeling disheartened, we understand. We’ve felt it too.
That’s why we’re resetting the tone. Not because we want to sugar-coat reality, but because we believe that perspective, knowledge and professionalism are the antidotes to fear.
Thank you for being part of this journey. Together, we can bring the focus back to what really matters: stability, structure and long-term success for responsible landlords.
Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.
Comments
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Every day, landlords who want to influence policy and share real-world experience add their voice here. Your perspective helps keep the debate balanced.
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Member Since August 2020 - Comments: 3
12:50 PM, 19th November 2025, About 5 months ago
Hi Mark,
Yes I agree 100%, we need to focus on the positive. As a nation we are slipping (talking ourselves) into the Abyss. There are many positives in the industry, and after all which industry is not facing challenges?
As a landlord I am not selling anything, but at the same time, I have stopped any investments, but I believe the market needs good landlords, and the measures from the government will send a lot of unprofessionals packing!
Member Since January 2011 - Comments: 12212 - Articles: 1408
10:17 PM, 21st November 2025, About 5 months ago
Quick question for all regular readers.
Have you noticed any differences in the way our team has presented News and the depth of articles we’ve published in recent weeks?
Member Since June 2018 - Comments: 20
11:42 PM, 21st November 2025, About 5 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Mark Alexander – Founder of Property118 at 21/11/2025 – 22:17
To be honest I thought your reporting was always fine and to the point. There are plenty of goodie-two-shoes sites for people that believe the government is promoting the interests of tenants and landlords. Suzanne Smith? I didn’t say a word.
Member Since September 2023 - Comments: 12
7:36 AM, 22nd November 2025, About 5 months ago
A positive outlook is most welcome. For far too long now it’s constant dread, constant negativity from our own industry. I’m in for the long haul and look forward to seeing something different, something positive for once.
It’s been draining reading negative press day in day out with no solutions to the perceived insurmountable obstacle.
Member Since September 2023 - Comments: 12
7:46 AM, 22nd November 2025, About 5 months ago
I will point out one serious flaw in the system though, EPC.
I have a purpose built flat, in the block we all have the same double glazing, same heating and hot water systems, same fire doors, the block is modern, insulated, but we all have different EPC scores. This has a has a major impact on us landlords..
This broken system desperately needs highlighting and addressing. Whether perceived as negative or not.
Member Since May 2015 - Comments: 2204 - Articles: 2
11:01 AM, 22nd November 2025, About 5 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Chuck Jaeger at 22/11/2025 – 07:36
OK, then please list all the positives for landlords in the RRA?
Member Since January 2011 - Comments: 12212 - Articles: 1408
11:04 AM, 22nd November 2025, About 5 months ago
Reply to the comment left by TheMaluka at 22/11/2025 – 11:01
OK, here’s my list …
1) errrmmm
Member Since May 2015 - Comments: 2204 - Articles: 2
11:53 AM, 22nd November 2025, About 5 months ago
Mark, I think your comment highlights the reason for the recent negativity.
Member Since June 2013 - Comments: 3249 - Articles: 81
12:16 PM, 22nd November 2025, About 5 months ago
Reply to the comment left by Mark Alexander – Founder of Property118 at 22/11/2025 – 11:04
Ha ha.
By the author too.
Member Since January 2011 - Comments: 12212 - Articles: 1408
2:26 PM, 22nd November 2025, About 5 months ago
Reply to the comment left by TheMaluka at 22/11/2025 – 11:53
Accepting that my first answer to your question about the benefits of the Renters Rights Act might not have covered the ground as fully as you hoped, I have taken a moment to gather my thoughts. This is my more considered view, shaped by both the evidence in front of us and the patterns I have watched unfold over many years.
The Renters Rights Act will, in my view, deepen the UK housing crisis over the short and medium term. Supply will contract because many landlords will either sell or disengage from the sector, and the remaining stock will struggle to absorb the pressure. There is one clear benefit to landlords who stay the course. Scarcity pushes demand, and demand pushes rents. That is the simple commercial reality. The uncomfortable truth is that tenants will carry a heavier burden as a result, from higher living costs to increased homelessness, and those pressures ripple through the wider economy.
A more troubling issue sits behind all of this. A very large proportion of landlords are nowhere near ready for the complexity of the new regulatory environment. If enforcement becomes genuinely effective, bankruptcies will follow in numbers the sector has not seen before. The question is whether enforcement will ever reach that level. We had a thick rulebook even before the Renters Rights Act and the outcomes were patchy at best. Will regulators focus on serious criminal operators, or continue to concentrate their efforts on the easier, more compliant targets who are simply trying to stay on the right side of the law?
Looking ahead over the next five, ten or twenty years, I expect a political pivot. Once the consequences of contraction are fully felt, the Government will need to stimulate the private rented sector again. The shape of those incentives is hard to predict, but I struggle to imagine a return to the era of modest working and middle-class buy-to-let investment. Far more likely, in my view, is a move towards encouraging capital to flow into large, institution-managed structures such as Real Estate Investment Trusts. It fits the direction of travel, it fits Treasury thinking, and it allows growth without relying on millions of individuals to absorb regulatory risk.
That is my honest assessment.