Third of landlords want out, despite rising rents  

Asking rents across the UK’s 21 largest towns and cities have risen 6% in the three months since the Renters Rights Act (RRA) kicked in.

A study by property management firm Ringley Group shows asking rents increased 5.6% in the first two months after implementation oand continued to accelerate thereafter.

An estimated 35% of private landlords have sold or tried to sell in the past twelve months, and the English private rented sector is estimated to have shrunk by roughly 354,000 homes in the three years to May 2025. 

The rest of the Ringley survey looks at wider-ranging rental issues.

For example, it suggests that weak ownership affordability is keeping households renting for longer, supporting demand even as rent growth has eased from its 2024 peak. 

Institutional investors are responding selectively:

• Build to Rent (BTR) investment is estimated at around £5.0 billion in 2024 and £5.3 billion in 2025, and is forecast to exceed £5.7 billion in 2026; and
• Single-family rental investment topped £3 billion in 2025, up 28% year on year. It now accounts for close to 60% of BTR investment, against 6% in 2019.

BTR has grown from a standing start 15 years ago to deliver 10% of all new homes, building out 30% to 60% faster than non-BTR schemes. Delivery remains around 17,000 homes, however, with maximum potential of about 30,000. 

Ringley says that ahead of the Budget on October 28, it wants:

• Targeted Stamp Duty Land Tax support for high-density housing. Abolishing Multiple Dwellings Relief is estimated to have wiped £4 billion from BTR portfolio values and stalled around 25,000 homes. Reintroducing targeted relief would cost the Exchequer about £155 million but could generate around £650 million in tax revenues through wider economic activity, as a first step towards a broader review of high-density housing taxation.

• Removing council tax on newly developed, vacant units. Large schemes can take one to two years to lease fully, and council tax on empty units adds significant, unpredictable costs. Removing it would reduce lease-up risk and improve viability.

A spokesperson for the group says:“We are less than six months into the implementation of the Renters’ Rights Act and already we are starting to see major unintended consequences emerge. 

“Not least the steep rise in asking rents, with a 6% increase across 21 of the UK’s largest towns and cities, but also an acceleration of the number of smaller landlords leaving the market. 

“This PRS erosion matters more than ever as the supply of new rental homes stall due to increasing viability challenges and growing uncertainty around future regulation. 

“This is why we are calling on the Chancellor in the forthcoming Budget to restore targeted SDLT support for the rental sector, along with other measures to improve viability and restore investor confidence.”

This article is taken from Landlord Today