Has the Renters’ Rights Act really caused a landlord exodus? – BuyAssociation Group

The Renters’ Rights Act (RRA) came into force in May amid widespread fears that it could drive investors out of the private rented sector.

Five months since its introduction, however, the evidence remains highly contradictory, with reports veering between landlords leaving in record numbers and signs that rental supply is holding firm.

The latest headline-grabbing stats from property data firm TwentyEA show more than 500 rental properties a day are leaving the sector. Yet its own figures also show that the number of properties available to rent is 1.3% higher than a year ago.

So what is really happening in the rental market and what effect is the RRA having on it?

Before the Renters’ Rights Act

One of the biggest concerns was the abolition of Section 21 and the possibility that regaining possession would become slower and more difficult, particularly with the courts already under pressure.

Landlords also faced a significant increase in regulation, costs and restrictions on how they could manage their properties and tenancies. At the same time, borrowing costs had risen and tax changes had eaten into profits.

Evidence for an exodus

According to the latest data from TwentyEA, the rate at which former rental properties are being sold is now around three times higher than in 2020.

The pace increased further during the third quarter, when it recorded 562 former rental properties being sold each day. Around 44,000 had been sold during the quarter to date, compared with 495 a day at the same point last year and 167 a day in 2020.

Its longer-term figures reveal a similar pattern. TwentyEA says 111,696 former rental properties were sold in 2024, rising to around 181,000 last year. Since the beginning of the decade, it estimates that almost 835,000 have been sold.

On the face of it, the figures point to a substantial and growing flow of properties out of the rental sector.

And data from landlord surveys supports that interpretation. The NRLA found that 26% of landlords surveyed had sold, or were in the process of selling, at least some properties because of the Renters’ Rights Act, with another 19% considering doing so.

Another survey by property consultancy Allsop found that 41.7% of landlords said they were unlikely or very unlikely to remain in the sector following its introduction, rising to 51.8% among those with a single property.

Evidence against an exodus

But look more closely at the figures behind the headlines and a far more complex picture emerges.

Surveys tell us what landlords say they intend to do, but not what they are actually doing.

In addition, counting former rental properties being sold only captures one side of the market. It does not tell us how many homes are entering the PRS, how many are being bought by another landlord and remaining as rentals, or whether a landlord who sells one rental property then buys another.

TwentyEA’s own data highlights the issue. Even though hundreds of former rental properties are being sold each day, the number of properties available to rent is 1.3% higher than it was a year ago.

Its chief executive Colin Bradshaw says: “What is really interesting is that despite this huge shift, stock availability for renters is actually rising.”

And, according to Hamptons’ data, landlords accounted for 10.2% of all home purchases in June, with previously rented properties accounting for 9.2% of homes listed for sale. For the first time since 2019, the share being bought by landlords was therefore higher than the share of previously rented homes coming onto the sales market.

The estate agency also found that 23% of homes bought by landlords earlier this year had previously been rentals, up from 16% in 2025 and an average of 9.9% between 2019 and 2023.

In other words, landlords are increasingly buying properties from other landlords, meaning those homes remain within the rental sector.

Properties are also entering the PRS via other hard-to-record routes, such as landlord purchases of former owner-occupied homes.

One of the better measures of the net effect is the number of homes actually available to rent, and the evidence here is equally mixed.

TwentyEA reports a 1.3% annual increase and, although property portals Rightmove and Zoopla report falls of between 1% and 3%, they in no way indicate a loss of supply on the scale that 500 rental homes leaving the sector per day might imply.

A changing rental market

What there is clear evidence for is a change in the profile of landlords operating in the sector, as well as the way they own and manage their properties.

The professionalisation of the sector predates the Renters’ Rights Act, but the additional regulatory and financial demands it places on landlords are accelerating the process, with smaller landlords more likely to leave and larger, better-capitalised investors better placed to absorb the extra costs.

The government’s latest English Private Landlord Survey found that, despite accounting for only 17% of all landlords, larger landlords (those with five or more properties) owned 49% of tenancies.

As part of that process, there has also been a longer-term move towards limited-company ownership, Build to Rent and investment in higher-yielding properties and locations.

What happens next?

What all the conflicting data really reveals is that the rental market is in a state of flux, with many landlords likely to still be weighing up how the new regulations work in practice and what the outlook for rents and borrowing costs means for their investments.

There are signs that investment is holding up. UK Finance recorded 58,272 new buy-to-let loans during the first quarter of 2026, 3.3% more than a year earlier.

That’s because yields remain attractive in many areas, with the average gross BTL yield increasing from 6.93% to 7.21% over the same period. HMOs, though, produce some of the highest yields at around 10% and, as a result, are proving increasingly popular.

And those yields are likely to rise further if a fall in rental supply pushes rents higher.

However, rising finance costs are likely to become an increasing factor in landlords’ calculations as events in the Gulf push up mortgage costs.

So what does it all mean for rents? Capital Economics is expecting UK rents to rise by 3.5% in both 2027 and 2028, and Cluttons forecasts 3.5% growth next year.

Savills is more conservative, expecting rental growth of 2% in 2027 and 2.5% a year from 2028 to 2030.

Property consultancy JLL has forecast UK rental growth at 3% in 2027, 3.5% in 2028 and 4% in 2029, and Hamptons has forecast 4% growth in 2027.