To think rents are going up because of insane levels of demand and not billionaires buying all the houses?

Yep, absolutely. My parents (born in 50's) live in a 5 bedroom house they bought in 80's. It's worth over a million now, not exactly a first times buyers home.

No, they were pushed from '25 to '28 so all new tenancies meet the EPC threshold of c and above. 2030 brings existing tenancies in line. Iirc.

Downsizing is only an issue as no suitable properties are being built. I would love to move into a smaller 2 bedroom (detached with small garden) and within walking distance of a town or on a regular bus route, but these properties are simply not being built (apart from those awful expensive rip off retirement new build homes).

and obligations to meet EPC ratings

but the EPC ratings have been delayed and as yet pushed back to 2030 and the EPC ratings themselves are being changed and no-one knows what they are

meanwhile

new build blocks and housing are being purchased off plan by large companies to rent out - which will meet EPC ratings and be far more expensive

even social housing companies charge more for identical companies being rented by councils - think £560 for council - same property, same builder, same estate - £800 with the likes of Orbit

So you would rather a tenant moved into a less than standard property while still charging rent?

Many towns and cities are full of student accommodation.
There is more demand for non-student accommodation for many many reasons.

Think of the number of single child children's homes being created.

More demand = higher prices.
More anti-landlord policies = fewer smaller landlords which ultimately is going to mean either fewer houses to rent or more corporate landlords.

Immigration

Right to buy

Unintended consequences of improving tenancy rights and new legislation to improve housing.

My friend owns her Mothers house a 2 bed cottage. After her Mother died she let it out for 7 years. The tenant gave notice as buying. In that period new legislation had been introduced for upgrading and also new rights for tenants. She just uses it for holidays now and let’s to friends only for holidays. Legislation was to tackle slum landlords and protect tenants.

I despair of policy in Government, they have ideas that are sometimes great but appear to then run with them and not scenario plan.

I am indeed aware that a huge proportion of legal migration is student visas. It's absolutely outrageous that the country has such high levels of immigration in order to prop up universities. Let them fail I say.

I’m a millennial living in a 4 bed house with no plans to have children. I have a lot of friends in a similar position but go ahead and hate the boomers for wanting space 🙄

Supply shortage causes house prices to rise, and means fewer people can afford to buy (particularly in the south) so have no option but to rent. This increases the demand for rental properties and at the same social and private housing is not being built. This creates huge demand in the rental sector and causes rents to rise, which then also attracts property investors and BTL landlords.

The rental and house buying market are intrinsically linked. If there was a significant rise in the number of rentals without the demand, rents would be falling. Investors wouldn't be investing if there wasn't demand, and it's the shortage that creates the demand.

The size of the private rental sector has increased from 10% in 2001 to around 20% in 2016 and has stabilised at around 19% since then.

This significant rise in BTL landlords has had a distorting effect on the housing market, reducing availability (to buy) and pushing up prices.

And tax payers are facing a huge bill when the renters eventually retire and claim housing benefits, when they would previously been able to buy their own home.

The only solution is to build more houses, in particular social housing with affordable rents. With more supply, investors will not be able to achieve desired rental income so prices will drop or they will sell freeing up more homes to buy.

SIL works as a conveyancer and regularly handles bulk purchases of new build apartments by ltd companies. The apartments are bought but never rented out and held for a minimum of 12-24 months. The apartments generally appreciate in this time (maybe a 6-8% yield). Apparently a great way to launder money and the UK is known as a laundering hot spot.

There's been a lot of building of student accomodation ie halls of residency by uni and by private equity firms.

TBH where DD1 is lovely - new build for students - finding somehwere post graduation will likely be a step down.

So I think housing being taken by students while still a thing probably on the decline as these private student halls have started to be built.

Prices are basically a function of supply and demand. The main driver of increased demand over the past decade has been net migration.

How are we going to understand or solve anything if such a key fact is too dangerous to mention?

I’ve a couple of friends with BTL and by the time they pay fees ,taxes ,insurance ,LL registration and maintenance they’d make more investing there money with no grief
house prices stagnant so not making anything there
one will take years to be back in profit after taking forever to evict tenant owed 1000’s in rent 1000’s in damages and very hefty legal bill
being a Ll is no longer the golden goose

my mum won’t downsize as by the time she’s paid fees and stamp duty she’s well into nearly 30k cost cheaper to stay where she is and spend that money on running her existing house

I'm so sorry I don't want to move from our house now our children have gone. Yes, we have a lot of space and spare rooms but it's also the home they were were brought up in and we want that security for them to come back when they need to (I never had that security so maybe it's more important to me)
Also the house would sell for a lot of money (not bragging just stating a fact) and it's highly unlikely a 'normal' family would afford it.i would never sell to a landlord so we will be staying put until we absolutely have to go.

It's also worth remembering that all these people need somewhere to live and increase demand.

Also worth considering that we have very little control over who can own homes and how they can be used, even in London. People can buy up property and treat it as an investment, they don’t have to live in their property or rent them out. In other countries there are restrictions, in India only Indian nationals can own property, in Singapore ownership and rental of property is very heavily restricted, certain property reserved for married couples, families etc.

This.

The vast majority of landlords don’t have a mortgage and the majority own and rent out multiple properties. It’s a business. An investment. Passive income. All created out of people’s essential need for a home.

Housing contractors are interested in building residential property attractive to investors who are seeking a return. Not homes. The amount of so called affordable housing contractors are forced to include is pitifully low.

Housing can either be essential, suitable and affordable homes for people or it can be an investment vehicle for someone’s portfolio.
It’s difficult for it to be both.

Anyone who is counting on a change in immigration policy to result in lower rents, lower house prices or more suitable homes will be very disappointed.

Because governments really don't care about ordinary people's standard of living. We must stop thinking they give a shit.

I can’t understand why the government have not stepped in and built large areas of elderly housing at affordable prices instead of these extremely expensive retirement villages that are priced higher than normal housing.

The rich benefit from increased house prices and they also control the supply of housing. House builders are building houses slowly, councils are slowing the planning system and government aren’t wanting to disrupt the current trend because the majority of their voters are delighted they have an asset that’s growing in value.

What we need is a post war style investment in housing, we need a decent chunk of this to be owned by councils, it’s not realistic for everyone in private rents to become home owners, but council housing gives much more protection than private rents.

There isn’t a way out of the current housing problem that doesn’t involve house prices falling and this will put some people into real difficulties.

2025 saw an 80% drop in student dependents following the recent changes. It had got to almost 100,000 student dependents each year before they thought to rein that in.

Because it’s generally used by younger people in a negative way ie boomers are hoarding big houses. You rarely hear someone say how marvellous it is that boomers provide so much free childcare to their sons and daughters.

It’s worth remembering that about 1/3rd of immigrants come to study, adding £55bn to the economy and keeping universities just about afloat.

YANBU. Rents are going up because demand is massively outstripping supply. It was announced this week that net migration to this country was over 700,000 people, this year alone! You can't have that level of immigration for years in a row and not expect there to be a massive effect on housing costs and quality of housing. The number of new homes needing to be built (let alone the rest of the infrastructure) to cope with this level of population increase is astronomical. We have a massive housing crisis that has been building for the past 20-30 years and successive governments seem intent on making it much worse for some reason.