Small landlords selling off isn't a great news after all

[Goingindrain]

My landlord is a small landlord, just owns his house and the one where we live. He is a nice man and charges us below the market rate rent.
He is fed up of all the anti landlord rules and has decided to sell. It seems he had an offer from FTB and then a big corporation put in an offer 10k over and he's selling it off to them via the agents.
I am worried about the rent going up and it's not a great news for tenants.

The number of flats on the market nationally and how long they stay that way compared to houses begs to differ. Sure, some people might be prepared to take on the risks that come with most flats on top of the inherent disadvantages of having no outside space/ increased potential for noise especially if not purpose built because of the discount for this, but the issues around insurance/ repair costs/ management companies (particularly with the growing presence of corporates buying up such properties which makes it harder for other owners to eject a poor management company and many have backroom deals with the corporate owners to extract extortionate fees from tenants so the corporate owners won’t vote them out), cladding, higher insurance costs, the prevalence of leasehold still… in recent years the prices of flats comparative to houses has fallen steadily and there’s no sign of this trend changing, with a few exceptions for flats in desirable areas of affluent cities. Most people buying one are buying it because they can’t afford anything else. There may be exceptions, but for the majority it’s not the ideal choice given all of the issues stated.

I disagree. But we can disagree thats fine.

People don’t generally “hoard” something that’s freely available and not in short supply. There’s no point or financial gain in doing so when supply is plentiful and as a PP pointed out to you, there is no shortage of properties on the market to buy. A landlord with lots of properties is increasing the supply of rental properties (which is currently, according to the data, insufficient in most areas of the country) and having no negative impact on the availability of property to purchase for those who wish to do so because at the moment it is a buyer’s market with a lot of property for sale (and has been for some time now).

Do you think that a car leasing company is “hoarding” cars just because they have lots of them available to lease for those who want to do so, even though you can choose to go and buy one instead if you wish because there are also lots available to buy for those who do want to do that instead? It’s a nonsense argument.

I find it so weird when you have tenants talking about landlords “hoarding” properties when what they’re actually doing is making properties available to rent when there is a shortage! Personally I think the landlords are mad to do it and would never consider it as it’s such a poor investment and so fraught with hassle and risks, but why tenants would be against landlords making properties available for them is unfathomable. The fewer do so, the harder it will be to find a secure place to rent and the more rents will rise. Surely this is obvious to anybody with even the most basic grasp of economics?

We have a few properties that we rent out and we will be selling all but one next year. We won’t bother renting out the one we are keeping once the tenants move out as it’s too much hassle. We have already had interest from a company with hundreds of properties, so will most likely sell to them. I don’t think tenants are going to do well from all this.

You can. You can keep the properties in good condition, make timely repairs, allow pets. Etc. It’s a legitimate business as long as you aren’t a bastard about it.

People need rentals. I know someone who is a landlord (they own one properly only which is rented out) but due to a work situation, they rent a flat in another city.

🤣 righty dokey 👍

I'd be all for discouraging private landlords if the government first put in place proper social housing, but they haven't even begun to do this.

I agree @Irenesortof. I think it’s going to be really rough for many years due to a really tight supply of rental properties and massive demand.

This!

I don't think there will be many 'informal' rentals as the fines to landlords for non compliance are so huge. The tenant can also claim huge amounts if deposits aren't protected properly.
Many properties also have to be licensed by the local authority, who wouldn't tolerate non compliance, and neither would HMRC.

Most landlords wouldn't touch this sort of deal with a bargepole! Not because they're immigrants, but because most landlords want to know who specifically is living in their valuable asset, which is very reasonable given it's often worth several hundred thousand pounds.
Also, the companies running the schemes are not to be trusted to uphold all the terms of the agreement with the landlord. Horror stories abound!

This is an interesting thread.

I'm an accidental landlady - when I met my boyfriend, I moved in with him and wanted to keep my tiny one-bedroom house in case it didn't work out. So I found a local letting agent and rented it out at the going rate. Maybe 15 years ago?

My tenants have been there that long, and they're brilliant, and so are the letting agents. I pay their 12.5% fees happily, and replace gas stoves, taps, fences and windows when asked. I'm ecstatic that someone else is, in effect, keeping my property maintained for me. I've just said I won't increase the rental in January as the COL issues facing peeps isn't a reason to turn me into Rachman. I like to think I'm a good landlady.

PS: Everything about scary energy efficiency proposals is a complete mystery to me. Could someone post a link?

S21 is often misrepresented in any case. The terminology ‘no fault eviction’ makes it look landlords randomly evict tenants for no reason. Thats the very opposite of what good landlords do - why would they?

S21 is often used where S8 takes too long in cases of rent arrears and antisocial behaviour. The courts backlog has exacerbated this so unless Labour magically fixes that in parallel to passing the Rental Reform Act, it’s going to be an unholy mess for landlords with bad tenants.

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/improving-the-energy-performance-of-privately-rented-homes-2025-update

Apparently so but in practice it doesn't work that way. Some are open and adamant about it, some less so. Either estate agents tell you regretfully the landlord just doesn't want to, or they have allergies to dogs, or something like that. In three months of hard searching I never got a single viewing, despite offering to insure against damage or paying six months up front. The rare few who offered me a viewing then ghosted, possibly for other reasons.

I’ve been a renter and an owner over the years. Neither is perfect. Some renters seem to think the mortgage is the only bill! Maintenance costs on a house really add up (especially older houses).

I rented a house four years ago as I had moved area. In the eight months I lived there the emergency plumber had to come out twice and and just before we left the landlord found damp by the front door (due to a problem with the foundations). No way did that allowed make any money from us. We actually started to feel sorry for him (also we didn’t cause any of the issues)

That would require thinking ahead! And doesn’t punish landlords fast enough.
Also I don’t think they have enough money for building, hence the preference for large corporate landlords.
I’m not against large corp landlords either, there just needs to be a balance. And as you say, a phrased implementation.

🙄

You lose control over your property.

So yeah, that's why your average small LL is selling up.

I see we arrived to magically appearing deposits and mortgages.
"if you sell your tenants will be able to buy". If they were able to buy they would buy one of the hundreds of houses on for sale.... Even with so many houses on a market, reductions in prices are not xx% but small. At least where I am and where I lived before.
People can buy if they have the deposit and cradit to get mortgage. We have terraced houses about for about and under 100k. 🤷 That's basicaly NMW territory (and yes, people on lr just above NMW do buy houses. I know few including myself).
The problem is getting the money. Which with corps rising rents will be wvwn harder. But yeah. Sure. Small landlords are the reason people don't own houses.

I wonder how will renters rights bill affect the Serco etc long twrm contracts actually

A decade ago, I was looking at my mortgage being paid off in March 2025, as that's when the fixed term came to an end. I was overpaying it as well. And then I was going to peruse the property market with the view to becoming a landlord. What ended up happening was that I paid my mortgage off a month early. Fantastic! But the housing market has gone to pot and suddenly the thought of taking on yet more debt made me feel sick. So there's that. Anything a socialist touches turns to poop. Hard work means nothing in this country anymore.

Exactly that. And I mentioned that in earlier post. It's really a "no reason given" eviction. And now that the reason will have to be given, problem tenants and non payers will find it much harder to rent again, as now they will have a 'record'. Even though that probably won't be searchable, it will make it much more likely that they will end up with a CCJ, which is certainly searchable.

The government doesn't give a shit about tenants or landlords. They want to ensure their tax revenue.

I don't think that's it. Landlords pay a lot of tax, and likely much more than large rental corporations would.

It's more ideological and appeasing the likes of Generation Rent and Shelter. It's seen as a vote winner as, as with Brexit, most people won't understand the long term implications.

Reading comments with interest. Also noting that the state pension is not much and could eventually go. Yet final and even defined pensions scarce. What are people meant to do to fund their old age? One means was to buy a small property, hope rent covers mortgage and build up equity such that eventually rent becomes your pension. Seems that source of income also being ruled out.