The Renters’ Rights Act: the change that divides landlords
These figures come from our Q3 2026 Landlord Sentiment Survey, which ran from 1 to 8 October 2026. 1,654 landlords took part and 1,472 completed every page. For the full results, including how sentiment has moved since Q1 and Q2, see the .
Every quarter we ask landlords to rank four things that might encourage them to buy more rental property: reversal of Section 24, interest rates falling, lower Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) and repeal of the Renters’ Rights Act. The main article reported that 29.9% rank repeal first (base 1,468). Here we look at who those landlords are, and at the two practical concerns most closely tied to the Act: removing tenants who do not pay or who cause damage, and council licensing.
Leavers want it gone; investors rank it last
How landlords rank repeal depends heavily on their own plans. Among those who expect to exit the sector completely over the next three years, 39.9% rank repeal as the most important incentive to buy, and only 24.9% rank it last (base 361). Among landlords who plan to sell some properties, the figures are 29.7% and 36.4% (base 596); among those planning to stay the same, 25.5% and 41.5% (base 400).
Landlords who are still buying see it very differently. Only 14.0% rank repeal first and 49.5% rank it last (base 107). For this group, repeal is the lowest-scoring of the four incentives; falling interest rates and lower SDLT matter more to them.
This is not a one-off. In Q2, when we asked exactly the same questions, 39.6% of would-be leavers (base 568) and 15.1% of would-be buyers (base 199) ranked repeal first.
Key Insight: The landlords who most want the Renters’ Rights Act reversed are, for the most part, the ones already heading for the door. Those who are still investing have largely factored the Act in and are focused on the cost of borrowing and buying. The gap between leavers and those staying put held across every portfolio size, among landlords who own only in England, and when age and ownership structure were taken into account.
The most divisive incentive on the list
Repeal is ranked first by 29.9% of landlords, level with reversal of Section 24 (29.6%). But it is also ranked last by 36.0%, more than any other factor (lower SDLT is next at 27.6%). Section 24 reversal, by contrast, is ranked last by only 13.7% (all bases 1,468).
That combination explains why repeal comes third of four on SurveyMonkey’s weighted score, where a higher score means more important (4 is the maximum): Section 24 2.82, interest rates falling 2.58, repeal 2.40, lower SDLT 2.21.
The four options have been identical in all three surveys this year, so the trend is like-for-like. The pattern has been the same every quarter: repeal is ranked first by about three in ten landlords and last by a third or more. The share ranking it first has been broadly unchanged (31.1% in Q1, base 2,190; 30.8% in Q2, base 2,096; 29.9% in Q3), while the share ranking it last has edged up from 32.1% to 34.7% to 36.0%, and its weighted score has slipped from 2.48 to 2.44 to 2.40.
Key Insight: Landlords are split on the Act more sharply than on any other measure we ask about. Section 24 reversal is wanted almost across the board; repeal of the Renters’ Rights Act is either the top priority or the bottom one. The slight drift towards “ranked last” is consistent across three quarters but small, and we would not read it as a change in landlords’ views until Q4 confirms it.
Smaller landlords feel it most
The smaller the portfolio, the more likely landlords are to put repeal first. 36.6% of landlords with three or fewer properties rank it as their top incentive (base 489), against 24.9% of those with 11 or more (base 358). Between those groups the share falls from 29.3% (four or five properties, base 232) to 25.6% (six to ten, base 316). The same pattern appeared in Q2.
Key Insight: For a landlord with one or two properties, a single tenancy that goes wrong can mean months without rent and the whole of their rental income at risk. Larger landlords can spread that risk. It is therefore not surprising that the smallest landlords are the most likely to see the Act as the main obstacle to investing again. The difference held when plans, age, ownership structure and where landlords own property were taken into account.
The day-to-day reality: getting tenants out and council licensing
We also asked landlords which other factors influence their decision to sell. Two relate directly to how landlords experience regulation day to day. Difficulty removing tenants who do not pay or who cause damage was the most cited reason of all (59.8%), and selective and additional licensing and council enforcement was third (53.4%), behind the higher income tax rates on rental income due from April 2027 (59.7%; base 1,486). Respondents could choose more than one option, so the totals exceed 100%. Nearly three in four (73.7%) chose at least one of the two, and 39.6% chose both.
Both concerns are strongest among landlords who are leaving: 65.4% of would-be exiters cite difficulty removing tenants and 61.0% cite licensing (base 367), against 43.2% and 42.1% of those planning to buy (base 95).
They also line up with how landlords rank repeal. Of those who rank repeal first as an incentive to buy, 72.7% cite difficulty removing tenants as a reason to sell and 66.9% cite licensing (base 414). Of those who rank repeal last, the figures are 48.9% and 43.0% (base 481).
Licensing becomes a bigger concern as portfolios grow: it is a reason to sell for 43.8% of landlords with no properties or one (base 185), rising to 62.6% of those with 21 or more (base 171).
Key Insight: For many landlords, the Renters’ Rights Act is not an abstract piece of legislation; it is about whether they can recover their property from a tenant who stops paying, and about the growing cost and paperwork of council licensing. Landlords who rank repeal first are far more likely to name those concerns. Licensing weighs most on larger portfolios, which have more properties to license.
Licensing weighs most on London landlords
Landlords with property in London were the most likely to cite licensing and council enforcement as a reason to sell (61.8%, base 356), against 52.0% of those who own elsewhere in England but not in London (base 1,040). Landlords with property in Scotland (43.5%, base 69) and Wales (40.3%, base 77) were less likely again; both nations run their own registration and licensing systems.
The same divide by nation shows in how landlords rank repeal. Among landlords who own only in England, 31.3% rank repeal first (base 1,287). Among those who own only in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, just 16.7% do (base 72), and 48.6% rank it last.
Key Insight: Landlords appear to be answering about the rules that apply to their own properties. Those outside England, where most of the Renters’ Rights Act does not apply, give it a much lower priority. London owners, who are more often covered by selective and additional licensing schemes, are the most likely to cite licensing as a reason to sell. The London difference held when portfolio size and plans were taken into account.
Among those leaving, the Act now tops the reasons to sell
When we ask landlords to rank six factors in their decision to sell, the Renters’ Rights Act comes third overall (weighted score 3.77 out of 6, base 1,499), behind higher interest rates and lower Capital Gains Tax. Among landlords planning to exit completely it comes first (4.36, base 379), with 40.4% ranking it as their top reason, up from 34.7% in Q2 (base 568). Among those planning to stay the same or buy, it comes fourth.
Key Insight: For landlords on their way out, the Act has become the single most important factor in the decision to sell, and the share ranking it first has risen since Q2. That rise is moderate at these sample sizes, and Q4 will show whether it continues.
What made little difference
Within England, the region in which landlords own property made little difference to how they rank repeal: between 25.0% and 36.0% of each English region’s landlords rank it first (bases 112 to 346), and none of these differences is large enough to rank regions against each other.
HMO landlords, whose properties are among the most heavily licensed, were no more likely than others to rank repeal first (26.9%, base 212, against 28.9% of landlords with houses, base 987) and only slightly more likely to cite licensing as a reason to sell (58.1%, base 210, against 52.8%, base 1,021), a difference within the margin of error.
Among landlords under 55, the gap between leavers and those staying the same disappears: 28.0% of under-55s planning to exit rank repeal first (base 50), against 28.1% of those planning to stay the same (base 64). The divide is driven by landlords aged 55 and over.
In landlords’ own words
We also asked two open questions. In answer to “What is the single biggest issue facing you as a landlord right now?”, about one in five (19.1%, 267 of 1,395) raised the Renters’ Rights Act, possession or tenants’ rights, and 12.0% named the Act directly. Asked what would make them stay in the sector or expand, 13.7% (180 of 1,314) called for the Act to be repealed or amended, or for Section 21 to be restored.
Several themes ran through those answers:
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Possession: the fear of being unable to remove a tenant who stops paying or damages the property within a reasonable time once Section 21 has gone. One landlord described the loss of Section 21 simply as “terrifying”.
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Rent reviews: concern that any rent increase will now be challenged as a matter of course, making the relationship with tenants more adversarial.
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Penalties and fees: worries about large fines for minor administrative errors, and licensing, register and other fees adding up.
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Amend, not only repeal: some landlords asked for specific changes rather than repeal, such as a set period to put things right before penalties apply, or a relaxation of the restriction on re-letting a property after a failed sale.
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Waiting to see: a minority expect the market to settle once the new system beds in.
How we analysed the results
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Questions: Q5 (ranking of four incentives to buy, base 1,468), Q7 (ranking of six factors in the decision to sell, base 1,499) and Q19 (other reasons to sell, multi-select, base 1,486), compared with plans over the next three years (Q3), portfolio size (Q9), regions owned in (Q8), property types (Q12) and age (Q27).
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Weighted scores: SurveyMonkey gives each option a score based on its ranking (first place scores 4 in Q5 and 6 in Q7), then averages them. A higher score means more important. Scores are only compared where the list of options was the same.
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Bases: percentages are of landlords who answered both questions in each comparison, so bases vary.
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Groups: portfolio sizes are combined into three or fewer and 11 or more where stated. “England only” and “Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland only” are mutually exclusive; regional rows otherwise overlap because landlords choose every region they own in. In the licensing chart, “Wales” combines North and South Wales and “Rest of England” is landlords with property in England but none in London. Respondents under 55 were combined into one group.
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Small numbers: no group with fewer than 50 respondents is reported. Differences are described as meaningful only where they pass a standard statistical test at 95% confidence. The main findings (plans, portfolio size and nation for repeal; plans, portfolio size and London for licensing) were also checked in a combined model allowing for the other factors at the same time.
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Comparisons over time: Q5 has had the same four options in all three waves, so the Q1 to Q3 trend is like-for-like. Our question about plans covered the next 12 months in Q1 and the next three years from Q2, so the comparison by plans uses Q2 and Q3 only. Q7 had three options in Q1 and six from Q2, so it is compared with Q2 only. Q19 is new this quarter.
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Who took part: respondents are self-selecting Property118 readers, not a random sample of all UK landlords. They are mostly experienced landlords aged 55 or over, and every question in Q3 could be skipped.
What Does This Mean for Landlords?
The Renters’ Rights Act divides landlords more sharply than any other issue we ask about. For those who are leaving, and for the smallest landlords, repeal is the change most likely to bring them back into the market. For those who are still buying, it is mostly the least important of the four incentives.
That matters for how the debate is framed. Repeal would not, on this evidence, unlock much new investment from landlords who are already buying; they are waiting on interest rates and the cost of purchase. It might keep more of the landlords who are on their way out. Those are disproportionately smaller landlords, and their concerns are practical ones: recovering a property from a tenant who will not pay, and the cost and burden of licensing.
For policymakers who do not intend to repeal the Act, the evidence points to where reassurance would count: faster and more predictable possession where tenants do not pay or cause damage, and licensing that is simpler and cheaper for compliant landlords. Several respondents asked for exactly that kind of amendment rather than outright repeal.
These are the views of engaged Property118 readers rather than every landlord in the UK, and they describe intentions rather than actions. With the Act’s changes now taking effect, the Q4 survey will show whether landlords’ priorities are settling or hardening.
Have Your Say
Has the Renters’ Rights Act changed your plans, or are licensing and possession the bigger worry for you? Please tell us in the comments below; your experiences help explain what the numbers show.
Look out for the Q4 2026 survey at the end of December. The more landlords who take part, the stronger the evidence we can put in front of journalists and policymakers. Read the
