Landlords’ commitment to the private rented sector in England is waning, with a falling percentage likely to continue letting out properties.
According to the English Private Landlord Survey, an annual project commission by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, 59% of landlords would relet a property next time it became vacant.
This percentage has fallen since the last surveys were carried out, and in 2018 and 2021 it was 75% and 68% respectively.
In the latest survey, it was found that one in five (19%) of landlords would not relet their property and 11% admitted they did not know what they would do.
The survey also gauged landlords’ general attitudes to their portfolios in the coming years.
It was found that landlords are now more likely to decrease their number of properties or sell them all, with 31% claiming as such in 2024 (compared to 22% in 2021 and 16% in 2018).
Within this percentage, 16% of landlords are planning to sell all of their properties.
There was a pattern identified in the size of landlords and the impact this had on their plans.
The survey found that the largest landlords were most likely to be ambitious about increasing their portfolio size, with the converse true for smaller landlords.
Recent tax and legislative changes were the most commonly identified reasons for landlords looking to scale back or leave the sector entirely.
Here, 66% of landlords chose this as a reason with forthcoming legislative changes the next highest reason with 44% selection.
Under half (40%) attributed such decisions to investment viability from rising interest rates.
