One in five landlords plan to reduce portfolio size in 2025, with the government’s high-profile Renters Rights Bill the key reason for doing so

The Bill had its second reading in the House of Lords yesterday, just hours after the chief executive of finance firm Octane Capital gave figures from his firm’s latest survey of landlords across England.

Some 90% of those surveyed said that they had so far kept their portfolio size unchanged, although 7% had reduced their portfolios. 

But looking at the year ahead, the picture gets worse. Some 21% stated that they intend to reduce the size of their portfolio, with just 75% deciding to keep it unchanged, whilst 4% again intend to increase it.

For those who do plan to reduce their portfolio size this year, the proposed changes via the incoming Renters Rights Bill ranked as the number one reason for doing so.

The appointment of the Labour government ranked second, with the third biggest factor being that they were approaching retirement.

When asked which aspects of the Renters’ Rights Bill they feel will pose the biggest challenges for landlords, the abolition of Section 21 ‘no fault evictions’ ranked top of the table.

Prohibiting landlords from not renting to those on benefits or with children was the second biggest challenge, along with the abolition of short hold tenancies.

Octane chief executive Jonathan Samuels comments that although some believe talk of an exodus in the past has been exaggerated, the situation is changing in 2025. 

“There’s no doubt that the government’s consistent campaign to deter landlords from the sector by way of legislative changes has had an impact and, in a market that is already drastically undersupplied, we simply can’t afford to drive away investors.

“Unfortunately, it looks as though more could choose to exit during 2025 and the key reason for this decision is the Renters’ Rights Bill. Whilst any improvements to tenant welfare are, of course, positive, the concern is that landlords have been largely ignored with respect to the intended changes.

“In doing so, the government is likely to exacerbate the current rental crisis as withou