A mortgage broker argues that well-intentioned reforms are shrinking rental supply and pricing out the very people they aim to help
The Renters' Rights Act, which came into force at the start of this month, may be making life harder rather than easier for tenants, according to mortgage broker Kristian Kolb (pictured top).
Kolb, owner of Berkshire-based Mayfield Mortgages, argues that the legislation, combined with years of tax and regulatory changes, is accelerating a landlord exodus that is shrinking rental supply at precisely the moment demand is at record levels — with renters bearing the cost.
"Many people will see the new legislation as a positive, but it comes on top of a raft of regulatory and taxation changes to affect the sector which in turn, has led to an increasing number of landlords deciding to sell up and others to question whether they should too," Kolb said.
The private rented sector currently accounts for nearly 19% of England's housing stock — the second largest tenure after home ownership and larger than the social housing sector. It has grown 52% between 2008/9 and 2023/4, rising from roughly 8% of England's housing when residential mortgages became regulated in 2004.
Kolb attributes much of that growth to deteriorating home ownership affordability and demographic change, arguing the sector serves a structural need in the UK housing market.
That need is intensifying. Demand for rental housing has risen 60% compared to pre-pandemic levels, while the median house price in England now stands at approximately 7.7 times median full-time employee income, up from roughly 3.6 times a decade ago.
Yet supply is moving in the opposite direction. Analysis of UK Finance data shows that almost 560,000 buy-to-let mortgages have been redeemed since 2016, and property consultancy Savills has reported that 700 former rental homes are being listed for sale every day.
Many of those properties are being purchased by first-time buyers — a development that may appear positive on the surface but which Kolb says comes at a direct cost to existing tenants.
"There is growing evidence that a majority of the former rental properties now being sold are being bought by first-time buyers," Kolb said. "On the face of it, this may sound like a good thing: more first-time buyers buying than previous years. But it comes at a cost.
"And the cost is being paid by the tenants in the properties being sold. It is not them who are buying, because they cant afford it. And now they are forced to search for a new rental property in an ever decreasing pool of available houses with the inevitable consequence that rents will be more expensive."
Kolb also warns that one of the Renters' Rights Act's central provisions — the abolition of no-fault evictions — may itself work against the tenants it is designed to protect. With landlords facing greater difficulty removing tenants once a tenancy has begun, he expects them to apply significantly more rigorous checks before agreeing to let at all.
He calls for the government to set out a clear long-term strategy for the sector before the damage becomes irreversible.
"All of this highlights the uncertainty in the private rented sector at a time of increasing demand and increasing difficulty for those wanting to buy," Kolb said. "It's time for some clear policy statements on the future of the private rental sector and its place within the UK housing strategy."
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