The UK Government has confirmed it does not track the number of landlords leaving the private rental sector, according to a Parliamentary response from Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook.
In response to a question about annual landlord exits since 2020, Pennycook stated: “My Department does not hold the information requested.”
The Minister directed inquiries to HM Revenue and Customs data, which records landlords declaring rental income. According to HMRC statistics, 2.86 million unincorporated landlords declared income from rental properties in England during the 2023-2024 tax year.
Market implications
Jeremy Leaf, a north London estate agent and former RICS residential chairman, questioned how the Government can assess policy effectiveness without landlord exit data.
“Without recourse to such records it must be difficult to assess the efficacy of the Renters’ Rights Act, as well as other regulation and its wider impact,” Leaf said.
He noted the impact extends beyond landlords to tenants facing displacement. “It’s not just about landlords, of course, but the impact on tenants and disruption to their lives of having to leave sometimes very comfortable accommodation at relatively short notice and the difficulty of replacing it at anything like similar rent.”
Current market conditions
Leaf reported that his offices are “not losing as many landlords as we had feared although many are still to make up their minds as the deadline looms and existing tenancies come up for renewal.”
The absence of comprehensive data on landlord exits raises questions about the Government’s ability to monitor the private rental sector’s health and the impact of regulatory changes on housing supply.