Asking rents across the UK’s 21 largest towns and cities have risen 6% in the three months since the Renters’ Rights Act (RRA) took effect on 1 May 2026, according to new research from Ringley Group.
The company, which specialises in the operational management of residential and living-sector real estate, says the outcome runs counter to the Act’s stated purpose.
The research examines investment trends and how legislation is reshaping the sector, and was presented by Jennet Siebrits, head of research at Ringley. It lands as landlords sell up at the fastest rate in a decade, the housing market weakens, and the government prepares for a Budget on 28 October that could ease or add to the cost of delivering homes.
Ringley says asking rents rose 5.6% in the first two months after implementation and kept accelerating, with a further 12% rise in August alone. An estimated 35% of private landlords have sold or tried to sell in the past 12 months, and the English private rented sector shrank by roughly 354,000 homes in the three years to May 2025. Sentiment has weakened, but exit data suggests the pace of retrenchment may now be moderating.
Weak ownership affordability is keeping households renting for longer, which supports demand even though rent growth has eased from its 2024 peak. Institutional investors are responding selectively, according to the research:
- BTR investment was an estimated £5.0bn in 2024 and £5.3bn in 2025, and is forecast to exceed £5.7bn in 2026.
- Single-family rental investment topped £3bn in 2025, up 28% year on year, and now accounts for close to 60% of BTR investment, against 6% in 2019.
- Morgan Stanley (MSREF) and Ridgeback bought L&Q’s London PRS platform Metra Living, about 3,200 homes, for £1.045bn, the largest acquisition of operational BTR stock to date.
- North American capital accounted for 60% of UK BTR investment in the first half of 2026, while domestic investors deployed 35%. UK capital made up 54% on the five-year average to 2025.
BTR has grown from a standing start 15 years ago to deliver 10% of all new homes, building out 30% to 60% faster than non-BTR schemes. Delivery remains around 17,000 homes, however, against a maximum potential of about 30,000. Ringley says institutional capital is part of the solution but not a one-for-one substitute for the much larger individual owner-occupier and private-landlord markets.
Completions are falling, which makes the government’s target of 1.5 million homes difficult to reach. Weak sales feed directly into housebuilders’ decisions, and listed housebuilders are already signalling that weak demand and difficult economics are affecting how they allocate capital.
House prices have risen 43% over ten years, against 10% for flats, leaving the average house about 70% more expensive than a flat, the widest gap in roughly three decades. Apartments make up 70% of new-build development by volume in towns and cities, yet their share of new homes sold has fallen from 54% in 2007 to 22%.
Ringley points to retrenchment among first-time buyers, tax and policy changes that have reduced the appeal of buy-to-let and non-resident investment, and concerns over service charges, leasehold and building safety as factors narrowing the pool of apartment buyers.
Policy is tilting towards councils and social housing three months into the administration led by the prime minister, Andy Burnham. The government has confirmed a £39bn, ten-year Social and Affordable Homes Programme, with just under £10bn of first allocations announced in August, and has pledged to restore council housebuilding on a scale not seen for decades.
The industry is calling for two measures ahead of the Budget:
- Targeted SDLT support for high-density housing. Ringley estimates that abolishing Multiple Dwellings Relief wiped £4bn from BTR portfolio values and stalled around 25,000 homes. Reintroducing targeted relief would cost the Exchequer about £155m but could generate around £650m in tax revenue through wider economic activity, as a first step towards a broader review of high-density housing taxation.
- No council tax on newly developed, vacant units. Large schemes can take one to two years to lease fully, and council tax on empty units adds significant, unpredictable costs. Removing it would reduce lease-up risk and improve viability.
Ringley expects some fiscal tightening, though where it lands is uncertain. Capital Economics estimates the government’s ambitions could require £20bn to £25bn of additional taxation. With the prime minister recommitted to not raising the main rates of income tax, VAT, corporation tax or National Insurance, the chancellor’s options are narrow. Ringley sets out the possibilities:
Capital and wealth taxation (most likely). Reuters identifies capital gains, property taxation and some form of wealth taxation among the options under consideration. Ringley says a formal annual wealth tax should be treated with caution given implementation, avoidance and migration difficulties, and the prime minister has not committed to one.
Property taxation (possible but targeted). The prime minister has ruled out replacing council tax and stamp duty with a land value tax, though Knight Frank reports that earlier speculation had already begun to affect buyer behaviour. A higher council tax charge on homes worth over £2m, planned from 2028, is already in the frame.
Capital gains tax. Aligning CGT with income tax rates could theoretically raise significant sums, though economists caution that behavioural responses mean mechanical estimates overstate likely receipts. Any change would matter to landlords, second-home owners and residential investors.
Welfare reform (background, not an October answer). Ringley expects it to stay part of the fiscal equation. The IFS puts PIP spending at around £25bn in 2026, up from £14bn in 2019, and potentially £34bn by 2030.
“We are less than six months into the implementation of the Renters’ Rights Act, and already we are starting to see major unintended consequences emerge,” said Richard Williams, chief executive of Ringley Group.
“Not least the steep rise in asking rents, with a 6% increase across 21 of the UK’s largest towns and cities, but also an acceleration of the number of smaller landlords leaving the market.
"This PRS erosion matters more than ever as the supply of new rental homes stall due to increasing viability challenges and growing uncertainty around future regulation.
"This is why we are calling on the Chancellor in the forthcoming Budget to restore targeted SDLT support for the rental sector, along with other measures to improve viability and restore investor confidence.”
