Recent analysis from the National Residential Landlords Association has identified landlords' sense of being unfairly portrayed in public debate as a growing element of sector discontent, with the trade body finding that the issue registers across landlords of all intentions — not only those planning to leave.
The NRLA, which represents more than 110,000 private residential landlords, examined open comments gathered through its regular landlord consultation programme, analysing how members discuss their portrayal by politicians, campaign groups and the media. The findings show that policy pressure and hostile rhetoric are combining in a way landlords describe as, at best, unfair and, at worst, actively hostile.
The association is careful to note that reputational concern does not appear to be directly driving landlords out of the sector. However, for those weighing whether to remain, the sense of being unfairly blamed for systemic housing problems is, in the NRLA's analysis, one factor in the debit column of an already difficult calculation.
Crucially, the concern is not confined to landlords who are planning to exit. The NRLA found that landlords are equally likely to raise reputational issues irrespective of their stated intentions for the coming year. In volume terms, however, those planning to quit discuss the topic with greater frequency and weight. When asked in quarterly consultations to explain movements in their confidence — whether up or down — landlords routinely cite the media and politicians as a reference point.
The NRLA also reported that while hostility towards landlords is not intensifying compared with previous years, landlords are more frustrated and upset by the rhetoric today than they were at the same point in 2025.
The findings sit alongside a broader picture of strained confidence in the private rented sector. The NRLA's Landlord Confidence Index for the first quarter of 2026 rose to 30.3 — up five points on the previous quarter and the largest quarterly increase since the third quarter of 2023. Despite that improvement, 61% of landlords still described themselves as less or much less confident than in the preceding quarter, and the index remains the second-lowest recorded since measurement began in 2019.
Three times more landlords told NRLA researchers they had sold property over the past year than had purchased it, with 21% reporting sales against 7% reporting purchases — figures drawn from a Pegasus Insight poll of 631 NRLA members conducted between March and April 2026.
