I have sold a few rental properties that I held in my personal name, so this is not a debate I am watching entirely from the sidelines.

I am also a tenant and a landlord. That puts me in the awkward but useful position of understanding why renters want more security while also seeing why some landlords have decided the numbers, risks and responsibilities no longer work for them.

The easy version of this story says landlords are abandoning Britain and rents will explode. The equally easy response says the homes still exist, so nothing has been lost. Both arguments miss the part that matters.

What the 254,000 buy-to-let figure actually means

Savills estimates that 254,000 previously rented homes were listed for sale across Great Britain during the 12 months to the end of March 2026. That works out at roughly 697 properties every day.

The number was 9% higher than in the year to March 2025 and 28% higher than the comparable period in 2024. That is enough to show a shift in landlord behaviour, but “listed” is not the same as “sold”.

Some properties will fail to attract a buyer. Some will be purchased by another landlord and remain available to tenants. Others will move into owner-occupation and leave the private rented sector.

A sold rental home does not always disappear

A house does not physically vanish when a landlord sells it. Britain still has the same building, which is why claims that all 254,000 homes have been “lost” would be misleading.

Savills estimates that around 14% of this stock is being purchased by other landlords and rented again. Other homes become owner-occupied, while some listings never complete at all.

Owner-occupation is not a bad outcome. A first-time buyer getting a home is something worth celebrating. The problem is that the household who previously rented that property may not be able to buy it, and still needs another rental home.

The tenure mismatch renters actually experience

Imagine a family rents a flat and the landlord sells it to a first-time buyer. One household has become a homeowner, but the renting family must now find another property.

If rental supply in that area is already tight, that family may face higher asking rents, more competition or a move away from work and school. The national housing total has not changed, but access has.

I think this is where much of the public argument goes wrong. Renters do not experience housing through a national spreadsheet. They experience it through the homes they can afford on Rightmove and Zoopla, the queue at a viewing and the compromises they make when suitable properties are scarce.

Landlords were becoming cautious before the new Act

The landlord exit story did not begin when the Renters’ Rights Act took effect. The 2024 English Private Landlord Survey found that 31% planned to reduce their portfolios during the following 2 years, including 16% who planned to sell everything.

In 2018, only 16% planned to reduce their holdings. Intentions are not completed sales, and the survey cannot tell us exactly how many followed through, but the direction of travel was already clear.

My own experience matters here. I have sold several personally owned rentals, but I would not pretend that one law alone explains every sale. Property decisions are normally a mixture of mortgage costs, tax, maintenance, risk, future returns and what else that capital could be doing.

A landlord with an unencumbered high-yielding house is in a different position from somebody refinancing a low-yield flat with a large mortgage. That is why I still believe buy-to-let can work in 2026, but not everywhere.

What the Renters’ Rights Act changed

From 1 May 2026, Section 21 “no-fault” evictions ended in England. Assured shorthold tenancies moved to periodic assured tenancies, rent increases became limited to once a year through the formal process, and renters gained stronger protection against unfair treatment.

For tenants, the case for greater security is obvious. Nobody should feel permanently one letter away from losing their home without a valid reason.

Landlords can still seek possession when they genuinely intend to sell or move into the property, but they must use the relevant legal ground. Under the new rules, the selling and moving-in grounds cannot generally be used during the first 12 months of a tenancy, and require the prescribed notice and court process if the tenant does not leave.

Stronger rights are not automatically bad policy because some landlords dislike them. But rules can still affect supply when introduced into a market where many small landlords were already questioning whether to stay.

Small landlords cannot be replaced overnight

England’s private rental market remains heavily dependent on smaller owners. Government analysis of the 2024 survey found that around 83% of landlords owned between 1 and 4 properties, while roughly 45% owned only one.

That structure matters. If thousands of individual landlords each sell one property, there is no single company that can immediately replace the same homes in the same streets, at the same rents and for the same type of tenant.

Larger professional landlords may offer better systems, clearer standards and purpose-built amenities. They can also concentrate more of the market in fewer hands. As both a renter and a landlord, I would rather see genuine choice than a future where tenants swap thousands of small landlords for a handful of enormous providers.

Build-to-rent is growing, but it cannot fill the gap yet

Savills reported that another 17,300 build-to-rent homes were completed during the year to the first quarter of 2025. That sounds substantial until it is compared with the scale of the wider market.

Build-to-rent still represented only around 2% of the UK private rented sector. It has a much larger presence in some cities, but it cannot quickly replace every former rental sold from a dispersed street-by-street market.

New supply can also miss the households under the greatest pressure. A modern city-centre apartment is not a direct replacement for a modest family house near a school, even if both count as one rental home in a national total.

Is England solving one rental crisis by creating another?

Not necessarily, but the risk is real.

The Renters’ Rights Act addresses insecurity, unfair evictions and poor treatment. Those are genuine problems. Yet rights offer limited comfort to a household that cannot find an affordable home in the first place.

The answer is not to weaken every tenant protection to persuade every landlord to stay. It is to judge housing policy by both security and supply, then recognise that tax, mortgage conditions, courts, planning and construction all affect whether the market works.

England needs renters to have stronger rights. It also needs enough rental homes, more social housing and a realistic route into ownership for people who want it. Treating any one of those as a substitute for the others is how one crisis quietly becomes another.

What this means for you

If you rent

A landlord selling does not mean you can be removed immediately or without the correct legal process. Since 1 May 2026, landlords in England must rely on a valid possession ground, and the rules differ according to the reason and timing.

If you receive a notice, check the ground, notice period and whether the documents are valid before assuming you must leave. At the same time, start checking local availability early because the practical danger may be the shortage of suitable alternatives rather than the sale itself.

If you are a landlord

Do not make a hold-or-sell decision from a national headline. Recalculate the property using its actual rent, mortgage rate, management, repairs, insurance, voids, tax and likely capital expenditure.

I have sold personally owned rentals, but that does not mean every property should be sold. The decision should come from the numbers and your long-term plan, not frustration with one policy announcement. Personal ownership also requires careful tax analysis because Section 24 can produce a very different result from the cash profit you see.

If you want to buy

More former rentals coming to market may create negotiating opportunities, particularly where a landlord wants a clean exit. But “ex-rental” does not automatically mean “bargain”.

Check the local sales market, achievable rent, condition, EPC, service charges and financing costs. A discounted property can still be expensive if the reason nobody wants it is structural, as the current problems facing leasehold flats demonstrate.

Watch The Anxious Investor

In the video below, I break down what the landlord sell-off means for renters, why a home can remain in Britain’s housing stock while leaving the rental market, and whether England can protect tenants without losing too much supply.

The goal of my content is to help you avoid the mistakes I made. If you are interested in property investing, personal finance and improving your mindset, subscribe to The Anxious Investor on YouTube.

Written by Aren Deu | The Anxious Investor