Discussion of landlords leaving the private rented sector has long moved faster than the data confirming it. That gap has narrowed since the Renters' Rights Act 2025, but it has not closed. Section 21 abolition is confirmed law, not a forecast. What remains genuinely uncertain is how much of the exit story is measured behaviour and how much is still stated intent. This piece keeps those categories separate throughout. For GalimAI's own first party data on the specific landlords and companies behind this exit, see our related study on Renters' Rights Act landlord company exits.
The legal timeline is no longer a projection
The Renters' Rights Act 2025 received Royal Assent on 27 October 2025. Section 21 was abolished from 1 May 2026, brought into force by the Renters' Rights Act 2025 (Commencement No. 2 and Transitional and Saving Provisions) Regulations 2026, as a single "big bang" event: every assured shorthold tenancy in England, new and existing, converted automatically to a periodic assured tenancy on that date. Section 21 notices could still be served up to 28 April 2026, and court proceedings relying on the old route had to be issued by 31 July 2026. After that, landlords can only use the statutory grounds under an expanded Section 8. As of today, 6 August 2026, this has already happened. It is settled law, not a future change to plan around.
Further changes remain genuinely forward looking. A national PRS Database is expected to roll out regionally from late 2026, full national coverage targeted for 2027, exact dates unconfirmed. A PRS Landlord Ombudsman is expected around 2028, and a Decent Homes Standard for the private rented sector around 2035.
What landlords say they will do
Several independent landlord surveys, run by different organisations, converge on the same broad picture: sentiment is weak and a meaningful share of landlords say they intend to sell. That convergence is worth taking seriously, but it is a measure of stated intent, not confirmed behaviour, and the surveys disagree on what is actually driving it.
NRLA Landlord Eye
NRLA's Landlord Eye tracker, wave 5, fielded 8 to 22 March 2026, put its Landlord Confidence Index at 30.3, the second lowest reading since the index began in 2019, with 61% less or much less confident quarter on quarter. One in four landlords had served a possession notice in the previous 12 months, and Renters' Rights Act related selling was the next most common driver after rent arrears. In Wales, 47% planned to reduce their portfolio or exit entirely. A separate, widely circulated "24% of landlords plan to leave" figure is often attributed to the NRLA but could not be traced to a specific dated report here, so treat it as NRLA-adjacent rather than precisely sourced.
Property118's Q2 2026 survey
Property118's Q2 2026 survey, 2,096 responses fielded around 30 June 2026, is the most methodologically transparent available. 67.7% expect to sell some or all properties within three years, under 10% plan to buy, and 27.1% intend to exit completely, up on the previous quarter. 40.2% report their portfolio already shrunk through sales in the past two years, against only 6% who grew. The important nuance: higher interest rates and realising capital gains ahead of tax changes both rank marginally above regulatory pressure, including the Act and EPC rules, as the top stated reason to sell. Financial and tax pressure edges out the Act itself even in the survey most focused on it. The sample also skews toward larger, more experienced landlords, a self-selected panel worth bearing in mind.
Allsop and the English Private Landlord Survey
Allsop and BVA BDRC research, reported via Property Week, found 41.7% of surveyed landlords unlikely or very unlikely to continue letting after the Act, though sample size and fieldwork dates were not independently confirmed here. The most rigorous sample overall is government's own English Private Landlord Survey 2024, published by MHCLG in December 2024, 9,216 landlords and 685 agents fielded in April and May 2024: 31% planned to decrease their portfolio over two years, up from 22% in 2021 and 16% in 2018, a genuine multi wave trend predating the Act. Coverage citing a "December 2025 EPLS" figure of 16% intending to sell all properties within two years most likely conflates it with the 2024 wave, so it is cited here to 2024 specifically.
What the hard data actually shows so far
Against that survey evidence, measured private rented sector size has not moved nearly as fast, which is itself informative. The English Housing Survey 2024-25 put the sector at 4.7 million households, 19% of all households, broadly flat at 19 to 20% since the early 2010s. Government describes this as a pre-Act baseline, and official survey data lags sentiment by design, so no visible movement yet is not proof nothing is changing.
UK Finance's Q1 2026 buy to let data shows adjustment rather than exodus: 1.47 million fixed rate buy to let mortgages outstanding, up 1.4% year on year, variable rate down 9.5% to 453,000. New purchase lending fell 14.9% to 16,871 loans, while remortgaging rose 11.1% to 39,160 loans, a mix shift toward refinancing existing stock rather than buying more. Total outstanding stock was still slightly up year on year, so the safest claim is a purchase to remortgage mix shift, not an outright decline.
Zoopla's June 2026 report found rental supply still 20 to 30% below pre-pandemic levels in every region, sustaining rent inflation, forecast at 2 to 3% for 2026. Savills' analysis, via Mortgage Solutions on 1 May 2026, found around 697 previously rented properties listed for sale per day nationally, up 9% year on year and 28% versus 2024, with London disproportionate at 30% of new sale instructions there being ex-rental against 13% elsewhere. Only 14% of those listings are bought by other landlords, so most convert to owner occupation. That Savills figure, dated 1 May 2026, is the genuine source behind wider "700 landlords a day" headlines.
Avoid figures such as "93,000 landlords exited in 2025," "110,000 forecast to leave in 2026," or "290,000 sold out between April 2021 and October 2024." These circulate widely, sometimes miscredited to the English Private Landlord Survey, which measures intent, not confirmed exits, and could not be traced to a named primary source here. Treat them as unverified.
A different population: incorporation is not the same as exit
Incorporating buy to let portfolios into limited companies is sometimes folded into the exit narrative, but it describes a largely different group. Over 66,000 new buy to let limited companies were incorporated in 2025, a record, with January 2026 alone adding 5,922, up 11% year on year, roughly 30,000 more forecast for 2026. Limited companies accounted for 43% of mortgaged buy to let purchases in March 2026, up from 35% in 2024 and 7.5% in 2018.
Property118's Q2 2026 data shows why: only 14.9% of respondents' existing stock is company held, against 53% who would use a company for a future purchase. Incorporation is mostly forward looking, discouraged for legacy stock by the capital gains tax cost of transferring in, and driven mainly by Section 24 mortgage interest relief rules rather than the Act. A landlord incorporating a new purchase is not the same signal as one selling their only rental property. No data compares exit rates between incorporated and personal landlords directly, so treat any such claim as unverified. See our analysis of buy to let landlord exits in 2026 for the wider financial picture.
The forward looking signal: the PRS Database
Worth flagging for anyone tracking landlord behaviour over the next two years: the PRS Database. Every landlord will need to register themselves and each property, including address, property type, bedroom count, occupancy and safety documentation, plus an annual fee still to be confirmed. Non-compliance risks loss of access to key possession grounds and prohibition orders, with penalties reported up to £40,000 in some sources for serious breaches, though sources are inconsistent on tiering and this should be treated as approximate. A PRS Landlord Ombudsman is expected around 2028. Once live, the database may make disengaged landlords easier to identify through the friction of non-compliance, but for now this is anticipatory, not current. Once owners showing real exit signals are identified, a direct to vendor letter remains one of the most compliance light ways to reach them.
The bottom line
The legal change is real, settled, and already in force. Sentiment is genuinely weak across several independent surveys, a meaningful signal in its own right. But the most rigorous survey found financial and tax pressure, not the Act specifically, ranked as the top stated driver, and the household data that would confirm a stock collapse has not shown one yet, partly because that data moves more slowly than sentiment by design. The most defensible position today is that exit intent is a leading indicator worth watching, supported by a genuine rise in ex-rental listings, rather than a confirmed mass exodus. Treat survey data, mortgage data and listing data as three separate signals, each with its own strengths and limits, rather than collapsing them into one number.
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Has Section 21 actually been abolished yet?
Yes. The Renters' Rights Act 2025 received Royal Assent on 27 October 2025, and Section 21 no fault evictions were abolished from 1 May 2026 under the Renters' Rights Act 2025 (Commencement No. 2 and Transitional and Saving Provisions) Regulations 2026. This is settled, current law, not a proposal.
Are landlords really leaving the private rented sector because of the Renters' Rights Act?
Surveys show weak sentiment and real stated intent to sell, but the most rigorous one found interest rates and capital gains tax rank above the Act as the top driver, and household stock data has not yet shown a collapse. Intent and confirmed exits are different things.
What is the PRS Database and when does it start?
A planned national landlord and property registration system, expected to roll out regionally from late 2026 with full national coverage in 2027, exact dates unconfirmed. Non compliance risks loss of access to possession grounds.
Is incorporating a buy to let portfolio the same as exiting the market?
No. Incorporation is mostly forward looking, new purchase behaviour driven by Section 24 mortgage interest relief rules, not the Act. Only 14.9% of existing stock is company held versus 53% who would incorporate a future purchase, so incorporating and exiting describe largely different landlords.
This is general information, not legal, financial or tax advice. Landlord and letting decisions should take account of individual circumstances and current law, which continues to change.