Landlords leaving is a service failure, not just a market problem, says Sally Lawson

Editor's note: This brief was summarised by The Property AI Newsroom from a report by Property Industry Eye. Read the original article for full details.

Landlords leaving is a service failure, not just a market problem, says Sally Lawson

Some letting agencies have lost as much as 15% of their managed stock over the past year, according to Sally Lawson of Concentric Lettings. Writing in an opinion piece for Property Industry Eye, she argues that landlords are selling, self-managing, moving to cheaper agents, or deciding the effort and risk are no longer worth the return. This reflects a service problem as much as a market one.

Lawson acknowledges that pressures such as the Renters' Rights Act, taxation, mortgage costs and increasingly complex regulation are real. However, she says they do not tell the whole story, and that calling the situation a "landlord exodus" makes it sound inevitable when agents can influence what happens next.

What the data shows

According to the Government's English Private Landlord Survey 2024, 31% of landlords were planning to reduce their portfolios during the following two years, including 16% who intended to sell everything. Only 7% planned to grow.

Lawson says many landlords are leaving because nobody has shown them how to stay profitably, restructure an underperforming portfolio, reduce their risk, or exit in a properly planned way. She points to one branch within her own agency, Concentric Lettings, which has grown its managed stock by more than 25% organically while other agencies have been losing properties. For her, this shows that significant growth is still available to agencies willing to serve landlords differently.

Why landlords are really leaving

The Renters' Rights Act has increased landlords' concern: Section 21 has gone, assured tenancies have become periodic, possession procedures have changed, rent increases are more controlled, and more measures are still being implemented. But Lawson says legislation is only one part of the pressure. Some landlords are highly geared and hit by refinancing costs; others face rising repairs, insurance and compliance costs, own properties producing a poor return on equity, or are approaching retirement without an orderly five-year exit plan. Some are not leaving investment at all. They are selling the wrong property or moving money into better-performing areas.

The landlord types agents must recognise

Lawson identifies several landlord profiles that agents need to understand and reach before they serve notice or list their property elsewhere:

• The regulation-fatigued landlord — frightened by what they have heard about the Renters' Rights Act but never given a personal explanation of what it means for their property or tenancy.
• The financially squeezed landlord — facing rising mortgage and maintenance costs, with nobody having reviewed the rent, expenditure, yield or long-term viability of the property.
• The underperforming portfolio landlord — holding substantial equity but receiving a weak return, who could stay in the market by selling poor-performing property and reinvesting smartly.
• The quiet exit-planner — intending to sell over the next few years but with no plan for timing, tenant management, presentation, tax advice or disposal.
• The DIY defector — moving to self-management or a cut-price competitor because the existing agent has failed to demonstrate why full management is worth paying for.

What this means for agents

Lawson's message to the industry is that too many agents treat all landlords the same: sending generic newsletters, offering the same management package, and only making contact when something needs signing, fixing or paying for. That, she argues, is no longer enough. Every one of these landlords is reachable, but only if the agent starts the right conversation before the landlord decides to leave.

For letting agents and inventory clerks, the piece points to the value of proactive landlord engagement, from rent and yield reviews to structured exit planning, as a route to retaining and growing managed stock.