Landlord news & insights

The biggest proposed change is the end of fixed-term Assured Shorthold Tenancies and the move towards periodic tenancies as standard. In practice, this means tenants will have greater flexibility to move on, while landlords will need to rely on updated grounds under Section 8 if they need to recover possession.

The Bill also envisages new rules around landlord portals, property registration and the way decent home standards are enforced in the private rented sector. Exactly how these will look in practice is still being shaped, but landlords should expect more emphasis on documented compliance and communication.

For most landlords, the key actions for now are to stay informed, ensure existing documentation and compliance are in good shape, and speak with agents and advisers about how their processes are evolving. Letting agents who take legislation seriously should be able to explain clearly how they’re preparing for any changes that come into force.

In many commuter and university towns, strong tenant demand has continued to place upward pressure on rents, although affordability is now acting as a natural cap in some segments. Well-presented properties in good locations still tend to let quickly, while dated stock or those with unresolved maintenance issues can experience longer voids.

Some landlords are choosing to prioritise reduced void periods over chasing the absolute maximum rent, particularly in areas where tenants have a wider choice of comparable properties. Others are investing in light refurbishments to stand out in search results and justify higher asking prices.

When you review your own pricing and marketing, it’s worth speaking with local agents who can provide recent, evidence-based examples rather than relying on headline statistics alone. Tools like LetCompare can help you combine that local insight with a clear view of what you’re paying for management.

Modern referencing often includes open banking checks, where tenants give secure, read-only access to bank transaction data. This can provide a clearer picture of income patterns and existing commitments than traditional paperwork alone. Some providers also use fraud-detection algorithms to spot inconsistencies between applications and financial behaviour.

Digital identity verification, such as document scanning and biometric checks, is increasingly common, helping agents meet right-to-rent and anti-fraud obligations more efficiently. At the same time, good agents still combine automated tools with human judgement when reviewing applications.

As a landlord, useful questions to ask include which referencing provider an agent uses, what checks are included as standard and how borderline cases are handled. A slightly higher fee can sometimes be justified if it comes with more robust referencing and lower risk of problematic tenancies.

A good starting point is to break fees down by service level: let-only, rent collection and full management. For each option, check whether marketing, viewings, referencing, tenancy agreements, inspections, renewals and check-out are included or charged separately. Renewal and exit fees are easy to overlook but can significantly affect your total cost over several years.

It can also help to run a simple worked example using your expected rent. Comparing two or three agents on the same monthly rent and tenancy length often makes percentage differences and add-ons much clearer.

LetCompare is designed to support this process by showing typical fees from local agents side by side. Once you know how to read the fee structures, you can combine that data with service reviews and your own conversations to choose the agent that offers the best overall value.