Landlords ‘raising asking rents as bidding war ban hits’

Landlords are raising their asking rents significantly following the introduction of Labour’s Renters’ Rights Act but not for the reason readers might expect, estate agency Chestertons has reported.

The company says that it saw a surge of activity after the Act was passed and returned certainty to the market but this then simmered down in July.

But the legislation’s ban on letting agents and landlords encouraging competitive bidding for properties means many of Chestertons’ landlords are now setting their asking rents higher in the expectation that tenants then offer less but at a price the landlords had originally hoped to achieve.

This is now starting to feed through into portal listings data too.

Strongest growth

The latest Rightmove Rental Trends Tracker shows asking rents increased by 2.9% year-on-year during the second quarter of 2026, up from 1.4% during the previous three months and marking the strongest rate of growth in two years.

London’s rental growth also outpaced the rest of Britain – up 2.3% – for the first time since the three months between July and September 2023.

Chestertons adds that this all began to appear as a trend in June but has carried on into July, albeit at lower levels as landlords become more confident in their pricing – particularly given the lower supply levels reported by the industry as more landlords sell up or reduce their portfolios and demand ramps up.

“Activity seen immediately after the legislation was introduced in May eased off in July,” says Katinka Hill, Head of Lettings at Chestertons (main image).

“However, in the first 10 days of August our branches have seen applicant registrations up 18% year-on-year, which is in line with the seasonal summer uptick we would expect at this time of year.”

Read more about the RRA.