The number of landlords quitting the rental sector is accelerating as the Renters’ Rights Bill comes ever closer to becoming law, according to Black & White Bridging’s boss Damien Druce (pictured).

The lender surveyed Intermediaries as part of its latest broker insights report and is now forecasting a six per cent drop (93,000) in the number of buy-to-let landlords in the UK by the end of 2025.

Process accelerating

The survey found that the number of BTL landlords has already fallen by 65,000, indicating there was a four per cent drop in buy-to-let landlords between 2023 and 2024.

Druce says: “Not only does this survey indicate the loss of more than 150,000 landlords from the rental market over a two-year period, it also shows the rate of change is accelerating year-on-year.

It’s likely these are landlords with small portfolios of one or two properties, landlords who don’t want to face the ongoing changes to regulation and rising costs.”

“It’s likely these are landlords with small portfolios of one or two properties, landlords who don’t want to face the ongoing changes to regulation and rising costs. Being frank, brokers who write a lot of vanilla BTL business may be nervous to find that there will be fewer buy-to-let landlords overall going into 2026. But we think the industry will be left with a more professional cohort.”

Of the brokers surveyed, less than a quarter (23 per cent) anticipated that the number of BTL landlords would grow this year. In contrast, more than half (56 per cent) are forecasting a drop in numbers.