Property118 launches the UK’s largest ever landlord sentiment survey

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Property118 launches the UK’s largest ever landlord sentiment survey

At midday today, Property118 launched what is expected to become the UK’s largest recurring landlord sentiment survey, reaching 47,886 members across its network.

The objective is simple, but long overdue: to give landlords a clear, consistent voice, backed by real data, rather than anecdote.

For years, policy debates have been shaped by selective evidence, lobbying narratives, and lagging official statistics. What has been missing is a reliable, repeatable measure of how landlords themselves are actually thinking and behaving in real time.

This survey is designed to change that.

A live picture of landlord decision-making

The survey takes less than three minutes to complete, yet the questions go directly to the heart of the decisions landlords are making right now.

Participants are asked about:

• Whether their portfolios have grown, shrunk, or remained stable over the past two years
• Their likely direction of travel over the next 12 months, including buying, selling, or exiting
• Whether they expect to refinance in the coming year
• The factors most likely to influence both acquisition and disposal decisions
• Preferred ownership structures for future purchases
• The role of life insurance in managing risk and legacy planning
• Age profile, providing context to long-term decision making

Each question has been deliberately framed to capture behaviour, because what landlords say they feel is interesting; what they are actually planning to do is far more valuable.

Why this matters now

There is a growing disconnect between how the sector is portrayed and what is happening on the ground. Legislative changes, tax policy, and regulatory pressure have all combined to create a sense of uncertainty. Many landlords are not reacting immediately, but they are reassessing, often adjusting strategy rather than making headline decisions.

That kind of shift rarely shows up in official data until it is too late. This survey is designed to capture those early signals.

It is not just about whether landlords are selling. It is about understanding why, when, and under what conditions they might change course. Equally, it identifies what would give landlords the confidence to invest again.

Built for consistency, not a one-off headline

This is not a single survey designed to generate a one-off headline. Property118 intends to run this survey at the end of every quarter, creating a consistent data series over time. That consistency is what will give the results real weight. Trends will begin to emerge, confidence levels can be tracked, and behavioural shifts can be identified before they become visible elsewhere.

In time, this will provide something the sector has never had before, a reliable benchmark for landlord sentiment.

From data to influence

The intention is not simply to publish results, but to use them. Aggregated findings will be shared with lenders, policymakers, journalists, and industry bodies. The aim is to ensure that decisions affecting the private rented sector are informed by real behaviour, not assumptions.

There is also a commercial reality underpinning this. Lenders, brokers, and insurers all operate more effectively when they understand the direction of travel within the landlord community. Better data leads to better products, better risk assessment, and ultimately more stable outcomes for everyone involved.

Early indicators to watch

While results will not be published until later this week, there are already some key areas of interest:

• The balance between buying, selling, and holding
• Appetite for refinancing in a higher rate environment
• The extent to which ownership structures are shifting
• Whether life insurance is becoming a more mainstream risk management tool
• How age influences decision-making across portfolios

Each of these points speaks to a broader question: are landlords retreating, repositioning, or preparing for the next phase?

A collective voice

Perhaps the most important aspect of this initiative is participation. With nearly 48,000 landlords invited, even a modest response rate will produce one of the most meaningful datasets the sector has seen.

For landlords, this is an opportunity to contribute to something that goes beyond individual portfolios. It is a chance to shape the narrative with evidence rather than opinion.

The results will be published on Property118 later this week, and for once, the story will be told using the landlords’ own data.

The post Property118 launches the UK’s largest ever landlord sentiment survey appeared first on Property118.

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