becoming more selective about tenants<\/a> as operating and regulatory costs climb, according to new research.<\/p>\nSome landlords are also putting property improvement work on hold, even while preparing to buy more properties.<\/p>\n
Handelsbanken surveyed 200 UK property investors, landlords and property management professionals for its fifth annual Property Investor Report.<\/p>\n
It found that 63% had increased rents because of higher overall costs.<\/p>\n
Tenant rights bring higher costs<\/p>\n
Handelsbanken\u2019s chief economist, James Sproule, said: \u201cThe private rented sector is not simply becoming more expensive for landlords to operate; it is becoming more selective.<\/p>\n
\u201cHigher costs and greater tenant rights are feeding into rent decisions, but they are also changing how professional investors think about tenant risk, affordability and long-term portfolio planning.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor renters, that means the challenge may not only be what they pay each month, but how competitive the market feels when trying to secure a suitable home or addition to their portfolio.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cHigher standards and stronger tenant protections are intended to improve the rental sector over the long term.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut they also come with real costs, and our research shows professional investors are already adapting their behaviour in response.\u201d<\/p>\n
Most tighten tenant selection<\/p>\n
In response to the Renters\u2019 Rights Act, 59% said they were tightening their selection criteria, while 44% were considering increasing rents earlier than planned.<\/p>\n
Maintenance and repairs were the most frequently reported cost increase over the past 12 months, cited by 45% of respondents.<\/p>\n
Insurance costs had risen for 41%, while 40% pointed to spending on energy efficiency improvements.<\/p>\n
One in five investors said they had sold properties because of rising costs, while 19% had taken homes out of the private rented sector.<\/p>\n
Another 46% had delayed upgrades or improvement work.<\/p>\n
Cost of the RRA<\/p>\n
The median cost reported for complying with the Renters\u2019 Rights Act was \u00a35,000, although the mean stood at \u00a331,411.<\/p>\n
Respondents expected a median annual compliance and improvement bill of \u00a320,000 during the next 12 months.<\/p>\n
Handelsbanken said the figure related to spending across professional portfolios and should not be treated as the likely increase for an individual tenant.<\/p>\n
Despite the sales and withdrawals reported by some respondents, 84% said they intended to increase the size of their holdings during the next 12 months.<\/p>\n
That compares with 54% in Handelsbanken\u2019s 2025 survey<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"8:59 AM, 28th July 2026, 3 hours ago 1 Landlords are raising rents and becoming more selective about…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":547716,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[138,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-547715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=547715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547715\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/547716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=547715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=547715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=547715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Rising](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/ChatGPT-Image-Jul-23-2026-02_21_14-PM-768x768.png\" "\\"Landlords")
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