What an easy way “buy to let” seemed. It got you rich and a retirement income in due course.
“We all lived in a Robbie Fowler House” at some time and for many of us , it was time for us to get our own back. So many of the people I talked with over the past 40 years explained that their properties were their pension
But we are less than a month away from new rules. The FT tells us so in this article.
The FT article says that a lot of the rentals are “accidental” with people inheriting properties and becoming amateur landlords. The “get rich” bit is no longer happening.
Many people will not be able to sell their houses or flats at a profit and this is especially the case in London where flats are in particular in deep price-fall.
As for the attraction of being a landlord, this is looking to reduce from next month when
- Telling tenants to get out with minimal notice is no longer going to be legal-the abolition of Section 21, which allows landlords to evict tenants without cause.
- For tenants, the act will mean they can challenge any “unreasonable” rent increases at a tribunal
- This change is expected to lead to more property tribunal cases and added pressure on an already strained court system
- Landlords who do not comply with the act will face fines, including £7,000 if they fail to send a Renters’ Rights Act Information Sheet to tenants
- Landlords will face additional penalties for failing to deal with mould and electrical risks.
If all of this seems to be bad news for Landlords looking to use their “buy to let” properties to pay their income, there is some hope that
- tenants are most likely to be the worst hit as the regulations cause landlords to reprice risk and increase rents.
Assuming the increases aren’t seen as “unreasonable”. I can see the word becoming a point of legal dispute the country over. 83% (don’t forget) of private property owners are “small scale”.
Property will be a battleground between landlords and tenants, the former looking to get an income that can be used in later life as a pension, the tenants looking to save for a pension but being held back from doing so by “re-priced risk” from their Landlord.
The big winners look like being the lawyers
I do not see this ending well for pensioners or those who want to have a proper pension. Property is no longer an alternative to pensions for the high percentage of Landlords who find themselves relying on buy-to-let investments to supplement their inadequate pension entitlements.
Let’s hope that this works out fairly and well for small landlords and their tenants; if it doesn’t then pensions will be the worse for it (not that I ever thought buy-to-let was an alternative to our pension system).
And don’t forget making tax digital for landlords with income over £50k that came in yesterday – 5 tax returns a year to pay for too!
We’ve come to expect the FT to forget the other UK nations/regions tend to be ahead of England on such matters.
The Renters’ Rights Act 2025, which received Royal Assent in October 2025, applies primarily to England with limited provisions in Wales.
However, the ban on rental bidding and strict rent-in-advance limits applies only to England, as housing is a devolved matter and Wales has had its own legislative framework for ten years, the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016.
The Private Tenancies Act (Northern Ireland) 2022 strengthened protections for private tenants there.
In Scotland even before the most recent Housing (Scotland) Act 2025, Scots housing law was primarily defined by the Private Housing (Tenancies) (Scotland) Act 2016, the Cost of Living (Tenant Protection) (Scotland) Act 2022, and the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987.
The thresholds for Making Tax Digital start at £50k, but fall to £30k next year and £20k the year after that, for all nations/regions.
Pensions are only one way to fund income after 55
As we have seen rules change and diversity of solutions are required. I was self employed and a 1948 (February) so have the old state scheme. Hardly a comfortable retirement so Plan B Needed a SIPP.
That was screed up by a pensions sharing forcing me to have all the illiquid so I need a bridge to age 87 and a Care home bucket beyond 87. It would be good to have guaranteed income to cover basics so a couple of annuities.
The bridge to be provided by a buy-to-let portfolio but not in the UK where yields dropped and IHT is a curse. So need 10 plus years out of the UK get rid iof ISA and move to BTL.
Then a bit of luck in the recent Portuguese budget at reduction in tax on the rentals from 28% down to 10% in 2026 if rent limited to a 2.5x multiple of minimum wage.
IHT on pensions I cannot agree with so a joint life RpI linked annuity and beyond 10 years a gifting program to the next generation who don’t have a prayer on pensions or a decent home.
Conclusion The rules will change to frustrate the best laid
plans Plan A,B,C and D Looking at Care home provision which at £1500 a week is a challenge ( maybe I should design a cooperative to do this and get Henry’s CDC to own it