Landlord Rachel Brown says she has been left “trapped” in the rental market.
After nearly two decades as a landlord, the 62-year-old had planned to sell up her final buy-to-let, retire and enjoy a more relaxed lifestyle.
Instead, a failed property sale forced her back into renting it out – and considering returning to work.
Her journey to life as a landlord began 18 years ago as a joint investment with her then-partner, building a four-property in Nuneaton and Barwell – three one-bedroom flats and one two-bedroom apartment, worth around £450,000 in total.
At its peak, her portfolio generated around £25,500 a year, but her relationship with her partner broke down in 2010. Though the pair continued as business partners, she says this was difficult.
Rachel, from Worcester, explained: “After about seven years, I approached my business partner to explore sale options as I no longer wanted to continue letting and managing the properties.
“With more expenses, rising taxes and constant legislative changes, I wanted to sell them and invest the money differently.”
She says that, by the time the costly legal processes to split the assets had been resolved in summer 2024, she had just one remaining property. By that point, she had already decided to exit the sector.
She added: “But then when the economic situation changed and the Renters’ Rights Bill was proposed, I was no longer wanting to continue as a landlord.”
The Renters’ Rights Act came into force on 1 May, introducing sweeping reforms to the private rented sector.
The legislation abolishes so-called “no-fault” evictions, moves tenants onto periodic tenancies with greater security and brings in stricter rules around possession, rent increases and property standards – significantly reducing landlords’ flexibility when managing and selling their properties.
Rachel’s attempt to sell her final flat in Nuneaton in 2025 appeared straightforward at first – but quickly unravelled.
She encountered some issues with the ground rent on the property, and then the collapsed when the buyer’s chain fell through – leaving her with a costly empty property.
She says her tenant had left when she put the property on the market, and having it empty cost her roughly £750 each month.
After five months of losses, she had little choice but to re-let the property, despite wanting to leave the sector entirely.
The financial hit has forced a major rethink of her retirement. Having stepped back from work at 58, taking early retirement, she is now preparing to rebuild her finances.
She said: “I am now living with family and looking to go back to work whilst I build my finances back up. This situation has been stressful. We have no been able to do the things we had planned.”
The recent policy changes have also made exiting the market more complicated.
She continued: “It’s no longer as simple as serving notice and being sure I can get the property back in order to sell. As a small landlord, that loss of flexibility and speed is a big downside. For someone like me, buy-to-let doesn’t feel like the relatively simple, passive investment it once was.”
Experts say landlords will small numbers of properties are considering similar moves.
Edward Heaton, founder of national buying agent, Heaton & Partners, said: “It is the accidental landlords, such as those who inherit a property or have a surplus home after meeting a new partner, who are much more likely to be exiting as landlords. They, along with those who may only own one or two properties, are tending to either sell their properties or switch to an alternative, such as holiday lettings.”
Now, Rachel says she is focused on regaining stability, even if that means delaying retirement indefinitely. She’s not sure what she would do for work yet, but is considering re-entering the job market.
She said: “I really feel tired of battling through the last few years, and I just want to get to a more stress-free place.
“I haven’t yet started work as this is all still incredibly fresh, but my financial situation is entirely different now to what it was even after I had left work to retire and was relying solely on my pension and small rental income.”