Half of properties bought by landlords over the past two years have either become short lets or are traditional rentals but self-managed by the landlord, new data has revealed.

Property data firm Propalt analysed landlords’ buying and selling activity and changes in ownership records among some 200,000 property titles since 2022 to see when a landlord purchased, and then rented a property.

More than 50% did not come back to the agency they bought it via in order to rent the property and were more likely to be either self-managed or let as corporate or short-term rentals. Of those properties that did come back to market, only 18% rented with the agent that sold the property to the landlord.

Co-founder Kieran Slinger says the number one priority for most agents is replacing the loss of accidental landlords who are leaving the market. “Most agents already have the answer in their own data as they are highly likely to have dealt with landlords both buying and selling in their areas,” he explains.

Managing agent

Propalt also found that the average agent deals with about 25 landlords a year through the buying and selling process and that 50% of those transactions were from portfolio investors from outside of the area they bought a property in, making them more likely to need a managing agent.

There’s an opportunity for agents to replace those landlords leaving with ones that they have already deal with, Slinger tells LandlordZONE. “Agents might not currently ask the questions or monitor the marketplace – there’s a disconnect in branches between lettings and sales.

"But if they do a decent job of selling, they can then fill the gap when landlords sell-up with a larger landlord, and also help those from out of area by putting them in touch with firms who can work on converting their properties.”