Landlords blame upcoming legislation and tax changes for causing 73% of them to feel less confident than they did last year.

Savills’ November Landlord Sentiment Survey found that half of those with four or more properties were significantly less confident this year, but that this dropped to 30% who have three or fewer properties.

Overall, ability to make a profit was landlords’ biggest worry (90% of them were moderately or significantly concerned) followed by the Renters’ Rights Bill (87%), changes to inheritance tax (80%), EPC changes (76%) and stamp duty changes (73%).

Most (82%) said their confidence had been dented by the Renters’ Rights Bill, while 69% were affected by the Autumn Budget.

Biggest concern

The increased notice periods to recover possession in other circumstances was cited as their biggest concern in the new legislation (88%), along with the abolition of Section 21 (82%) and rent review procedures (77%). The landlord redress scheme and introduction of the Decent Homes Standard didn’t worry 38% and 54% respectively.

The overall view on future investment was muted, with statistics that go beyond findings in the English Private Landlords Survey. Savills found that 60% of those landlords with a mortgage were likely to sell, while just 6% were likely to buy more properties. It was a more positive picture among those without a mortgage, 44% of whom were likely to sell, while 9% were likely to buy more properties.

Although landlords must get their properties up to an EPC band C by 2030, Savills found that 28% were not prepared to spend anything on fitting energy efficiency measures while 40% would spend up to £2,000 and 5% would spend more than £10,000.