Could falling rents in the capital mean more chances to snap up new tenants?

New data suggests that landlords in London and Scotland could be seeing shorter tenancies in 2024. This comes as rents in these areas are growing at a slower rate than in the rest of the UK, according to analysis by property experts TwentyEA.

While rents are still going up everywhere, the slowdown in London and Scotland means tenants are starting to feel less squeezed. This means they’re more likely to consider moving, creating more opportunities for landlords to find new renters.

In contrast, soaring rents across the rest of the country, combined with a shortage of available properties, are making it tough for tenants to move. This has led to longer tenancies, as renters stay put for longer.

What does this mean for landlords?

Katy Billany, a top executive at TwentyEA, believes this trend of shorter tenancies could soon spread beyond London and Scotland. She suggests that landlords elsewhere in the UK should prepare for a potential drop in tenancy lengths in the coming months.

Billany’s advice for landlords in areas with currently long tenancies is to focus on keeping their existing tenants happy and to stay ahead of the game by using data to spot new opportunities as they arise.

She also recommends switching to property management contracts, which guarantee a regular income, rather than relying on one-off “Tenant Find/Let Only” agreements.

The OpenRent Threat

Billany also highlighted the growing challenge from online letting platforms like OpenRent. 50% of OpenRent’s 2024 listings were previously handled by traditional letting agents, showing that landlords are increasingly going it alone.

This, coupled with the trend of longer tenancies in most parts of the UK, makes it more important than ever for landlords to lock in reliable property management agreements to maximise their income.