UK Property Investment 2025 into 2026: Key Changes Every Landlord Needs to Know
It’s that time of year when we reflect on the year that’s coming to an end – and look forward to the one ahead. These are the things that have got attention over the past 12 months.
The Budget
The most recent event for property investors was the Budget, right at the end of November. It turned out to be nowhere near as fearsome as it was trumpeted to be. All that speculation, and ‘warnings’ mostly didn’t come to fruition. In fact, it was pretty much a repeat of 2024!
The Treasury did a lot of clever expectation management, effectively kite flying … ‘we might tax this’ on a whole host of issues, but the reality wasn’t as bad as they said it could be. Even the Office of Budget Responsibility – said the level of pre-Budget warnings was a bit too much.
It’s a well-known device, used in a variety of ways, to get people to think about the worst-case scenario, so that the reality is almost a pleasant relief! You may have a view as to whether using such a tactic in this way constitutes effective Government.
The danger was that people who are worried about the possibility of these warnings becoming fact, can take action that isn’t in their own best interest. Like the tens of thousands of people who were panicked into withdrawing from their pension fund early, to avoid the ‘possible’ reduction in the tax-free cash allowance – that didn’t happen. That’s not reversible and those people have made a decision that they didn’t need to make, which turn out to be a loss-making decision.
The wider impact that we have seen two autumns running now is that people and businesses put all sorts of decision making on hold until they can access the impact of the latest budget.
For property investors there have been two pieces of legislation affect them and that have been recorded in the statute books
Leasehold Reform Act
This affects freeholders negatively and leaseholders positively. It’s on the statute book, but that doesn’t mean it’s being implemented. There is an opinion that it’s a half-baked piece of legislation, rushed out by the outgoing Government. The effect of which is that there is no clear time plan for when many aspects of it are able to be activated.
The previous government had been working on it for a couple of years and their last act on the morning Parliament was being dissolved for the upcoming election, was to pass this bill.
The most significant thing in the 18 months since it was passed has been the removal of the two-year restriction on the leasehold of a flat,
Previous legislation meant that a leaseholder could not start the process to extend their lease (Section 42 notice) until they had owned the flat for two years.
The new legislation has removed that barrier so you can instigate a Section 42 notice as soon as you buy an apartment.
This has made it easier for investors who are looking at purchasing a flat, so there are no long delays while you wait for that 2-year qualifying period to begin the process of extending the lease and improve the property’s value.
Other parts of the Act have yet to be implemented, largely because the legislation has been put together so badly. This is disappointing for leaseholders, as the Act is nowhere near delivering the benefits it should.
Meanwhile, as their rights have been systematically downgraded, freeholders are fighting it in the courts and appealing every setback. Given that there are some very big, very rich people and families who own large chunks of freehold (like the Duke of Westminster, who owns most of Mayfair on leasehold) they will fight like crazy to protect their assets.
Renters Rights Act
At the other end of the scale, the Renters’ Rights Act was enacted and has an implementation date of 1st June 2026. This is an entirely different situation, with a clear well-written piece of legislation.
For landlords it will have a significant impact, as it shifts the balance in the renter’s favour.
Periodic tenancies, no-fault evictions, Rent increases, anti-discrimination, pets permitted etc. will all impact the tenant/landlord relationship. It means that landlords who currently offer single lets and run HMOs will need to be more careful about who they get as a tenant.
Traditional landlords are likely to look seriously at getting out of property or in moving to shorter term letting, social housing etc. The knock-on effect of that will be that people and families who are looking for somewhere to live will be struggling with the reduced choices available.
Tenants will need to jump through more hoops, have less choice and have to pay more for somewhere to live, which will almost certainly mean that lower paid people face the danger of becoming homeless, or returning to live with parents or other family.
There is both good and bad in this bill, but at least it’s clear and has a planned implementation.
In my world
During 2025 I’ve launched four new initiatives, all under a theme I have committed to that ‘no one gets left behind’ – and I’m delighted to report that they’ve been successful. I’ve never been one to stick with anything that doesn’t work, the world is changing and what people want changes too.
In March I took action to improve the BRR Launchpad. The feedback for my two-day event has been brilliant; people loved the multi-day, multi-speaker event. This year I upped the ante and added another day and, for the first time ever, offered a livestream option. Not everyone can get to in-person events and giving them an option to participate from home was consistent with my ethos of ‘no one gets left behind’. The livestream was popular with the delegates split pretty much 50:50 in the room and online. That’s a big tick, so I’ll be repeating that in April 2026.
The second initiative was to launch Ninja Investor Digital, another ‘no one gets left behind’ initiative. I am aware that not everyone feels they’re ready to make the investment in the full Ninja Investor Programme, so there has always been a group of people who were ready for a lower entry level, containing the same core content but not all aspects of the full package, and at a more modest investment.
I booked out a film-studio back in 2024 to create an exceptionally high-quality version of the 7 Ninja Investors training modules specifically for online viewing. The same in-depth innovative content, but on video.
I rolled Ninja Investor Digital out in the summer – and it has already made a difference for people who were sitting on the fence, wondering if they were ready for the full Ninja Investor Programme live workshop. This is the embodiment of my ‘No one gets left behind concept, and I am proud to be now offering a lower point of entry to my training.
Thirdly, in the summer I created another ‘no one gets left behind’ offering, this time a virtual BRR Workshop – this 3-hour evening condensed the content from the BRR one-day event, but as they’re from 7-10pm, they’re accessible no matter where you live or whether you’ve got a day job that doesn’t allow you to get to the live events. That’s been a hit and it now runs weekly and is another example of broadening what I offer to ensure that ‘no one get left behind’.
And the fourth initiative was evolving the BRR live events from Summits to Boardrooms. With smaller groups capped at 10 people, and more benefits – notably the two pre-event evening Zoom sessions – these have been a success and, as many people were waiting for the Budget before committing to training, I’ve now added four more in January 2026.
Looking into my crystal ball
What’s ahead for 2026? Well, to be honest, I don’t need a crystal ball for this - there will always be motivated sellers where speed is more important than price. A smart investor will be looking for the opportunities these present.
I wish you a relaxed and happy festive season and I hope to meet you at a property event somewhere in 2026.
