The buy to let market is undergoing "a profound transformation" Imran Hussain of Harmony Financial Services is quoted as saying. Lewis Shaw of Shaw Financial Services says that "Increasingly, amateur landlords are calling it a day .... they can ask agents whet the market value of a property is and then sell directly to the tenants to avoid any agent's fees."

Both Hussain and Shaw are quoted in a report on the property news website Lettingagenttoday that says there has been a spike in the number of tenants approaching mortgage brokers with enquiries after their landlords had given them first refusal to buy the properties that the tenants are currently renting.

The trend is put down to increasing legislation, upcoming increased domestic energy efficiency measures, higher interest rates and the cost of living crisis with landlords said to be wanting to offload properties that are "low yield or have an [energy performance rating] below C."

Another commentator quoted in the piece says, however, that he has seen little sign yet of a general sell off but that it is coming and that "with the new legislation coming into play, such as [selective] licensing and EPC guidelines, I think we will see the death of the 'cowboy' .... who ... just wants to make a quick buck. That will not be a bad thing."

Meanwhile, another property press report (in propertyindustryeye) points out that the UK's largest listed private sector landlord, Grainger PLC, has recorded record rental growth in its 2022 half yearly report. Grainger PLC own and rent out 1000s of properties in the UK - as the company points out on its website, all are built post 2013 and are compliant with current rental property standards legislation as well as the upcoming new energy efficiency measures. They also state that any repairs are done on the basis of "best value ... rather than the cheapest".

Their net rental growth was (in their half year financial results document) reported as +23% with an occupancy rate of 98% in a national market where "structural drivers ... favour the professional, large scale landlord."

Taken together, these reports seem to suggest that reports of landlords leaving the market (or wishing to leave the market) are not simply the private rented sector landlord "community" as a whole being disgruntled by what the "community" sees as the Government's poor attitude to private landlords as a class. Professional landlords with a sound business case for the consumer service they provide will always find a place in the market.