Should Landlords Change The Way They Think About Investing?

The profile of tenants is changing. In fact, the profile of renting itself is evolving.

For many years, renting has often been talked about as a temporary life stage that is a stepping stone to something else: leave home, rent somewhere for a few years, save a deposit and eventually buy.

That journey still exists, of course, and in fact research suggests that the aspiration to own remains strong, with the TDS Charitable Foundation finding that 75% of tenants say they would wish to own their own home. Nevertheless, that same report reveals that up to 44% of tenants now believe they will rent for the rest of their lives.

This is a changing attitude, and presents something of a disconnect between what is desired and what is believed, but it is backed up by data from other research we have seen. According to the latest English Housing Survey, the average private renter has now lived in their current home for 4.7 years, compared with that average being 3.5 years a decade or so ago. People are renting their property for longer.

The findings revealed in these two reports tell an important story.

Many tenants still want homeownership, but an increasing number no longer expect it, and more tenants are choosing to stay long term in one place.

For professional landlords, that might change not only the conversation, but the way you think about investing for the long term.

Long-term tenants’ needs change

Think for a moment about how much life can change over the course of five years.

A change of jobs, or just promotions and pay rises. Meeting a partner, perhaps getting married or having children. Priorities that mattered at 27 may look completely different at 32.

Increasingly, that individual may still be renting. Here in South London, the average age of a tenant is 29 years old, and 32.9% of residents in general are in privately rented accommodation.

Locally, then, these considerations really do matter, in an area where there is high demand from young professionals but also a large population of renters who want to remain in the same part of the city as their lives develop.

Someone who first moved into a flat because of its transport links, nightlife and proximity to work may later place much greater importance on an extra bedroom, outdoor space, a good school, local parks or simply enough room to accommodate family life.

It means landlords looking at their next investment should perhaps think beyond who their tenant is on the day they move in.

Who might that tenant become? And, what will their needs be later?

There will always be demand for flats – but that is not the whole market

Flats, which make up 83.1% of the composition of the South London rental market, will always remain an important part of that housing mix.

Areas such as Clapham, Brixton, Balham, Tooting and Streatham continue to attract people who value connectivity, amenities and access to central London, and many tenants without a pressing desire for garden space will always appreciate the lower price points flats offer; the average flat rents at £2,012 around here, compared to £2,709 for a house.

Nevertheless, a longer-renting population may broaden the opportunity.

If more tenants remain in the private rented sector throughout their 30s and potentially into their 40s and beyond, as 44% of tenants say they will, then landlords should also consider the homes people need at those stages of life.

That could simply mean larger flats.

It could of course mean houses – particularly for tenants with children.

And it could mean looking closely at neighbourhoods where people can see themselves remaining for years rather than simply somewhere that suits them for the next twelve months.

Good schools, parks, leisure facilities, transport, local shops and a sense of community all become increasingly important when renting becomes a long-term housing choice.

A tenant whose children are settled at school and who feels part of the local community has a powerful reason to stay.

For a landlord, that stability has value too.

Long-term tenants expect more than four walls

There is another side to this.

If we want tenants to stay longer, the property should earn it.

A home occupied for six or seven years will inevitably experience wear and tear. Kitchens, bathrooms, flooring, decoration and appliances all need to stand up to real life.

That does not mean everything needs to be luxurious.

It does mean landlords should think about quality and durability rather than simply installing the cheapest possible option.

The same is true of furnished properties. A sofa that looks acceptable in a photograph but is uncomfortable or needs replacing every couple of years does not represent good value in the long run.

Tenants want to feel at home.

For letting agents and landlords, that means responding properly when something goes wrong, maintaining the property well and recognising that outside space, communal areas and the exterior of the building contribute to how somebody feels about where they live just as much as the inside.

There is a human argument for getting those things right – but even for the hardest-nosed of landlords, there is a straightforward commercial benefit to be felt.

Happy tenants are less likely to leave. Longer tenancies mean fewer void periods, less expenditure on remarketing and a more predictable rental income.

Good management and good investment in the property don’t need to be seen as costs. Done properly, they help protect the asset and the tenancy.

An investment, not an expense.

Greater tenant security will reinforce the trend

The legal landscape has changed too.

Since 1 May 2026, assured tenancies in England have operated under the new periodic system introduced by the Renters' Rights Act. Section 21 has gone, while landlords seeking possession must now rely on the prescribed grounds available to them.

For some landlords, that greater regulation has added to concerns about remaining in the sector.

That is understandable. Costs have increased, compliance has become more complicated and landlords need to pay closer attention than ever to their responsibilities.

But there is another way of looking at the direction of travel.

The scrapping of fixed term tenancies has worried many landlords who fixate on the notion that tenants might up and leave at the drop of a hat. But if tenants have greater security, renting as an option in fact becomes easier to treat as a genuine long-term home.

And if renting is becoming a longer-term reality for more people anyway, then properties that meet expectations – or better yet, exceed them – may well become increasingly valuable.

A new opportunity for buy-to-let investment in London

There will be landlords who decide that increased regulation or changing economics mean property investment is no longer right for them. We have already encountered them.

But others have seen the same legislative environment and reached a different conclusion.

People still need homes, and in South London, demand for good rental property remains incredibly high. For professional landlords, the reality that tenants are staying in rented accommodation for longer only improves the case for continued proactive investment – particularly when at the same time, property prices are falling, or at least falling in real terms by not keeping pace with inflation; South London properties have fallen in value by 1% over the past 12 months, whilst CPI is at the time of writing in October 2026 running at 3.1% (and CPIH, including housing, at 3.3%).

It changes what a good investment may look like.

Yield still matters, purchase price matters and running costs matter.

But so do the longevity of the tenancy, the type of tenant a property is likely to attract and whether that home can continue to suit someone as their life changes.

The landlords best placed for the next phase of the private rented sector may therefore be those thinking beyond the next tenancy agreement.

They will be thinking about the next five years.

For a landlord, a property is an investment. For the tenant living there for those five years – and perhaps considerably longer – it is still home sweet home.