Private Renting: Who Wants to Be a Landlord?

The UK’s private rental market has grown dramatically over recent decades, creating what often feels like a tale of two nations: ‘Generation Rent’ who are priced out of home ownership and unable to access social housing; and buy-to-let investors who view property as a reliable income stream or pension plan. Rising rents, poor conditions and fierce competition for homes have fuelled frustration with landlords, prompting political efforts to strengthen protections for tenants and increase tax pressure on property owners. Now the sector is facing a turning point – with large institutional investors, backed by pension funds, for example, playing an increasing role. Evan Davis and guests discuss the state of the UK rental market and where it might be heading. Guests: Ashley Winston, Director of Palmdale Car Finders Andy Graham, Host, HMO Podcast Polly Simpson, Head of multi-family development at Savills Production team: Presenter: Evan Davis Producer: Sally Abrahams Production Co-ordinator: Katie Morrison Sound engineers: Ben Andrews and Tim Heffer Editor: Matt Willis The Bottom Line is produced in partnership with The Open University

You can listen to Private Renting: Who Wants to Be a Landlord? online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Private Renting: Who Wants to Be a Landlord? is an episode from The Bottom Line by BBC.

This episode is 35:15 long.

This episode was published on Feb 12, 2026.

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