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HMRC publishes research into landlords: "The idea of the fat cat landlord is a fiction"

ended 20. May 2025

HMRC has this morning published a piece of Ipsos-commissioned research sharing lots of insights about the UK's landlord market. Among other things, it revealed that almost two-thirds of landlords (63%) reported they earned less than £20,000 of annual gross rental income from their properties and half (52%) earn less than £10,000 of profit annually.

The research also found that most landlords owned a property individually (93%), while smaller proportions of landlords owned properties through a company (7%) or in a partnership (5%). Other key findings below. Newspage asked brokers and financial experts for their views, below.

  • Landlords commonly owned unfurnished residential properties (72%) followed by furnished residential properties (26%).
  • Landlords were most likely to own a small number of properties, just over half owned one property (55%), while the average number of properties owned was 3. 
  • The highest number of properties were located in the South East (22%) and London (16%).
  • On average, landlords owned the most properties in Scotland (4) and the North East (4).
  • As a result, most landlords intend to keep the same number of properties in the next year (73%). However 24% intended to reduce their number of rental properties within the next year, and this rose to 33% over the next five years. Despite this, over half of landlords did not intend to sell their property over the next 5 years (53%).  
  • For the most part, landlords reported using property as a supplementary source of income (78%). By contrast around a fifth of landlords (19%) used their property as their main source of income. 

5 responses from the Newspage community

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Editor
Michelle Lawson
Director at Lawson Financial
The importance of the Private Rental Sector (PRS) should never be overlooked as these figures demonstrate. It also shows how little profit there for landlords as a result of the Governments' meddling and constant bashing of the sector. Landlords are needed in the current housing crisis and we should make them feel encouraged to expand their portfolios rather than exit the market as this will further exacerbate the situation.
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Tony Redondo
Founder at Cosmos Currency Exchange
Low margins signal a looming rental supply crunch with landlords on the Brink. HMRC’s 2025 Ipsos study exposes a UK landlord market teetering. Most (63%) earn under £20,000 gross, 52% profit below £10,000 yearly, making it a side hustle for 78%. Amid inflation set to rise to 3.7%, anaemic 0.75% UK growth and rising unemployment, it is little surprise that 24% plan to sell within a year and 33% in five years, hit by costs and tax shifts since 2017 that have landed the UK with the highest tax take post WW2.
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Riz Malik
Independent Financial Adviser at R3 Wealth
There are many small landlords with properties in their personal names who want to exit, but the cost of disposing their properties puts them off. Even with falling interest rates, many landlords are complaining that they are just getting by after costs and taxation. That is not factoring in that dealing with tenants is not always what it is cracked up to be. Many feel they were sold a dream but making money in property is not easy as many think it is.
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Patricia McGirr
Founder at Repossession Rescue Network
The idea of the fat cat landlord is a fiction. Governments like to peddle this myth to justify increasing legislation and taxation. The reality is, most earn less from rent than a part time barista. This is not passive income. It’s patchy, precarious and under pressure. With one in three landlords eyeing the exit, the rental market is on a slow bleed to collapse and Whitehall has removed life support. If ministers keep ignoring the data, we won’t just have a housing shortage, we’ll have a housing crisis. Rents will continue to rise, supply will shrink and tenants will be the ones paying the price. The question isn’t if the system breaks, it’s how loud the snap will be.
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Ben Perks
Managing Director at Orchard Financial Advisers
Landlords have been lambasted over the last few years and this data is refreshing to see. Landlords aren’t the money-grabbing vultures that they have been portrayed to be. This data clearly shows that the vast majority of Landlords own a small number of properties and earn a modest income. In my experience they are just hardworking people trying to better themselves and create financial certainty in later years. The government need to take note of this information, they are totally out of touch with what a landlord looks like. Current policy and taxation is designed tackle the wealthy, heartless landlords but in reality they make up a very small proportion of people renting out property.