A busy first of the month. The Nationwide index landed this morning with a weak number, the Labour conference speeches from earlier in the week are turning into policy questions, and a new Right to Rent code kicks in today. Four stories, one thread: the margin for error in property is getting thinner, for buyers, sellers and landlords alike.
Southern England is now shrinking, and your valuation knows it
Nationwide’s September house price index shows annual growth halving to 0.8%, from 1.6% in August. The average price is £274,251 and prices fell 0.2% on the month. Southern England is down 0.1% year on year, and East Anglia is the weakest region at −0.7%. Chief economist Robert Gardner calls it “the weakest rate of growth since December 2025” and blames the uncertain economic backdrop, though he adds that affordability is improving because prices have lagged earnings for some time.
The flat market is the weaker corner. As Landlord Today reports, citing Zoopla’s latest analysis, flat prices have now fallen for 15 months in a row, with the South East down 2.0% and London down 2.6%, while houses are up about 1.3% nationally.
Here is my read. A headline of “+0.8%” sounds like a plateau. In the South East it is a small fall, and a small fall is exactly when valuers get cautious. If you are buying, a lender’s down-valuation is now a live risk on anything priced off last year’s comparables, and a survey that finds a roof, damp or structural issue gives you a documented basis to renegotiate rather than just grumble. If you are selling, the asking price that worked in spring will sit. If you own a flat, check the lease length and the major-works history before you list, because those are the things buyers are using to knock money off.
Councils taking neglected rentals into public ownership: a pledge without a mechanism
Landlord Today reports that the Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, told the Labour conference that councils would get the power to “take control of” badly run rental homes and bring them into public housing stock. The idea is a warning notice first, then easier acquisition if the landlord does not improve things. Landlord Today is clear that the speech gave no detail, and says it has asked MHCLG for specifics.
I would treat this as direction of travel, not law. There is no bill, no definition of “neglected”, and no compensation model to argue about. But the logic is not hard to guess. Any scheme like this has to hang on a test of condition, and the existing test is the Housing Health and Safety Rating System, which is a surveyor’s tool: damp and mould, excess cold, structural defects, electrics. My bet is that documented condition becomes the currency, and the landlords who can show dated inspection reports and completed repairs will be in a very different position from those who cannot.
If you let property, do not wait for the detail. Get a condition survey on anything older, fix what it finds, and keep the paperwork. If you are a tenant living in a damp or cold home, report it in writing now. That paper trail matters whichever way the policy lands.
The landlord exodus is slowing nothing down
A SpareRoom survey, reported by Landlord Today today, says 78% of English landlords have no confidence in the lettings sector after the Renters’ Rights Act. Fewer than 4% are expanding, 36% are reducing their portfolios and 27% are leaving altogether. Among landlords with five or more properties, 53% are shrinking. SpareRoom’s Matt Hutchinson says the Act has “battered supply and forced up asking rents”. This is one survey from a platform with its own commercial interest in the story, so take the percentages as a mood, not a census.
The mood is still useful. Every landlord who sells a tenanted house is a house that goes through someone’s conveyancing, and that someone is often a first-time buyer or a smaller investor who inherits the compliance. That connects to a separate piece Landlord Today carried yesterday, where LandlordBuyer argues that the EPC C requirement due by 1 October 2030 will push some owners to sell rather than improve, and quotes a cost range of £5,400 to £10,000 per property. That is a property-buying firm talking its own book, so I would not lean on it. But the sums are still worth doing.
If you are a landlord weighing a sale, find out your EPC rating and what it would take to reach C before you decide. If you are buying a tenanted property, the EPC and the condition of the building are part of the price, not a footnote.
Right to Rent: the code changed today, and your agent will not carry the can
The updated Right to Rent code of practice takes effect today. If you use a digital verification provider, the code says it is mandatory that the provider is registered on the Office for Digital Identities and Attributes register. Where facial recognition cannot verify someone, the landlord “must provide the occupier reasonable opportunity to verify their identity”. Digital checks are not compulsory, and the code also says checks should apply to all adult occupiers.
A reminder from an agent quoted by Landlord Today: appointing a letting agent does not move the legal responsibility off you, and the penalties for getting it wrong are the landlord’s to face. That figures with how I see the sector generally. Compliance is now the job, and delegating the task is not the same as delegating the liability.
What I’d actually do
- Buyers in the South East: commission a proper survey before you commit, and use the findings to renegotiate. A flat-pricing market with a cautious valuer rewards evidence.
- Sellers: price against current sold data, not last spring, and fix the cheap defects a buyer’s surveyor will flag anyway.
- Landlords with older stock: get a condition survey and an up-to-date EPC, and log every repair with a date. Whatever form the council-powers idea takes, that file is your defence.
- Landlords using agents or digital checks: ask your agent in writing which Right to Rent provider they use and whether it is on the register as of today.
- Landlords thinking of selling: price the EPC C works before you decide. The answer may be cheaper than you fear, or it may confirm your instinct.
If any of this touches a property you own or are buying, the practice offers building surveys, EPCs and PAS 2035 retrofit assessments across the South East. Get in touch.
Small print. General commentary, not advice for your specific circumstances, and not legal or financial advice. Policy pledges are not law until they are enacted. Sources linked were accurate when read on 1 October 2026.