The UK’s private rented sector is under pressure from several directions at once.
Official figures show that 19 percent of UK households now live in the private rented sector, up from 17 percent only a few years ago. At the same time, there are an estimated 2.82 million private landlords in England alone, most of whom own a small number of properties rather than large portfolios.
Those landlords now face a combination of higher borrowing costs, lengthy possession timelines and rising tax. Recent analysis suggests that more than 15 percent of properties listed for sale in early 2025 were former buy to lets, a sign that many owners are choosing to exit before further policy changes bite.
New measures announced in the latest UK Budget will raise property income tax rates by two percentage points from 2027 and introduce an annual levy on homes worth more than 2 million pounds, while the Renters’ Rights Act will end no fault evictions and expose discriminatory practices to fines of up to 7,000 pounds per month.
Against this backdrop, one of Canada’s largest property management firms, Royal York Property Management, and its founder, president and CEO Nathan Levinson, are attracting attention for a very different approach to landlord risk.
From a base in Toronto, Royal York Property Management manages more than 25,000 rental properties across Ontario, with assets under management of about 10.1 billion Canadian dollars. Levinson also serves on a rental market policy panel with the Bank of Canada, providing ground level data on rent collection, arrears and tenant behaviour to national decision makers.
For UK landlords weighing whether to stay in the market or sell, the Canadian experience offers a practical alternative to simply shrinking portfolios.
A sector squeezed from both policy and process
In the UK, the direction of travel is clear. The government has committed to banning Section 21 no fault evictions, with new data showing more than 11,000 households removed under these notices in the year to June 2025 while the ban was still pending. The Renters’ Rights Act ends those evictions and gives councils powers to fine landlords who discriminate against tenants on benefits or families with children. T
Court and tribunal capacity remains stretched. Recent commentary suggests that in England it can now take six months or more from notice to repossession, with some sources putting the average timeline close to 28 weeks.
On top of that, tax changes announced this week will lift property income tax rates across all bands from April 2027 and introduce a new annual charge on high value homes from 2028. Analysts and landlord groups warn that these moves will encourage further sell offs and constrain rental supply.
For a landlord already dealing with higher mortgage costs, this combination of slower processes, more compliance and higher tax can make a single non paying tenant feel like a threat to the entire business.
Levinson’s starting point is different. Instead of viewing each problem in isolation, Royal York Property Management assumes that arrears, disputes and legal delays are permanent features of the market and designs its model around absorbing them.
Turning volatility into a managed product
The most distinctive element of the Royal York model is its rental guarantee program in Ontario. Under this structure, landlords receive their rent even if a tenant stops paying, while RYPM manages legal proceedings, arrears collection and re letting the property.
The guarantee is built on three pillars:
- Tight screening and underwriting. The company runs detailed financial and background checks on prospective tenants and prices risk based on evidence rather than first impressions.
- Centralised legal and collections expertise. A dedicated team handles notices, hearings and repayment plans at scale, rather than leaving each landlord to learn the process from scratch.
- Portfolio level risk pooling. Defaults are treated as part of a larger statistical pattern across thousands of units, which reduces the impact of any single case.
The exact design of the guarantee depends on Canadian rules and cannot be copied directly into the UK. The principle behind it is transferable. Instead of relying on hope that every tenancy will run smoothly, risk is converted into a defined service that experienced operators manage over time.
For UK landlords who feel exposed to long possession timelines and higher tax, that approach points toward a different set of questions. Rather than asking whether to sell outright, the more useful question is whether risk is being managed at the level of a single property or at the level of an organised portfolio.
What a “Royal York standard” playbook would look like in the UK
Royal York Property Management is not a UK operator. Its relevance for News Today readers comes from the way it codifies landlording into a series of repeatable processes that do not depend on individual habits.
A simplified version of that playbook, adapted for a UK context, would include at least four elements.
1. Treat the rent roll like a financial statement
Levinson’s team tracks each unit on a digital platform that logs contracted rent, actual payments, arrears, vacancy days, repairs and legal actions. Owners access performance dashboards instead of ad hoc spreadsheets.
For a UK landlord with a handful of properties, the equivalent might be:
- a single system or template that records income, arrears and costs by unit
- quarterly reviews to identify persistently underperforming properties
- simple metrics such as “days vacant per year” and “net yield after tax and repairs”
This does not change legislation or tax rates. It gives a clearer view of which properties still meet the owner’s objectives and which genuinely justify disposal.
2. Write down risk procedures before problems appear
Royal York standardizes its response to late payments, complaints and disputes. That includes the timing and content of reminder messages, the structure of repayment plans, documentation of conversations and escalation points.
In the UK, where eviction can now take half a year or more, landlords who rely on improvised responses risk slipping outside procedure and extending timelines further. A written, legally compliant process helps:
- prove to courts and tribunals that fair steps were taken
- reduce emotional decision making under pressure
- provide consistent expectations for tenants
3. Use technology to surface early warning signs
A core part of RYPM’s system is its ability to spot patterns across thousands of units. Shifts from on time to slightly late payments, clusters of maintenance issues in one building, or repeated communication breakdowns are flagged as risk signals.
UK landlords can use simpler tools, but the principle is the same. Watch for:
- tenants who move from on time payment to repeated short delays
- recurring small repairs that point to a larger failure ahead
- longer gaps between tenancies at a particular property
In a higher tax environment, allowing these patterns to run unchecked erodes yield faster than owners realize.
4. Recognize that reputation is now part of the balance sheet
Royal York Property Management invests heavily in communication, online portals and response times, in part because tenant reviews and search rankings now influence future demand.
In the UK, where renters have more information and stronger rights than in previous decades, landlords who provide clear, documented service are better placed when disputes arise and more likely to retain good tenants in a tightening market.
Data from operations to policy
What makes Nathan Levinson unusual in the property management world is the way his operational data feeds directly into national economic discussions.
As a member of the Bank of Canada’s rental market panel, he shares trends from RYPM’s 25,000 unit portfolio with policymakers who are tracking how interest rates and housing policy affect both landlords and tenants.
That connection between front line property management and central banking illustrates a broader point. The pressures currently facing UK landlords are not isolated events. They are part of a systemic attempt to rebalance rights and address affordability at a time when rental housing now accommodates roughly one in five households.
If UK policymakers want landlords to stay in the sector while reforms bed in, international examples like Royal York show that it is possible to combine stronger tenant protections with professional, risk aware management models.
Stay, sell, or professionalize
For News Today readers who own or advise on rental property, the decision in the coming years will not be driven by a single policy change. It will come down to whether rental portfolios are being run as structured businesses or as loosely managed side projects.
Royal York Property Management and Nathan Levinson have built one response to an environment of higher costs, stricter rules and more vocal tenants. Their version relies on:
- clear financial tracking at unit level
- written risk procedures
- technology that surfaces problems early
- a willingness to turn volatility into defined services such as rental guarantees
The UK’s legal and tax framework is different. The underlying question is the same. In a market where processes take longer and tax takes more, landlords who want to stay will need stronger systems, not just stronger nerves.
