Letting agent business and market survey 2025

In December 2025 SAL conducted a survey of its letting agent members to find out how their businesses were faring in the current climate. Many of the survey questions mirrored those asked in previous surveys we have run annually since 2022, allowing trends to be tracked over time.

The survey revealed that agents are cautiously optimistic about the future of their businesses with portfolio sizes having risen slightly and nearly half of respondents expecting their business to grow in the next few years. However, there has been a slight fall in tenant demand and a slowing of rent increase activity from a historical high last year.

60 agents responded to the survey with a collective portfolio of 15,975 private rented sector (PRS) properties under management. Respondents manage an average of 266 properties. Based on an extrapolation of data from this survey and a similar survey we conducted in December 2025 of our landlord members, we estimate that SAL members are involved in owning or managing approximately 204,580 properties in Scotland, 58% of the 349,817 properties in the Scottish private rented sector.

Agents responding to the survey reported that 7.5% of their previously managed properties have been withdrawn from the private rented sector during 2025. However, they did report taking on slightly more new properties leaving overall portfolio sizes about 2% higher than in 2024.

Figures from SAL’s landlord survey conducted in December 2025 indicate that the size of the private rented sector is reducing rapidly. However, figures from the landlord registration database published monthly by the Scottish Government show a more complicated picture with a decrease of over 6,000 in the number of landlords operating in the private rented sector since January 2023 but an increase in the number of properties in the sector of nearly 10,000 in the same time period. This could indicate a growth in the number of larger scale institutional type investors in the sector and a reduction in smaller scale operators.

On average respondents employ 5 members of staff (full time equivalent). 10% have fewer members of staff than this time last year, 18% have more staff and 72% have seen no change in the number of staff employed compared to December 2024.

47% of respondents expect their business to grow over the next 1-3 years, 32% expect it to stay the same and only 20% expect it to shrink.

At the time the survey was carried out, just 3% of the properties under management were being marketed for new tenants. The average time taken to find suitable tenants for available properties was reported to be 15 days (the same as reported in our December 2024 survey), with an average of 19 enquiries per property (a decrease from 27 enquiries in December 2024 and 47 enquiries in December 2023).

Agents responding to the survey estimated that around 35% of their tenants are paying a rent which is below the open market rental value. This compares to a figure of 44% reported in an identical survey question 12 months ago and 50% in December 2023. This reduction in tenants paying a below market rent is what we would expect with agents applying rent increases more frequently in recent years than they have done historically, partly in response to restrictions on rent increase amounts during the period 2022 to 2024, and in anticipation of restrictions on rent increases potentially being introduced in some areas in the next few years when the Housing (Scotland) Act 2025 rent control provisions are implemented. Whilst this survey showed a reduction in the number of tenants paying rent below market value, our landlord survey showed an increase which indicates that letting agents are applying more frequent or higher rent increases to keep a larger proportion of rents in line with market value.

During 2025 30% of tenants were issued with a rent increase. This is a year-on-year decrease following several consecutive years of increases (46% in 2024, 33% in 2023 and just 12% in 2022). A surprisingly low proportion of tenants challenged the rent increases they received during 2025. 3% negotiated a lower increase directly with their landlord/agent and only 0.7% appealed the rent increase through the rent officer. Interestingly, an appeal to the rent officer was slightly more likely to result in the rent being increased above the figure the landlord had requested than decreased. For those who did apply to the rent officer, in 29% of cases the rent officer set the rent at a figure lower than that which had been proposed in the rent increase notice. In 32% of cases, the rent officer set the rent at a higher figure than the landlord had requested in the rent increase notice. These low rent increase challenge figures echo similar findings in our landlord survey.

The survey findings will assist with SAL’s policy work and we are hugely grateful to the many members who took time to complete the survey.

Any queries about the survey can be directed to:

Caroline Elgar
Policy Manager
Scottish Association of Landlords
0131 564 0100
info@scottishlandlords.com

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