Letting Agent Growth: How to Win Landlords From Competing Agents

Half of the landlords in the English Private Landlord Survey 2024 used a letting agent to find tenants for their most recent letting, while 18% paid for management. For most agencies, the next managed unit is already let, and it is let by someone else.

That makes winning landlords from other agents the main route to letting agent growth in an established patch. It is also the route with the most rules attached, because the landlord usually has a live contract.

2026 has given landlords several new reasons to look around. How to win landlords from other agents comes down to three questions: which landlords to approach, when, and with what offer.

Why are landlords switching letting agents in 2026?

Because the job of being a compliant landlord in England got harder this year, and landlords are judging agents on how well they carry it. The changes that drive the conversation, as of October 2026:

Date	Change	What it means for a landlord
1 May 2026	Section 21 abolished; fixed terms become periodic tenancies	Possession needs a statutory ground and evidence. Tenants can leave on two months' notice.
1 May 2026	Rent increases only once a year by section 13 notice	Rent reviews need two months' notice and a defensible figure.
15 Dec 2026 onwards	PRS Database ("Register your rental property") rolls out by region	£65 a year per property. Unregistered landlords cannot get a possession order, except on anti-social behaviour grounds.
Since 23 Dec 2024	Councils can designate selective licensing without Secretary of State confirmation	More landlords may need a licence, for up to five years at a time.
1 Oct 2030	All private tenancies to meet EPC C under new metrics	Spending cap of £10,000 per property, subject to legislation.

Each of those is a task with a deadline. A landlord whose agent has not explained the database timetable for their region, or who found out about a licensing scheme from the council, has a reason to take your call.

There is a limit to this argument. No published source measures how many landlords switched agent this year, and you should not claim one in your letters. What you can say is specific: which deadline applies to their home, and what you would do about it.

How do you spot landlords whose homes are let through other agents?

Listing history. Every home advertised to rent on the portals carries the marketing agent's brand, the asking rent and the dates. Group those listings by property and you can see which homes in your patch are let, who let them, when, and whether they came back to market.

The scale is larger than most branches assume. Propalt's letting records showed 936 homes listed to rent on Rightmove and Zoopla in LS6 (Headingley, Leeds) on 26 October 2026, each property counted once.

Three patterns in that history mark a landlord worth writing to:

• A quick relist. The same home back on the market within a year suggests the tenant left early, or the landlord is unhappy with who was found.

• A long void. A listing that sits for weeks, or is reduced, costs the landlord rent and tests their patience with the incumbent.

• A change of agent. A home relisted under a different brand shows a landlord who has switched once and will consider switching again.

On 26 October 2026, Propalt's letting records showed 182 homes listed to rent on Rightmove and Zoopla in LS6 with a price reduction, each one a possible long void.

"The landlord most likely to move is the one whose agent has just cost them a month's rent."

When is the best time to approach a landlord?

Around the moments the landlord reviews the relationship: a void, a re-let and the anniversary of the let.

Fixed terms ended in England on 1 May 2026, so there is no longer a renewal signature to time around. The anniversary still matters. Rent can only rise once every 12 months, by a section 13 notice with at least two months' notice, so the run-up to the anniversary is when a landlord asks what the home should be earning and whether their agent is pushing for it.

Our guide to why a rent increase needs market evidence explains what a section 13 figure should rest on, and best rental yields in the UK gives the wider picture on what homes earn.

Voids are the other trigger. A tenant can now end a periodic tenancy with two months' notice, and the moment a home reappears on the portals is the moment the landlord is comparing agents' fees and results.

What should you offer a landlord who already has an agent?

Something the current agent has not given them. Two offers suit this year because they cost the landlord nothing and show your competence before any contract.

• A compliance audit. Check their home against the deadlines in the table: database region and date, licensing in their ward, EPC rating against the 2030 standard, and the possession grounds their tenancy now relies on.

• A switching pack. Set out what moving involves: the notice their current terms require, any ongoing fees, how deposit details, safety certificates and the tenancy record transfer, and who tells the tenant. Landlords stay with poor agents because switching looks like work.

For the compliance audit, our guide to Awaab's Law and private landlords covers the hazard rules worth adding to the checklist.

Avoid a fee cut as the lead. A landlord who moves for price will move again for price, and your letter competes on the one thing every agent can match.

What are the rules on approaching another agent's landlord?

You can write to any landlord, but you must not induce them to break their contract. Inducing a breach of contract is a recognised tort in English law, and it requires the person to know of the contract and intend the breach. An offer to manage a home "from next month" to a landlord you know is tied in for six more months is the kind of approach that creates the risk.

The Property Ombudsman's Code of Practice for Residential Letting Agents (England), updated 1 May 2026, sets the conduct standard. It says agents:

• Must not use unfair methods when seeking new business, and advertising must be truthful and say who it is from (3a).

• Must act promptly if a consumer asks you to stop canvassing them (3f).

• Must not harass any person in order to gain instructions (5b).

• Must not claim to have let a property that another agent let (7d).

• Must not replace, hide or remove another agent's board (6g).

The same code requires agents to state the minimum duration of an instruction and flag any ongoing or extension fees (5g, 5k). Those clauses are why you ask the landlord to check their current terms before they serve notice. Some terms charge the landlord a fee for as long as a tenant the incumbent introduced stays in the home, and your switching pack should flag that.

Write by post, under legitimate interests, with a privacy notice and an opt-out. Calls and emails to individual landlords fall under PECR, which is covered in our Landlord Database UK guide.

For letter structure, see how to write a letter that gets read.

How should you measure letting agent growth?

By managed units, net of losses, counted monthly. Rent roll follows units, and a lettings book is valued on its recurring income, so a let-only win is worth less than a management win.

Track four numbers per branch:

1. Managed units added, split by source: switched from another agent, self-managing landlord, existing client's new purchase.

2. Managed units lost, with the reason.

3. Letters sent per campaign and cost per letter.

4. Market appraisals and instructions each campaign produced, recorded in your CRM.

In Propalt, Audience Builder builds Let Available and Let Renewal audiences (this month to five months ahead) and can exclude named agency brands, so you write only to homes let through competitors. Automated letters run those audiences as an automation or a single send, and Campaign History records the letters, mailouts and cost per campaign, which covers number 3. For the wider landlord prospecting method, see How to Find New Landlords, and for the legislation itself, the Renters' Rights Act guide.

📌 KEY TAKEAWAY

The landlords most likely to switch are visible in listing history, and 2026's deadlines give you a specific reason to write. Find homes let through other agents, write around voids and let anniversaries, lead with a compliance audit and a switching pack, and never encourage a landlord to break their notice terms. Measure growth in net managed units. If you want to know how to get more landlords in a patch where most are already with an agent, Propalt shows you which homes they let, through whom, and when they come back to market.

SOURCES & DATA REFERENCES

1. Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (5 December 2024). 'English Private Landlord Survey 2024: main report.' 50% used an agent to find tenants for their most recent letting; 18% used management services. gov.uk/government/statistics/english-private-landlord-survey-2024-main-report

2. UK Government, Housing Hub (2026). 'Renting is changing: private tenants.' Section 21 abolished from 1 May 2026; tenancies become periodic; rent increases once every 12 months with two months' notice. housinghub.campaign.gov.uk/renting-is-changing-private-tenants

3. GOV.UK (archived guide, updated 6 November 2025). 'Guide to the Renters' Rights Act.' Fixed terms removed; tenants end with two months' notice; section 13 process; unregistered landlords cannot get a possession order except under Grounds 7A and 14. gov.uk/government/publications/guide-to-the-renters-rights-act

4. UK Government, Housing Hub (September 2026). 'Get ready: Register your rental property.' Regional rollout from 15 December 2026; £65 annual fee per property. housinghub.campaign.gov.uk/renting-is-changing/get-ready-to-register

5. Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (December 2024). 'Selective licensing in the private rented sector: a guide for local authorities.' General approval from 23 December 2024; designations up to five years. gov.uk/government/publications/selective-licensing-in-the-private-rented-sector-a-guide-for-local-authorities

6. Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (January 2026). 'Improving the energy performance of privately rented homes: government response.' EPC C for all tenancies by 1 October 2030; £10,000 cap; regulations still to be laid. gov.uk/government/consultations/improving-the-energy-performance-of-privately-rented-homes-2025-update

7. The Property Ombudsman (updated 1 May 2026). 'Code of Practice for Residential Letting Agents (England), TPOE22-9.' Clauses 3a, 3f, 5b, 5g, 5k, 6g, 7d. tpos.co.uk/about-us/codes-of-practice

8. Court of Appeal (2020). 'Allen (t/a David Allen Chartered Accountants) v Dodd & Co Ltd [2020] EWCA Civ 258.' Applies the tort of inducing breach of contract and its knowledge and intention requirements. caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ewca/civ/2020/258

9. Information Commissioner's Office. 'Sending direct marketing: choosing your lawful basis.' Postal marketing not covered by PECR; consent or soft opt-in for emails to individuals. ico.org.uk/for-organisations/direct-marketing-and-privacy-and-electronic-communications

10. Propalt (October 2026). Homes listed to rent in LS6 on Propalt letting records (Rightmove and Zoopla, deduplicated by property): 936. Retrieved 26 October 2026.

11. Propalt (October 2026). Letting market activity, LS6 outcode (Headingley, Leeds), homes listed to rent with a price reduction on 26 October 2026 (Rightmove and Zoopla, deduplicated by property): 182. Propalt platform data.