A property lawyer has urged the Chancellor to cut stamp duty on additional properties in next week’s Budget to clear a backlog of unsold ex-rental homes. Lisa Wilson, partner at law firm Spencer West, said reduced rates would bring new investors into a market clogged with properties left empty after the pre-Renters Rights Act rush to sell.
Wilson, speaking to Landlord Today ahead of the Budget, said agents and landlords worked hard to serve Section 21 notices before the 1 May deadline, but higher mortgage rates and buyer uncertainty meant many of those homes never found a buyer. “Many of those properties are still sat on the market without tenants or buyers. Could new investor buyers be the answer?” she said.
Investors who buy now step in with the 2026 rules already priced into their plans, instead of having to rework existing portfolios around them. That distinction matters for landlords weighing whether the sales glut is a threat or an opening, because fresh buyers face none of the retrospective adjustment that has weighed on current owners since May.
Section 21 sell-off left homes stranded without buyers
The introduction of the Renters Rights Act and the end of no-fault evictions from May 2026 reshaped selling patterns across the private rented sector. Landlords who chose to exit served notice while they still could, and a wave of investment properties reached the market in the first half of the year.
But appetite from buyers never matched the supply. Wilson said increasing mortgage rates and uncertainty left sellers stranded, and many homes remain listed months later with neither tenants paying rent nor buyers exchanging contracts. Each empty month eats into the return the sale was supposed to protect.
Wilson said buying should be viewed as a 10 to 20 year investment able to weather political storms, but argued the tax system should help the market clear in the short term. “I would welcome reform to stamp duty in the 2026 Budget in the form of reduced rates for additional properties to help restore liquidity,” she said.
Flat glut concentrated in London and the South
Summer analysis from Zoopla underlines the scale of the problem, particularly for flats. The portal found the average house price had risen 43 percent since 2016, while flats had gained only 10 percent over the same period, partly because of the glut of ex-rental stock for sale in southern England.
Zoopla’s study of flats left unsold after six months on the market put London worst at 87 percent, followed by the south east on 85 percent and East Anglia on 84 percent. Across England as a whole, the average stood at 80.5 percent. The portal blamed landlord exits alongside the growing unpopularity of leasehold property.
This follows Landlord Knowledge’s report on the NRLA’s Budget call for capital gains tax on real landlord gains, which showed tax reform dominating landlord lobbying ahead of the 28 October Budget. Where the NRLA wants CGT charged on inflation-adjusted profits, Wilson’s pitch targets the other end of the deal: cheaper entry for the next buyer. Both campaigns point the same way. Landlords see the Budget as the last chance to reset a tax system many believe is choking transactions, and ministers now face coordinated pressure from agents, lawyers and landlord bodies alike.
What this means for landlords
- If you are trying to sell an ex-rental property: price against the local glut of similar stock, not last year’s comparables – flats in London and the South East face the stiffest competition
- Watch for: the 28 October Budget, where any cut to stamp duty receipts already running 8 percent up would signal ministers want investors back in the market
- Bottom line: a stamp duty cut would help sellers exit cleanly and buyers enter cheaply, but do not bank on it – prepare your pricing for no help from the Treasury
Editor’s view
Wilson has a point, even if she is talking her own book. A market full of empty ex-rentals helps nobody, and buyers who enter under the new rules are arguably the cleanest money in the sector. But stamp duty cuts cost the Treasury real money at a time when receipts are one of the few bright spots. Landlords should hope for help and plan for none.
Author: Editorial Team – UK landlord & buy-to-let news, policy, and finance
Published: 22 October 2026
Sources: Spencer West, Zoopla, HMRC
Related reading: HMRC: stamp tax receipts rise 8% despite cooler market
