Self-made property tycoon Paul Million never imagined he would one day walk away from the vast portfolio of 70 homes he amassed from scratch.

The former Royal Navy serviceman, 54, takes pride in knowing all his 300 or so tenants individually – and responding quickly to their needs.

He has spent 33 years meticulously growing and maintaining a property empire across Darlington, in the north east of England.

Paul says he has sacrificed his weekends and social life and ‘only stopped to sleep’.

But now, thanks to a raft of anti-landlord policies introduced by successive governments, Paul is struggling to make the numbers add up and says he is selling up and calling time on the business venture he once so enjoyed. 

He says a nasty cocktail of tax hikes, rising interest rates and complex regulatory changes have ground him down, emotionally and financially.

But it is the fear of what is still to come that has proved the final nail in the coffin for Paul.

Landlords face sweeping reforms that tip the balance of power massively in tenants’ favour under the Renters’ Rights Act. Plus, they face huge bills under new Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rules designed to make homes greener.

He is now selling his entire portfolio in Darlington, putting jobs, incomes and rental homes at risk.

Paul, a single father-of-three says: ‘I was a proud landlord, getting on with tenants, working hard and providing homes. I know all my tenants and if they have a problem with their neighbour or an issue with a leak or their heating, I sort it out immediately.

‘But after more than 30 years in this game, I just feel worn down and derided by our politicians, like nobody is on your side.’

He adds: ‘After the sale, I won’t have much left over because I have borrowed more recently to develop new projects, which have been stopped by government red tape.

‘I plan to buy a boat. I’ll only be able to afford a cheap one and I hope to just sail around the world.’

Paul’s story highlights how responsible and hard-working buy-to-let landlords are feeling pushed out of the rental property market – to the detriment of tenants.

Britain’s private rented sector saw its value decline by 5.1 per cent, or £48billion, in 2025, according to analysis by estate agent Savills – the biggest drop this century.

Fewer landlords buying, combined with some investors selling, has resulted in 25.4 per cent fewer homes available to rent in February 2026 than in February 2016, according to estate agent Hamptons.

There could be 220,000 fewer homes to rent by the end of 2026 than there were at the start of this year, according to research by mortgage lender Pepper Money. It means about 5 per cent of rented homes are set to disappear.

The making of a property empire

Around 300 people currently live in Paul’s properties, comprising mainly of buy-to-let terraced houses as well as 22 HMOs – houses of multiple occupancy.

He created this property empire by buying dilapidated homes using development finance, short-term funding designed for property developers to get projects done. He would then renovate the properties to create an attractive rental home, adding value to each one.

Paul would then refinance to a buy-to-let mortgage and withdraw some equity to use towards his next project.

He says: ‘I worked for years building a business which has been systematically taken away by the government with no apparent thought to the consequences for people like me or my tenants.’

How the numbers stopped stacking up

Paul says problems for landlords have compounded over the years. The biggest blow to his finances has been the removal of full mortgage interest tax relief and rising borrowing costs.

Until 2017, landlords could offset all their mortgage interest against rental income, which meant they only paid tax on their profits after borrowing costs.

A phased removal between then and 2020, saw this system replaced by a 20 per cent tax credit. 

This leaves higher rate tax-paying landlords out of pocket, as they now end up paying tax on some of the rental income that pays their mortgage interest.

A steep rise in mortgage costs since 2022 has also hit buy-to-let investors. All of Paul’s mortgages are interest-only, which involves only covering interest rather than paying down the debt. 

This is the product of choice for many landlords as it helps preserve their cashflow. However, mortgage rate changes tend to be felt more acutely as a result.

The average five-year fixed rate buy-to-let mortgage rate is now 5.75 per cent, according to Moneyfacts, whereas five years ago it was about 2 per cent.

Most of the houses Paul owns are worth around £100,000, with mortgages of around £65,000 or £70,000 on each one. 

In total the properties are worth about £8million but the mortgages need to be repaid from that sum. 

He says house prices have not risen as much as hoped in Darlington, so he is almost entirely reliant on rental income for returns.

His terraced houses rent for around £625 a month meaning they are profitable with higher mortgage rates, but only just.

Paul credits his houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) for keeping his cashflow positive. 

This is where a property is shared between three or more renters who are not part of the same household. Splitting up a property like this tends to produce greater returns.

Overall, Paul says he has seen annual post-tax profits plummet two-thirds from £132,000 to £43,000.

Paul says the inability to fully offset mortgage interest costs against his rental income has hurt him the most. It means that landlords are effectively taxed on turnover, rather than their profit.

This differs from those owning property within a limited company, who can fully offset their mortgage interest. 

Transferring his properties into a company would be uneconomical due to the big stamp duty and capital gains tax bill he would face – as you effectively have to sell the properties to the company to set up this arrangement.

‘I built the main part of my portfolio in the 1990s and 2000s when it was the norm to own properties outside of a limited company,’ says Paul.

‘It appears now that this is just heavily penalised for reasons I’ll never understand. We are taxed on turnover. It is ridiculous. My tax bill went from £30,000 to £80,000 over time as mortgage interest relief was removed.

‘Suddenly we weren’t able to offset our biggest business expense. What was once a profitable business is now extremely difficult to sustain while paying people to do work and refurbishing property.’

Paul must also allow for lost income during so-called void periods where the property is empty or in rental arrears.

Rising burden of regulation

On top of the higher mortgage rates and tax changes, Paul has had to contend with the day-to-day costs of letting properties – many have surged with the cost of living in recent years.

These include repairs and maintenance, letting agent fees, insurance and compliance checks, which now include gas safety checks, EPC checks, electrical installation condition reports and HMO licences.

‘Costs have gone crazy,’ says Paul. ‘I’m currently replacing a boiler in one of my houses. It’s costing me £2,500. Not so long ago that would have cost me around £1,000.’

Sweeping changes on rental rules

The Renters’ Rights Act means that from May 1, almost 40 years of legislation underpinning the private rental sector will change overnight.

The act will ban ‘no-fault’ evictions, forcing landlords to give a justifiable reason for telling tenants to leave – for example, because they are selling the property or the tenant cannot pay the rent. Wanting to raise rents or seek new tenants will not be a good enough reason.

But fixed-term tenancies will also be abolished, meaning renters will be able to end tenancies at any time as long as they give two months’ notice.

Tenants will get greater rights to challenge poor conditions and unreasonable rent increases without fear of retaliatory eviction.

Landlords will be unable to accept more than the advertised asking rent – ending bidding wars – and the act will also ban landlords from demanding more than one month’s rent upfront.

Aside from new renters’ rights, Paul also fears upcoming changes to EPC rules for rental properties that could impact many of his buy-to-lets.

Under the Government’s £15billion Warm Homes Plan, rented homes will need to achieve an energy performance certificate rating of at least C by 2030.

While the Government has capped the amount landlords will be expected to invest to meet the new standards to £10,000 per property, it still represents a substantial cash call, especially for someone with 70 properties to maintain.

For landlords who plan to stick it out, the only way to survive will be to increase rents where the market permits.

Seven in 10 HMO landlords expect to raise rents this year, according to recent research from COHO, a property management software platform.

Its chief executive Vann Vogstad thinks the switch to rolling tenancies will leave landlords with little option but to raise rents.

‘Without fixed-term contracts, landlords have no control over when a tenancy ends, so annual rent increases become their only lever. Expect almost all of them to use it.’

Stephen Perkins, of Yellow Brick Mortgages, says: ‘Successive governments have consistently attacked landlords, with tenants mostly eventually paying the price.’

The tax shake-up

Landlords are also having to contend with a major tax shake-up and a hike in the rates that they pay on rental income.

From April 2027, landlords will be taxed at 2 percentage points above normal income tax rates. Basic rate tax paying landlords will see rental income taxed at 22 per cent, up from 20 per cent.

Meanwhile, higher rate tax-paying landlords will pay 42 per cent, up from 40 per cent today and additional rate taxpayers will be taxed at 47 per cent, up from 45 per cent.

Those receiving more than £50,000 in rent or self-employed income must also now start making submissions every three months to the taxman under Making Tax Digital rules.

The income thresholds will then drop in 2027 and 2028, dragging hundreds of thousands more people into this new bureaucratic net.

Paul says: ‘I worry about the 300 tenants that rely on me – while some of my properties will be bought by other investors, some won’t be and those people will be forced to leave their homes.

‘Governments think these measures benefit renters but they reduce supply and push rents higher.

‘Previously, landlords might have skipped an increase as a goodwill gesture. The practical result is that most landlords will increase rent on the anniversary, every year, by a defensible amount.’

Stephen Perkins, managing director at Yellow Brick Mortgages, is also expecting many landlords to increase rents for tenants.

‘Taxation and regulatory changes both recent and forthcoming are the real reasons many landlords are looking to exit,’ he said.

‘Those that remain will be forced to increase rents putting real pressure on tenants’ already stretched finances.

‘Successive governments have consistently attacked landlords, with tenants mostly eventually paying the price.’