Two-thirds of rental properties now use a letting agent, the highest proportion for two years, as demand for full property management services continues to grow.

Some 66% employ an agent for some or all aspects of the letting process, up from 61% in Q1 2026 and 62% a year earlier, according to the latest Landlord Trends research from Pegasus Insight.

A quarter (25%) of rental properties now use a full management service, up sharply from 20% in the previous quarter. The research reveals that, for those properties not fully managed, 34% use an agent solely to find tenants, while a further 6% employ an agent for letting and rent collection. The remaining 34% are managed without an agent.

The research also highlights the considerable time involved in managing rental properties, with landlords spending an average of 33 hours per month overseeing their portfolios.

Hours

Those who manage their properties themselves spend an average of 51 hours per month on rental management, compared with just 11 hours among landlords employing a full management service.

The time commitment also increases considerably with portfolio size. Landlords with between one and five properties spend an average of 18 hours per month managing their rentals, rising to 83 hours for those with 11 or more properties.

However, larger buy-to-let borrowers are not necessarily more inclined to outsource management. Among landlords with four or more buy-to-let mortgages, 39% of properties are self-managed, compared with 31% among those with one to three mortgages and 33% among those without mortgage borrowing.

Portfolio

Pegasus reckons this might reflect the fact that larger portfolio borrowers are considerably more likely to be full-time landlords, with 37% of those holding four or more buy-to-let mortgages operating full time, compared with 13% of those with one to three mortgages. As a result, they may be less inclined to outsource property management to an agent.

Director Bethan Cooke says the difference in the amount of time spent managing properties is striking. “For landlords who are juggling rental responsibilities alongside other commitments, or who are concerned about keeping pace with changing requirements, a good letting agent can provide valuable expertise and take on a substantial administrative burden,” she adds.

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