Under pressure: Why stress in property management should matter to every landlord

By Tom Entwistle, LandlordZONE

Stress is the occupational hazard that never appears in a business plan. New figures from a recent The Property Institute Wellbeing Survey show a property management workforce that’s under sustained strain, with almost two-thirds saying their workload puts their mental health at risk. 

That should concern every landlord who relies on an agent. But landlords who manage their own properties are not immune to the stresses and strains either, particularly in a year that has brought the biggest change to private renting in a generation.

In my experience over 40 years of developing and letting residential and commercial property, I have learned that it is rarely the bricks and mortar that keep you awake at night. 

Rather it's the tenant who stops paying rent, the late evening call out, and the flood caused by a burst pipe, the contractor who fails to turn up and the letter from the council you weren't expecting. Each is manageable on its own, it’s the accumulation that wears you down.

I remember times when my day job, coupled with critical times with the property business, when everything seems to go wrong at once, whether that’s a difficult tenant or a bad water leak, put me under intense pressure. 

What the survey reveals

The Property Institute (TPI), the professional body formed in 2022 by the merger of ARMA and IRPM, published its 2026 Wellbeing Survey in July. Of the 483 residential property management professionals who responded, 63 per cent said they believe their mental health is at risk because of workload. 

Some 45 per cent of respondents were planning to leave the sector and profession, or are unsure whether they will stay, and 89 per cent had experienced some form of abuse in the previous 12 months.

Workload pressure averaged 7.37 out of 10, the highest in the six years the survey has been running, and the average working week was 43.7 hours, with three-quarters of respondents working more than 38.

Two caveats are worth considering here. TPI's membership is drawn largely from residential managing agents. Many of them look after blocks of flats on behalf of freeholders and leaseholders, rather than high-street letting agents managing single lets. And the survey was carried out in February and March 2026, before the Renters' Rights Act came into force on 1 May. If anything, that second point suggests the figures will understate the pressure on letting staff today as the full effects of the new legislation take hold.

The problem is not unique to property. The Health and Safety Executive estimates that 964,000 workers in Great Britain suffered from some form of work-related stress, depression or anxiety in 2024/25, with some 22.1 million working days lost as a result.

We’ve always had to deal with this in our own way, but today there is greater awareness of the issue and a greater realisation that too much stress over a long period of time can permanently affect your health. And stress doesn’t just lead to health problems; it also leads to people making errors and having accidents.

There is an encouraging aspect to the TPI findings though. The survey found that where employers take genuine action on wellbeing, and where staff feel able to raise concerns safely, wellbeing scores are markedly higher. The pressure is real, but it is not inevitable.

The Renters' Rights Act adds to the load

Research since the May 1 introduction of the Act bears that out. A survey by tenancy software provider Propoly, reported by The Negotiator in September, found that 73 per cent of letting professionals had seen their administrative workload increase.

A quarter of them described a significantly increased impact of the Act on their work.  Compliance and record-keeping, rent reviews and possession work are the main drivers, and two-thirds of these respondents were working across several systems that don't all talk to each other.

Earlier in the year, Goodlord the online letting platform and referencing agency found that 76 per cent of agents felt admin was limiting their ability to grow their business, with maintenance the task most often blamed for backlogs.

Anyone who has managed property will recognise the problem. A simple repair rarely stays simple. The contractor wants photographs, the tenant fails to give access, a quotation needs approval and a part must be ordered. 

Every step in this frustrating process generates another call, email or message, another visit to the property and everyone must be tracked. Multiply that across a substantial property portfolio and it’s easy to see why a capable property manager ends up disillusioned and stressed.

The article that prompted this piece came from Stephen Marr of Nestsen, a company that sells maintenance software to letting and managing agents, so he has both a detailed insight into the stress element and a commercial interest in the efficiency argument. 

He has also written previously about the hidden workload of agents that landlords rarely see and appreciate. This we published in our article, "Are Landlords Measuring Their Letting Agent by the Wrong Things?".

Why does your agent's stress become your problem?

If you use a letting agent or managing agent, the link is direct. Overstretched staff miss things. Repairs drift, tenants go without updates, and you and the landlord end up doing the chasing. When experienced people in this profession leave, - and they do, as TPI suggests, with nearly half thinking about it - their knowledge of your property, your tenant and your preferences often leaves with them.  

We get a mismatch here as well. Goodlord's research finds that 68 per cent of landlords who use an agent take a full management service, yet only 6 per cent reported that they are very satisfied with the value for money they are getting. Agents under pressure and clients who feel short-changed are two sides of the same coin. 

Landlords must not allow things to slip and lower their standards because agents are busy. But is it fair to ask whether we sometimes add to the pressure ourselves? TPI's survey doesn't break down where the abuse its members reported came from, but anyone who has worked behind an agency desk knows it is not only tenants who can be difficult. 

Implementing a few simple things can make a real difference to you personally. For example, your street level attention and agreeing a spending limit so routine repairs don't have to wait on approval. 

You should also be responding promptly when the agent needs a decision and keeping expectations realistic outside genuine emergencies. A good agent is worth having, and you have a responsibility to manage your agents. The landlord who is easy to work with tends to get the best out of them.

Self-managing landlords

There are many buy-to-let landlords who don't use a managing agent at all. The government's English Private Landlord Survey in 2024 to 2025 found that, among landlords who protect deposits themselves, 52 per cent used no agent. 

Some 45 per cent of landlords owned just one rental property, and the median age was 59. Only 4 per cent regarded letting as a full-time business. In other words, most landlords were running a part-time business that unlike in the past now carries a professional-level compliance burden.

The worry shows. Research by Aviva, carried out in May and June 2026, found that 96 per cent of landlords were concerned about breaching the Renters' Rights Act, even though 95 per cent said they understood the rules. 

In an Aldermore survey published in February, before the Act came into force, 75 per cent of landlords expected it to affect them negatively and 91 per cent were concerned about court backlogs, an issue I looked at previously several times in my recent articles on the strain on the courts and tribunals.

Add rent arrears to the mix that will now take longer to resolve, out-of-hours repairs, difficult tenant relationships, a steady flow of new regulations coming into force such as the arrival of the landlord database, and it is not hard to see why many smaller landlords are feeling the strain. 

Coping strategies 

The HSE's Management Standards identify six areas of work which, if poorly managed, are associated with high stress levels. These are demands, control, support, relationships, role and change. They were written for employers, but they translate surprisingly well into a one-person lettings business.

Demands include keeping a detailed written compliance calendar covering safety and other matters, gas safety, electrical inspections, EPCs, deposits and any licence renewals, so that nothing creeps up on you. Fall down on these and you are liable to heavy fines.

Control includes a contingency fund, the right insurance cover and rent guarantee insurance. Legal expenses insurance cover when appropriate, can turn a major crisis into a simple inconvenience. These things are more important than ever under the new Act.

Support means joining a landlord association such as the NRLA, using a good accountant and solicitor with good property experience and building a reliable team of tradespeople contacts. Even if you manage your own properties, you should consider using agents for specific tasks such as finding and referencing tenants.

Relationships matter. Put a high priority on forming and keeping good relationships with your tenants. Put a strong emphasis on communications and always follow up in writing. Be courteous but clear and set sensible boundaries for non-emergency contact but make sure you carry out regular inspections with good notice periods.

Be clear about your role and be honest about what you can do well and what would be better handed to someone else.

Change is constant, a good example of which is the Renters; rights Act, so educate yourself as to its requirements and plan for known changes rather than reacting to them at the last minute.

The rest is common sense but easy to forget under pressure. You should develop a proper system of work using checklists and appropriate reporting forms to develop a good evidence base. 

You should take proper breaks while arranging emergency cover as appropriate. Try to switch off from non-urgent work calls in the evenings and make sure you get sufficient sleep. 

You should recognise that you can’t do everything yourself too. When things get too much, you need to learn to delegate,

Delegating, restructuring or selling part of a portfolio is not a failure, it’s usually a sound business decision. If you find you are struggling under pressure, don’t struggle alone. Steak to someone about it, share your problems and if necessary, seek professional help. The Mind and the Hub of Hope directory is a good place to start.

Conclusion

A stressed agent will give you a poorer service, and a stressed landlord makes poorer decisions. Neither helps tenants nor protects your investments. Take pressure seriously, whether in the agency you employ or in your own business, this is not a soft option. 

This article was prompted by a piece supplied by Stephen Marr of Nestsen, a supplier of maintenance software to letting and managing agents.

[Main image credit: Antoni Shkraba]