Last Updated on September 4, 2026
The average advertised rental drew 10 enquiries in the second quarter of 2026, by Rightmove’s own tracker, down from 22 at the 2022 peak but still a queue, not a shortage. Landlords, meanwhile, are the shrinking side of the market. Marketing budgets that ignore this asymmetry buy the wrong audience. Here is how the two searches differ, on the published evidence.
How tenants search: fast, portal-led, queue-shaped
Tenants search by area and price on the portals, enquire in bulk, and decide in days: 48% told Goodlord’s 2025 survey they found it difficult to find a property at all. For the agent this means tenant marketing is mostly operations wearing a marketing hat: listings that answer questions before they are asked, fast responses, and a repairs and deposit process that generates the reviews landlords later read. You do not need to advertise for tenants in most markets. You need to not fumble them.
How landlords choose: slow, trust-led, advice-shaped
A landlord choosing management is making a multi-year decision about their largest asset under rules that changed in May 2026 and change again from late 2026. They search questions, not listings: what does the Renters’ Rights Act mean for me, what does full management cost, can my agent handle the new periodic tenancies. They read reviews from other landlords, and they check the compliance stack, or would if agents displayed it legibly. This is where websites, explainer content and proof earn their keep, and it is barely contested: most agents’ landlord pages are one paragraph and a phone number.
Where the money belongs
Weight spend and effort where scarcity is: the landlord side. A monthly plain-English Act update, published and emailed. Landlord-specific reviews gathered at renewal. Fees displayed in exact amounts, which the Consumer Rights Act requires anyway. Response-time standards stated as numbers. Meanwhile keep tenant-side friction low, because rental bidding is now banned and advance rent capped, so process quality, not spend, is what differentiates the tenant experience. The portals will keep delivering the queue either way.
Common questions
How do landlords choose a letting agent?
Slowly and on trust: management is a multi-year decision about a major asset under new law. Landlords read explainer content, other landlords’ reviews and the compliance stack, which is why landlord-first pages outperform generic agency marketing.
Do letting agents need to advertise for tenants?
Rarely: Rightmove’s Q2 2026 tracker shows the average advertised rental drawing 10 enquiries. The tenant side is won on listing quality and process speed, not on additional spend.
What content wins landlord enquiries in 2026?
Plain-English updates on the Renters’ Rights Act phases, exact published fees, response-time standards and landlord reviews. The agent who explains the new rules calmly becomes the obvious manager for them.
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