Buy-to-let landlords have had it tough in recent years owing in part to a number of tax and legislative changes but there is another major issue that is adversely affecting those that invest in the private rented sector: the media.

Landlords are often labelled as greedy, rogues, or exploitative in the media, and this language plays a significant role in how the public perceives them, but the media portrayal of the buy-to-let market is not accurate, according to research undertaken by Landbay.

News outlets priorities major stories that vilify landlords – often seen as easy scapegoats, especially when there is a housing crisis or the cost-of-living surges. But the in poll of landlords, the buy-to-let (BTL) lender unsurprisingly found that only 9% said they agreed that the media portrayal of the market was “fair and accurate”.

The findings of the research, conducted in May 2025, polling buy-to-let landlords with portfolios totalling approximately 3,000 properties, represents a huge drop from a similar poll in 2023 when 19% of landlords felt the portrayal of the market was fair and accurate.

Rob Stanton, sales and distribution director at Landbay, said: “The media – chiefly social but also the mainstream press – is traducing buy-to-let landlords.  People seem to have a view that landlords are rolling in cash making huge profits; the situation has got worse over the last year presumably encouraged by the legislative agenda.

“As more landlords – small business owners – leave the market in the face of counter-productive red tape, the landlord-bashers are going to get a wake-up call when they realise the housing crisis has not disappeared and – because the supply of rental properties has shrunk – rents have risen.”

When Landbay broke the numbers down further, they found little difference between predominantly HMO or MUFB landlords and those with more vanilla portfolios.  But there was a significant difference between landlords borrowing via Ltd companies and those still borrowing as individuals.

While 10% of those borrowing solely through Ltd company structures (or with a blend of Ltd company and individual borrowing, thought the media’s portrayal was neither fair nor accurate, only 4% of those borrowing solely as individuals shared this view.

Equally, only 4% of landlords with single properties or portfolios of two or three properties thought the media portrayal was fair and accurate, compared to 10% of those with four or more properties.

Stanton added: “Landlords with only a few properties tend to be those that have invested all their savings and inheritance into their properties in the hope of providing themselves with a retirement income.  I think they genuinely care about the state of their properties and therefore find their demonisation even more unfair.”