The September bounce – what it is and why it matters

Property118 The September bounce – what it is and why it matters Zoopla says buyer searches are now 7% higher than a year ago, their strongest annual increase for 12 months , with searches increasing across every region and country of the UK for the first time since August 2025. That makes September potentially one of the best opportunities landlords have had this year to sell. It’s called the September Bounce and it alone is a great reason landlords thinking about selling their rental properties should take note but there could also be another reason to get proceeding moving sooner than later. The Autumn Budget is on 28 October and speculation about what Prime Minister Andy Burnham and Chancellor John Healey could do to property and wealth taxation is already gathering pace. The Renters’ Rights Act is in force. Making Tax Digital is underway. The PRS Database is beginning to take shape. EPC deadlines remain on the horizon and landlords are already facing higher tax rates on property income from April 2027. Now Capital Gains Tax, a mansion tax, land value taxation and even replacing council tax with an annual property tax paid by property owners are being discussed as possible inclusions in the budget. None of the speculation should be treated as policy unless it is announced, but landlords who were already considering selling have to decide whether waiting for certainty is worth it. Could landlords end up paying council tax? Property118 reported last week that Andy Burnham is facing calls to replace council tax and stamp duty with a proportional annual property tax. Under the Fairer Share model previously backed by Mr Burnham, the tax would be charged at 0.48% of a property’s value and, importantly for landlords, responsibility for paying it would move from the occupier to the owner. That would mean £1,200 a year on a £250,000 property or £2,400 on a £500,000 property. Another proposal goes further, suggesting a 0.96% rate for second homes, empty properties and properties owned by non-residents, although the proposals do not say all privately rented homes would automatically pay this higher rate. While Mr Burnham has said that immediate reform isn’t planned, the temporary reassurance may provide a clue about the long-term intention and the direction in which the plans are moving. There is also speculation about changes to Capital Gains Tax, a possible mansion tax on higher-value homes and wider reform of property taxation as the Government looks for ways to raise revenue. What Do Buyers Look Like in Sept 2026? Traditionally, September buyers are often looking to begin the following year in their new home. With budget fears as added motive, they are likely to want to get transactions moving before 28 October. Higher mortgage rates have reduced buyers’ purchasing power by 9% since January and while searches are up 7%, the number of sales being agreed is down 6%. That means buyers have returned, but they have plenty of choice and less money to spend. Zoopla’s advice to sellers is clear: those who price realistically will be best placed to attract buyers this autumn. Rightmove is saying much the same thing, warning that sellers are having to work harder to stand out in a market where buyers have plenty of choice. And there is a cost to getting it wrong. Rightmove found that properties requiring a price reduction took an average of 127 days to find a buyer, compared with just 36 days for properties that were priced correctly without needing a subsequent reduction. Put simply: The landlords who benefit most from the September bounce are likely to be those who give buyers a reason to choose their property. It’s a strategy we know very well at Landlord Sales Agency – unless you are happy to wait over 4 months just to find a buyer and then another 4 – 6 months nervously waiting for a sale to complete, you have to price to sell. Not because we say so. Because the buyers do. Of course, sellers can take that advice and simply reduce their asking price via a high street agent, but when selling through us, the discount doesn’t just buy you a faster offer, it buys you a secured sale and the best end-to-end estate agency service money can buy at no extra cost. Perhaps most importantly though, it buys you less risk , more certainty and a faster completion . With an ordinary sale, reducing the price buys you a more interest from buyers. At LSA, we make your equity work much harder. We find the buyers who can complete quickly and are prepared to commit to the sale from day one. We use it to absorb many of the costs of selling, including certification where required and instead of commission or legal fees. We use it to ensure tenant cooperation so landlords can sell without the cost of evicting tenants or losing 6 – 9 months’ rent during the process. We use it so landlords don’t have to pay costs before the funds of the sale are available and we use it to solve all and any problem that stands between an offer and completion. Typically, sellers normally walk away with 85 – 90% of the vacant possession value and no estate agency or legal fees to pay. While the buyer and tenant may benefit from it, equity is only ever used where it buys something more valuable for the seller – a quicker solution, lower risk and more control than using Section 8, Grounds 1 or 1A, reduced costs and continued rent. We use Rightmove, Zoopla, our database of more than 30,000 companies, investors and owner-occupiers and local agents to find the right buyer to match seller instructions. If sellers would prefer not to disturb their tenants, we focus our efforts on selling to other investors by talking their language (numbers) or helping the tenants overcome the obstacles stopping them buying the property themselves. As well as property details, we collect all the paperwork investors and their solicitors need to transfer property and tenancies together. If sellers simply want us to “look after their tenants”, we include owner occupiers in the marketing and, depending on the buyer, help the tenants to move in return for voluntary surrender, if necessary. If tenants have already left or are already planning to leave of their own accord, we reduce the amount of leverage we need, find the best buyer, coordinate all parties and manage all aspects to complete the sale in 56 days or less with minimum VOID period. Landlord Sales Agency Gives Landlords Options We can sell properties with tenants in situ, without tenants, in good condition or needing work. We also specialise in portfolios where different properties – and different tenants – may need different solutions. One Liverpool landlord contacted us because the route to releasing equity was so complicated he felt trapped – unwilling to remain in the PRS but unable to leave. His first property was a block of six self-contained flats in L13, sublet to a company providing accommodation for young people with care needs. Despite the additional tenancy and contractual complications, we found a cash buyer in just 22 days and the sale completed within 14 weeks of the landlord first contacting us. A second property, a two-bedroom terrace in L20, presented a completely different problem. The tenant had already given notice and the landlord still had a mortgage to pay, so every month spent waiting for a buyer risked eating further into his equity. We agreed a sale within 13 days and the money was in his bank less than 13 weeks later. Between the two properties, in just 14 weeks we freed almost £400,000 of equity that had previously been trapped in the parts of his business he no longer wanted to manage. When his circumstances changed again, he then came back to us with more. A refurbished four-bedroom property previously used as an HMO sold within seven days, while another property requiring modernisation was sold with its long-term tenant remaining in place within 13 days. Contact Us Today to Beat the Budget and Take Advantage of The September Bounce If you’re already thinking about selling, there may be little benefit in waiting until 28 October to find out whether you wish you’d started sooner. Contact us and we will tell you what price we think your property can achieve based on recent sales of similar properties sold through high street agents in the same area. We will listen to your preferences and look at the tenancies to work out which route we think is the best to get your properties sold with less drama and most money. Our mission is to stop selling tenanted property from being complicated, costly or confrontational. If you’re happy with the price we think we can achieve, we’ll get the paperwork done, speak to your tenants, find the right buyer and take care of everything else. Selling tenanted property really can be as simple as that. 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