Competition is a fine thing in business; it keeps us on our toes. Without it we would rock up at 10.00am, put in an hour or so, have lunch then take the kids to the beach. Meanwhile our competitors would have been at it from dawn, working hard, innovating, moving with the times, ensuring the best service for landlords and tenants. And we would be toast. So, we welcome competition. We know our competitors, they know us. We enjoy friendly rivalry, collaborate sometimes, and keep a close eye on each other.
Our traditional competitors are businesses like City and Suburb. Small to medium agencies operating in a sector we know and understand. For years, the true ‘corporates’ tended to work on their own estates or in very specific build‑to‑rent schemes, so they did not trouble most private landlords too much.
That has been changing. When Lloyds Bank first announced it wanted to become one of the country’s biggest landlords, it set itself a long‑term target for tens of thousands of rental homes and has since built a multi‑billion‑pound portfolio under its rental brands, with thousands of homes already in operation. What started as ‘a few build‑to‑rent schemes’ is now a strategic move into our world.
John Lewis took a similar interest in housing, announcing that it wanted to develop thousands of rental homes, many on sites linked to its department stores and Waitrose supermarkets. The idea was that residents could live in neatly packaged, fully furnished flats, with the reassuring John Lewis name over the door.
But where Lloyds has doubled down, John Lewis has had to change course. Rising interest rates and a more cautious market have made some of its big housing numbers hard to deliver. Ambitious in‑house build‑to‑rent plans have been scaled back, and several headline schemes have been paused or handed back to the drawing board. The dream of ‘a flat over every Waitrose’ has become something more modest and selective.
Lloyds, by contrast, has kept going. It continues to buy and fund new homes through build‑to‑rent partnerships and has shown an appetite for converting surplus office space and underused sites into rental housing. For a bank that was once just the biggest mortgage lender, becoming a major landlord alongside the rest of us is a significant shift.
On one level this is positive. Turning redundant inner‑city sites and tired office blocks into decent homes is far better than leaving them empty, and serious capital behind regeneration can help improve standards across the board. If large institutions bring well‑managed, good quality housing into the market, it raises the bar for everyone.
Here is the point that matters for private landlords, life is about more than a comfy sofa and a wide‑screen TV, even in a shiny new block. It is about the character of the area and the street below. The cafés, restaurants, bars, delis, artisan food shops and the weird Zen pilates place on the corner. It is about providing affordable space for local entrepreneurs to try something new. Something that might work, or might not, but at least has a chance. That is what makes people want to live and, more importantly, stay in a place.
Here in Heaton we have been quietly at this for over twenty years. Raise rental housing to a decent standard, attract young professionals to live there, watch some of them set up in business, then watch the rest flock to their doors. Today Heaton is foodie central as a result. And yes, we still have that weird Zen pilates place on the corner (no, me neither). The point is that private landlords have been investing in this ecosystem for decades, often one flat, one shop or one small development at a time.
So to the big beasts like the banks, retailers and the funds, the message from a landlord’s point of view is simple. By all means build good homes and manage them well. But look to the ground floor, the street. Make room for the independents, the start‑ups, the risky ideas. When you plan your schemes, bake affordable commercial space into the design so people can set up in business, thrive and create the kind of vibrant community that keeps voids low, rents sustainable and tenants genuinely happy to stay. That is in your interests as landlords as much as it is in ours.
If Lloyds executives or whoever ends up taking forward the schemes that retailers no longer want are reading this, I am available for consultancy. Unless the sun is shining. Then I may be taking the kids to the beach. After all, the competition, large and small, will still be there tomorrow!