Rents up 5% annually, void periods up 40% in a single month. Gross yield is a marketing number. Net yield, after a realistic void assumption, is the investment number, and the gap between the two just widened.
What Has Happened?
Goodlord published its October 2026 rental index on 5 November. The average void period across England came in at 28 days, up from 20 days in September 2026 and 21 days in October 2025. That 40% month-on-month increase is the sharpest single-month jump in the index's recent history. It coincided with annual rent growth holding at 5%, running ahead of CPI at 3.6% but showing slower monthly momentum: October's month-on-month increase was 0.6%, down from 0.9% in September. Goodlord puts the UK average rent on its platform at £1,592 for October.
The void increase is not evenly spread across England. The North East recorded the most extreme move, from 11 days in September to 28 days in October. That is a region frequently cited in BTL analysis for its high yields. The jump doubles the region's void exposure in a single month and is sharp enough to change the net yield calculation on any new acquisition modelled before October's data was available.
Rushbrook's separate annual analysis of English void periods in 2026 puts the average at 23.2 days with an estimated cost of £1,097 per void event. Rushbrook's figure covers a full year including the spring and summer market, which tend to be quicker. Goodlord's 28-day figure is a single month in the traditionally slower autumn period. The two data sets use different methodologies, but taken together they bracket the realistic planning range for 2026 and into winter: somewhere between 23 and 28 days per turnover, depending on market and season.
Goodlord's chief executive linked the sustained rent inflation to the Renters' Rights Act's ban on competitive over-bidding and the annual-only rent review structure. Neither supply nor structural demand has changed enough to explain the full 5% growth on its own. The Act's rolling tenancy framework, in force since 1 May 2026, is the other variable worth examining for its effect on how quickly properties re-let once a tenancy ends.
Why This Matters to UK Property Investors
The 5% annual rent growth number goes into yield forecasts. The void period number rarely does. That gap between gross and net is not a theoretical adjustment. It is real money, and in October it got bigger.
Take a North East property at £90,000 with an £800 monthly rent. Twelve months of £800 gross is £9,600. If the property turns over twice in a year, with 28-day voids each time, the income lost is 56 days, roughly £1,493. Actual gross receipts fall to about £8,107. At £90,000 purchase price, that shifts the gross yield from 10.7% to 9.0%. Still strong. But the planning assumption has to account for it.
For a Midlands or North West single-let property at a tighter yield, the void impact bites harder. A property with a 7% gross yield, £950 monthly rent and two 28-day voids per year receives approximately £10,255 in income rather than the £11,400 twelve-month total. That 10% reduction in gross receipts turns a 7% gross yield into a 6.3% gross yield on the same purchase price, before maintenance, management fees or financing costs.
October is seasonally the quietest month for new lettings. The academic year started in September, the spring and summer demand peak is gone. Some of the jump from 20 to 28 days is seasonal and may ease in spring 2027. But the year-on-year comparison is also worse: October 2025 came in at 21 days, so the structural element of the increase is real. Rents are higher, but the period between tenancies is running longer than a year ago at the same point in the cycle.
The Risks Investors Need to Understand
The Renters' Rights Act's rolling tenancy structure is the variable most likely to be affecting October's void spike in a structural way. Under the Act's provisions since 1 May 2026, all new tenancies are periodic from the start. Fixed terms are abolished for new lettings. The stated intent is to give tenants more security. What the early data from Goodlord suggests is that tenant movement may also be faster when tenants can leave on two months' notice rather than being tied to a contract end date.
That dynamic interacts with the Section 13 tribunal route for rent increases. If a landlord raises rent under Section 13 and the tenant challenges it at tribunal, Goodlord's own CEO has flagged the risk that tenants start to feel the rent review process is adversarial. Early data from the first 200 cases at tribunal showed 73% of landlord rent increase applications were reduced. A tenant who feels they lost a rent dispute, or who was asked for a larger increase than they expected, is a tenant more likely to give notice and start searching. Rolling tenancies make acting on that decision frictionless.
The North East void jump is worth monitoring separately. From 11 days in September to 28 days in October in a single month. If that reflects properties re-letting in the quietest week of the year and simply taking longer to find the right tenant, the data reverts in November and December. If it reflects genuine structural longer voids in a region with above-average rent growth, it changes the investment case in Sunderland, Middlesbrough and County Durham materially. The October figure alone is not enough to conclude either way. November's data will be more informative.
For leveraged landlords, void periods interact with cashflow in a specific way. During a 28-day void, the mortgage, insurance and council tax still run. At a 4% base rate and BTL financing costs of around 6% on a standard five-year fix, an interest-only mortgage on a £90,000 property costs roughly £450 per month. A 28-day void costs £414 in lost rent. Add the mortgage interest and the void costs £864 in a month the property generates zero income.
Where the Opportunity Could Be
Multi-unit HMOs have a structural advantage in an environment where single-let void periods are running at 28 days. If a 5-bed HMO has one room vacant for 28 days, the other four rooms continue generating income. The void costs 20% of monthly income for that period rather than 100%. For a licensed HMO at 9% gross yield in Birmingham or Wolverhampton, one room vacant for 28 days reduces October's income by roughly one-fifth. For a single-let at 7% gross yield in the same street, a 28-day void reduces October's income to zero.
Tenant retention is the other lever, and it has become measurable. Losing a good tenant in a Renters' Rights Act environment costs: the void itself (£1,097 Rushbrook average), redecoration at £800 to £1,500 for a typical two-bed, and agency re-letting fees at 50% to 100% of a month's rent if managed. Total turnover cost for a mid-market single-let frequently exceeds two months' gross rent. A landlord who keeps a tenant for three additional years rather than re-letting is capturing that saving compounded over the tenancy.
Tenanted properties selling on the landlord-to-landlord market deserve a reappraisal in this context. A property with a tenant in situ who has been paying on time for two years represents deferred void risk. The first void question is not relevant today. For a buyer using a limited company structure acquiring from a motivated personal-name seller ahead of April 2027's income tax rise, tenanted stock is worth seeking out specifically.
Regionally, void periods tend to be shorter and more predictable in markets with structural tenant demand: student towns, hospital towns, cities with large public sector employment bases. Stoke-on-Trent (Keele and Staffordshire universities), Leeds, Manchester and Sheffield all have demand profiles that are more cyclically predictable than general residential markets. The October void spike in the North East may reflect precisely the absence of that kind of anchored structural demand in some parts of the region.
Arsh's Investor View
I have always underwritten on net yield rather than gross. October's Goodlord data is a reminder of why. At 28 days per void with two turnovers a year, a single-let loses the equivalent of nearly two months' rent in void income alone, before management fees or maintenance. Gross yield is the number on the listing. Net yield is the number that determines whether the investment actually works.
The North East figure interests me most. I have written positively about Sunderland, Middlesbrough and Durham throughout 2026 because the yield numbers are real. County Durham, in particular, has shown structural demand from NHS employment and university campuses that keeps voids predictable in most conditions. A jump from 11 to 28 days in a single month is sharp enough to check carefully. My working assumption is that October's figure includes some genuine seasonality and some structural change. I will not revise my view on the region from one month's data, but I want to see what November brings before advising anyone to model a North East single-let at the pre-October void assumption.
Where I keep landing is HMOs and long-term tenants. The void resilience of multi-unit stock is not a new argument, but the October data quantifies it in a useful way. The gap between a 28-day whole-property void on a single-let and a 28-day room void on a 5-room HMO is the difference between losing a full month's income and losing 20% of a month's income. At 9% gross versus 7% gross, the HMO is already the better yield number. Add the void resilience and the case gets stronger, not just comparably strong.
One practical point: agents and landlords who price rents aggressively this autumn are creating their own void problem. The Section 13 process is adversarial when the increase is large enough to trigger a challenge. A tenant who goes to tribunal, loses by a small amount or wins the reduction, is not a tenant who renews without friction. The data already shows 73% of tribunal cases going against the landlord. Pushing rent at the edge of what the market will accept quietly is a different strategy from the one the data supports.
How Property Investor App Can Help
Property Investor App lists UK buy-to-let opportunities including tenanted properties from landlord-to-landlord sellers, where existing tenants in place defer the first void question. For investors comparing gross yield across single-lets and HMOs in northern and Midlands markets, PIA's search tools let you filter by property type, region and estimated gross yield so you can build your own net yield model against realistic void assumptions. PIA also connects investors with specialist limited company BTL brokers who can price the full acquisition and financing cost across current product ranges from lenders including Paragon, Foundation Home Loans and Precise. Browse UK property investment opportunities on Property Investor App.
Key Takeaways
- Goodlord's October 2026 rental index shows average UK void periods at 28 days, up from 20 in September and 21 in October 2025. The 40% month-on-month increase is the sharpest single-month jump in the index recently. Annual rent growth held at 5%, ahead of CPI at 3.6%, but monthly momentum slowed from 0.9% to 0.6%.
- Rushbrook estimates the English average void period in 2026 at 23.2 days, with a cost of approximately £1,097 per void event. At Goodlord's October figure of 28 days, the per-void income loss on a £1,592 average monthly rent property is around £1,470. Single-lets experience that loss on the whole property; a 5-bed HMO with one room void experiences roughly 20% of that loss.
- The North East recorded the sharpest regional jump, from 11 void days in September to 28 in October. This is a region with some of the highest BTL gross yields in England (Sunderland, Middlesbrough, County Durham) and the spike changes the net yield calculation on new acquisitions. November data is needed before concluding whether this is seasonal or structural.
- For leveraged landlords, void periods carry a double cost: lost rent income plus ongoing mortgage, insurance and council tax during the vacancy. On a £90,000 property financed at 6% interest-only, a 28-day void costs roughly £864 in combined lost rent and ongoing financing costs for the month.
- Multi-unit HMOs are structurally less exposed to void spikes because income is room-by-room. A single vacant room in a 5-bed HMO removes approximately 20% of monthly income for the void period. A single-let void removes 100%. At current yield differentials (9% gross HMO versus 7% gross single-let in similar locations), the void resilience adds further case for the HMO structure.
- Tenanted properties on the landlord-to-landlord market represent deferred void risk for buyers. A sitting tenant in good standing defers the first void question entirely. Under the Renters' Rights Act's annual-only rent review structure, long-term tenant retention has a quantifiable income value: avoided void cost, redecoration and re-letting fees across each year the tenancy continues.
Frequently Asked Questions
What was the average UK rental void period in October 2026?
Goodlord's October 2026 rental index reported an average void period of 28 days across England, up from 20 days in September 2026 and 21 days in October 2025. This represented a 40% month-on-month increase. Rushbrook's separate analysis of 2026 English void periods puts the annual average at 23.2 days, costing approximately £1,097 per void event. The two figures use different data sets and methodologies and are not directly comparable, but they establish the realistic planning range for winter 2026.
How does a 28-day void period affect BTL gross yield?
On a North East property at £90,000 with an £800 monthly rent, two 28-day void periods per year remove 56 days of income, approximately £1,493. Gross annual receipts fall from £9,600 to about £8,107, shifting gross yield from 10.7% to 9.0% at that purchase price. On a 7% gross yield property (£950/month, two 28-day voids per year), the gross income reduction is around 10%, taking effective gross yield to approximately 6.3% at the same purchase price, before management fees, maintenance or financing costs.
Are HMO properties less affected by void period increases than single-lets?
Yes, structurally. A multi-unit HMO generates income room-by-room rather than whole-property. If one room in a 5-bed HMO is vacant for 28 days, the other four rooms continue generating income. The void reduces monthly income by approximately 20%. For a single-let, the same 28-day void reduces monthly income to zero. At current yield differentials between single-lets and licensed HMOs in northern and Midlands markets, the void resilience of the HMO structure adds to an already stronger yield case.
What is causing UK rental void periods to increase in late 2026?
Goodlord's October 2026 data points to a combination of seasonal factors and structural changes following the Renters' Rights Act, which came into force on 1 May 2026. The Act's rolling tenancy structure means tenants can give two months' notice at any time, without being tied to a fixed term. This may be increasing tenant mobility in the quieter autumn months. The Section 13 tribunal route for rent increases, where 73% of landlord applications were reduced in early cases, may also be contributing to tenant movement when rent increases feel adversarial. The year-on-year void increase (21 days in October 2025 to 28 days in October 2026) confirms the increase is not purely seasonal.
How should BTL investors adjust their yield calculations to account for void periods?
Replace gross yield with a net income yield that includes a realistic void allowance. Take the annual gross rent, subtract the income lost to void periods at a planning assumption of 23 to 28 days per turnover and an assumed number of turnovers per year (once per year for stable long-term lets, twice per year as a conservative assumption). Also subtract management fees (8% to 12% of gross rent if using an agent) and a maintenance reserve (£500 to £1,000 per year per property). The resulting net income yield is a more accurate basis for comparing acquisition opportunities. For a leveraged purchase, calculate net cashflow after financing costs against this net income figure, not against gross rent.
