Most landlords underestimate how much an empty property is really costing them.
When a tenant leaves, the instinct is to think of a void period as a minor inconvenience — a few weeks to freshen up the property before the next one moves in. But the numbers tell a different story. For landlords across England, void periods are becoming longer and more expensive, and in a market that’s more competitive than it was two years ago, they’re harder to recover from.
Here’s what the data says — and what you can do about it.
The Numbers Are Getting Worse
According to data published by Letting Agent Today, the average cost of a void period for landlords in England has risen to £1,085 — a 19% jump in just one year. And that’s just the lost rent figure. When you factor in everything else a void period actually costs, the picture is considerably bleaker.
The average void period in England now runs to 23 days, up from 21 days the previous year, according to Goodlord’s void period analysis. During that time, your property is still costing you money — just without any income to offset it.
A realistic total cost of a single void period, once you include:
- Mortgage payments with no rental income to cover them
- Council tax, which reverts to the landlord during a void
- Utility bills if kept on for viewings or maintenance
- Cleaning and redecoration between tenancies
- Re-letting fees if using an agent
- Any repairs identified during a checkout inspection
…comes to £2,500–£3,500 for the average UK landlord. One void per year at that cost, over a ten-year period, is £25,000–£35,000 out of your investment return.
Why Voids Happen — and Why They’re Increasing
There are two main reasons voids occur: tenant dissatisfaction and poor landlord responsiveness.
Tenants leave when maintenance issues are ignored, when communication is slow, or when they simply don’t feel valued as a tenant. In a market where demand is 14% lower than a year ago and the number of enquiries per property has dropped to 4.8 (down from 6.5 the previous year), the leverage has shifted. Good tenants have more options than they did, and they’ll use them.
The second reason is poor preparation. When a tenancy ends, landlords who don’t have systems in place — a checkout process, a reliable maintenance team, a marketing strategy ready to go — spend the first week or two simply getting organised. That delay is expensive.
The Most Effective Void-Prevention Strategies
1. Retain Good Tenants for Longer
The single best way to avoid a void is to make sure your best tenants don’t want to leave. That means responsive maintenance, fair rent reviews, and treating the tenancy as a long-term relationship rather than a transaction. A tenant who’s been with you three years and pays on time is worth considerably more than the marginal gain from pushing the rent up and triggering a search for somewhere new.
The National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) has consistently highlighted tenant retention as the most cost-effective strategy available to landlords in the current market.
2. Give Proper Notice and Market Early
Under the Renters’ Rights Act 2025, tenants are now required to give two months’ notice before leaving. Use that window. A property should be listed and viewings underway before the outgoing tenant has even left. With Rightmove and Zoopla doing the bulk of search work for prospective tenants, a well-presented listing can generate serious interest within days.
3. Price Correctly from the Start
Overpriced properties sit empty. It seems obvious, but landlords who set rents based on what they’d like to achieve rather than what the market will bear consistently experience longer voids. According to Zoopla’s March 2026 Rental Market Report, average UK rents for new lets are growing at just 2.5% — a significant slowdown. Pricing competitively and letting quickly will almost always outperform holding out for a higher rent while the property sits empty.
4. Present the Property Properly
First impressions on listings are everything. Properties with professional photography, accurate descriptions, and clear details about parking, gardens, and bills receive significantly more enquiries. Rightmove data consistently shows that listings with high-quality images generate more than double the enquiries of those without.
How a Good Letting Agent Eliminates Most of This
A well-run letting agency handles the entire void-prevention cycle: proactive tenant communication in the run-up to a tenancy end, marketing readiness, competitive pricing advice, and a pre-qualified pool of prospective tenants to draw on immediately. The best agents have tenants lined up before properties are even officially listed.
At Ferndown Estates, we manage this process for every landlord on our books. Our local market knowledge means we price properties accurately from day one, and our network of prospective tenants means void periods are, in most cases, minimal.
If you’re currently self-managing and finding that voids are eating into your returns, or you’re with an agent who doesn’t seem to be on top of this, get in touch with us at ferndownestates.com — we’re happy to have a straightforward conversation about how we’d approach your property.
Ferndown Estates is a local letting and estate agency. We help landlords protect their investment and minimise the costly gaps between tenancies. Visit ferndownestates.com to find out more.
