More than 100 days after the Renters' Rights Act (RRA) came into force, research published by lettings technology company Propoly shows that 73% of letting professionals say the legislation has increased their administrative workload, with one in four describing the impact on their organisation as significant.
Propoly surveyed letting industry professionals to examine how the new rules have affected workloads and processes since the Act took effect on 1 May 2026. Respondents were asked which areas of their business had been most affected, what technology and processes they were using to handle the additional demands, and what operational challenges they expected to face going forward.
Compliance and record-keeping was identified as the single biggest contributor to the increased workload, accounting for 18% of responses. Rent reviews followed at 16%, with possessions and tenancy endings cited by 14%.
The changes are also reshaping internal working arrangements. Half of respondents said their lettings and property management teams are now collaborating much more closely as a result of the new requirements.
Despite that increased coordination, the technology supporting day-to-day operations remains fragmented. Just 17% of businesses said they use one primary system to manage the additional administrative demands. The same proportion said they continue to rely heavily on emails, spreadsheets and other disconnected processes. The remaining 66% said they have multiple, disconnected systems in place.
When asked where better integration between systems would be most beneficial, landlord communication and decision-making ranked highest at 17%. Tenant referencing, compliance, and tenant communications each followed at 16%.
The scale of manual work involved points to a wider efficiency problem. Some 61% of respondents said their teams spend time manually transferring, re-entering or duplicating information between systems over the course of a single tenancy, with 16% saying this happens frequently.
Better integration between systems would improve operational efficiency, according to 52% of respondents. Just 5% believed greater connectivity would have a negative effect.
Looking further ahead, letting professionals identified keeping up with compliance requirements as the biggest operational challenge arising from the RRA, cited by 28% of those surveyed. Maintaining profitability while managing the additional workload came next at 21%, followed by general management of the increased administrative burden at 16%.
"More than 100 days on from the introduction of the Renters' Rights Act, it is clear that the impact is being felt not only in terms of the additional work required, but also in the way lettings businesses need to organise their people, processes and technology," said Sim Sekhon, group chief executive at Propoly.
"The challenge for the sector is not simply dealing with more administration. It is making sure that information can move efficiently between the teams and systems involved in managing a tenancy, without creating unnecessary duplication or additional manual work.
"As the new requirements become embedded into day-to-day operations, businesses will be looking for ways to manage compliance and service delivery efficiently while maintaining profitability. Technology has an important role to play, but the value comes from reducing fragmentation rather than simply adding another platform to an already crowded process."
