Second London social landlord exits private rented sector

Kennedy Wilson is the preferred party to buy Notting Hill Genesis' (NHG) 2,079-home private rental business. Inside Housing reported the London private rented sector sale at £750m on 26 August 2026. It is the second London social landlord in two months to sell its private rented arm. L&Q's 3,200-home Metra Living sale completed in June for £1.05bn (Inside Housing, 26 August 2026).

What exactly is being sold?

Folio, the NHG rental brand, holds 2,079 homes at 15 schemes across London and Chelmsford (Inside Housing, 26 August 2026). NHG set it up in 2007 and it is 98% let. The biggest scheme is Royal Wharf Estate in Newham at 338 homes, followed by City Park West in Chelmsford at 317.

Nine in 10 Folio homes are one and two-bedroom flats, and 85% sit in London. Some 98% are rated EPC Band C or higher. EPC (Energy Performance Certificate) rates a home's energy efficiency from A to G. The portfolio earned revenue of £44.8m in the 2024-25 financial year. Its schemes sit in boroughs including Croydon, Ealing, Newham, Southwark and Hammersmith and Fulham. Before committing to a London flat, you may wish to run the figures through a free BTL (buy-to-let) stress test calculator.

Why is a social landlord leaving the private rented sector?

NHG owns 68,000 homes across London, the South East and East Anglia. It put its then 3,400-home private rented arm on the market in July 2025 to increase investment in its social homes and reduce debt (Inside Housing, 26 August 2026). The portfolio has since shrunk to 2,079 homes, because some were sold separately and others retained.

NHG holds non-compliant grades of C3/G3 and is engaging with the Regulator of Social Housing (Inside Housing, 26 August 2026). That regulator covers England only. Chief executive Patrick Franco has called Folio "a bit like an endowment", adding that "not all housing associations have £1bn endowments on their balance sheet". Folio carried a £1bn valuation when first put up for sale, then was downvalued by £119m last year. Deloitte ran the sale, codenamed Project Vanguard. Both NHG and Kennedy Wilson declined to comment. Debt cost shapes decisions at every portfolio size, as our negotiation and finance hub sets out.

When does this take effect for the London rental market?

There is no completion date. Kennedy Wilson has entered exclusivity and due diligence is about to start, so the deadline here is genuinely TBC (to be confirmed). The buyer is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. It holds $37bn of assets under management and 70,000 rental homes owned or in development across the US, the UK and Ireland.

In the UK it runs a suburban build-to-rent partnership with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. Build-to-rent means blocks built specifically to let rather than sell. That venture launched in 2024 and now holds 2,000 homes across 23 sites.

In practice this means more London one and two-bedroom flats marketed by operators with in-house lettings teams and standard fit-outs. Investors weighing whether flats still suit them can compare approaches in our property investment strategies hub.

If you let to housing benefit tenants, the free Local Housing Allowance rates map shows the local ceilings by postcode.

Key takeaways

• Kennedy Wilson is preferred buyer for Notting Hill Genesis' 2,079-home Folio portfolio, reported at £750m (Inside Housing, 26 August 2026).

• Folio spans 15 schemes in London and Chelmsford, is 98% let, and earned £44.8m of revenue in 2024-25.

• It is the second such exit in two months, after L&Q's 3,200-home Metra Living sale completed in June for £1.05bn.

• No completion date is set: Kennedy Wilson is in exclusivity and due diligence is about to start.