The Association for Rental Living has demonstrated the strength and innovation taking place across the UK’s rental living sector with its two concurrent conferences on 6 November 2025 in London.
The 10th Rental Living Annual Conference attracted over 400 delegates from 100+ sector-leading businesses, and delivered 12+ hours of insightful content across two conferences in one day. The Strategic Rental Living Conference, comprising an in-depth discussion, learning and connection, and the NextGen Pathways Conference, a brand-new programme specifically designed for individuals and teams at early stages of their rental living careers.
As the membership body for all institutionally backed, professionally managed purpose-built rental living sectors, the Association for Rental Living champions a dynamic, innovative and inclusive rental living sector by driving standards, fostering community and creating homes where people thrive. Its annual conference, this year held at One Canada Square, Canary Wharf, brought this mission to life through insightful speeches, roundtables and deep-dive breakout sessions.
The opening keynote focused on exploring how the Build to Rent (BtR) sector was overcoming challenges ranging from competence to insurance to viability. With expert contributions from Peter Clark of Ark Workplace Risk, Invesco’s Stacey Patten and Nicky Barker of KKR, Apache’s Ashley Perry moderated an insightful session, which also featured a video message from Dame Judith Hackitt who led the post-Grenfell Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety and was instrumental in shaping the Building Safety Act, setting the tone for the day.
Additional keynotes saw Dr Nero Ughwujabo of the King’s Trust focus on the value of equality, diversity and inclusion in business, culture and geopolitics, and Brendan Geraghty (Association for Rental Living), Alex Notay (Radix Big Tent Housing Commission), Rebecca Taylor (Long Harbour), Danielle Bayless (Quintain) and Kate Butler (BPF) discuss the Code of Practice. Sector leaders considered how to change attitudes among politicians, local authorities and the public towards BtR and the importance of that cultural change challenge.
The Strategic Rental Living Conference also saw sessions on BtR in Scotland, new operational benchmark data, later living opportunities and how operators are igniting BtR development and investment. Placemaking and the Renters’ Rights Act were also key areas of focus.
The inaugural NetxGen Pathways conference, which ran concurrently, saw sessions cover procurement, mobilisation, building a health and safety culture and career progression within BtR, along with a Q&A session with industry leaders.
Discussions were interspersed with breakout sessions looking at everything from the impact of tech on rental living to how alternative uses can reduce residential voids.
The Rental Living Annual Conference was supported by a wide range of sponsors, including Vertus, WTW, NHBC, Yardi, Touchstone, Greystar, Touch Right, Lette, LOFT, Abode Worldwide and Related Argent along with BTR News, Urban Living News, Show House and Tall Buildings Media as media partners.
Brendan Geraghty, CEO of the Association for Rental Living, commented: “With so many investors, operators, developers, suppliers and advisors from across the rental living sector ecosystem coming together to explore key issues, challenges and opportunities, the 10th Annual Conference was a timely reminder of the strength, innovation and future potential of the sector. The inaugural NextGen Pathways Conference was also a superb opportunity for the sector’s future leaders to learn, network and engage, demonstrating the bright future of rental living.”
