Bricklane, the residential property investment platform, has doubled its geographic footprint by expanding into select markets in the north west of England.

The business is now active in six major markets where its proprietary technology platform has identified an acute unmet need for quality rental housing, while a newly completed financing package with a leading UK lender has enabled Bricklane to continue growing its presence in previously established markets.

Over the past two years, Bricklane has assembled a substantial portfolio of rental homes in London, Bristol and the South East, supported by institutional capital. 

Following acquisition, each property is modernised through a sustainability-focused retrofit and aesthetic upgrades to meet the requirements of modern renters. Retrofitting existing stock enables Bricklane to avoid the carbon-cost of demolition and construction, while more rapidly professionalising the UK rental market. 

Bricklane claims that its operational track record has supported the continued growth and expansion of the business, despite uncertainty in the UK housing market and institutional real estate more widely.  

Building on its success with existing properties, the business has expanded into buying new build properties across the UK using its proven tech-driven underwriting and ability to transact quickly, ultimately supporting more houses being built. Successful financing with a leading UK lender and the addition of these new markets will further accelerate the business in revolutionising the UK rental market through responsible, active investment. Entry into further new markets is planned over the coming months.

It says the UK faces a significant challenge in upgrading the environmental performance of its existing rental stock, which has seen little investment over recent years from individual landlords. 

With a growing national reach, Bricklane is well-positioned to drive this change at scale – taking environmentally inefficient homes and upgrading them to perform significantly better than required by upcoming legislation (for example to EPC B or high C), directly lowering residents’ energy bills as well as improving the ESG attributes of the portfolio.

From first visit to move out, residents receive a market-leading service, with three-year tenancies offered as standard, fast response times on maintenance requests and 24-hour support available through a dedicated tenant app. Some 75 per cent of Bricklane residents say that it is best rental experience they have ever had.

Simon Heawood, CEO and Co-Founder of Bricklane, says: “There has never been a more urgent need to upgrade the quality of the UK’s rental housing and provide residents with high quality properties in which they can feel at home. With the support of our institutional partners, we have the necessary firepower in place to accelerate the market-wide change that we’ve long advocated for, and benefit more households across the UK.

“We have spent years building the technology, data science expertise and operational teams to enable us to affect this change at scale, and our growing reach takes us further on our mission to revolutionise the rental landscape. Despite skyrocketing demand, standards in the private rented sector remain poor, and highly variable – we believe we can make a significant difference in setting a new standard, and giving residents the better properties, and the better service, that they deserve.”