Rent Your Home to a Footballer This Summer

Last season, Partridge Homes relocated every single Birmingham City FC signing. All nineteen of them. This summer, we’ve already started on the new campaign, with goalkeeper James Beadle returning to the club on another season-long loan from Brighton & Hove Albion — and needing a brand new property to call home. He trusted us last season. He trusted us again this summer. That’s the kind of endorsement no marketing budget can buy.

If you own a house or apartment in Birmingham, Solihull, or the surrounding area, this article is for you. July and August are the most important months in sports relocation, and right now we’re actively looking for properties.

Why Footballers Rent — and Why That Matters to You

For professional players arriving at a new club, renting is almost always the first step. A loan move, in particular, rarely justifies committing to a purchase. Even permanent transfers often see players rent first while they settle into a new city, find the right schools, and get a feel for where they want to put down longer-term roots. Some go on to buy; many don’t need to.

That preference for renting is your opportunity as a landlord.

The 2025 summer transfer window saw Premier League clubs alone spend over £3 billion on new talent, with fourteen players signed for fees exceeding £50 million.. Every one of those players needs somewhere to live. And while the headline signings grab the attention, the same dynamic plays out across the Championship and the leagues below it: players arrive, clubs need to house them quickly, and the clock is ticking.

The Transfer Window Timeline

The summer transfer window runs until 1 September. That deadline creates real pressure. Clubs, agents, and players don’t want a footballer sitting in a hotel for weeks while a tenancy is sorted. Speed matters. Discretion matters. And the right property matters enormously.

From the moment a deal is agreed, there can be as little as 48 to 72 hours before a player needs to be in a property and ready to train. The agent who can move at that pace, with a prepared shortlist and landlords already on board, is the one the clubs call first.

That’s exactly what we’ve built at Partridge Homes. Nineteen relocations last season, completed without a single gap. James Beadle’s return this summer means the new campaign is already under way.

What These Tenants Are Looking For

Footballers and their families are not a difficult brief, but they are a specific one. The properties that work tend to share a few characteristics:

• Detached homes with gated or private access. Privacy matters, particularly for higher-profile players.
• Space and outdoor amenity. Large gardens, swimming pools, and home gyms are frequently cited as requirements rather than preferences.
• Modern, fully furnished interiors. Players arriving mid-summer don’t have time to furnish a property. Move-in ready is essential.
• Proximity to training grounds. Birmingham City train at Wast Hills in Kings Norton. Proximity to that site, or to the M42 corridor, makes a property genuinely practical for players and their families.
• High-spec apartments with concierge. Not every player wants a house. Younger players or those on shorter loans often prefer a well-appointed apartment with security and convenience built in.

The areas that consistently attract this type of tenant include Solihull, Barnt Green, Knowle, Dorridge, Four Oaks, and Little Aston. In 2025, Partridge Homes agreed a record rental in Barnt Green at £21,500 per calendar month, reflecting both the quality of the property and the calibre of tenant now active in these postcodes.

What Budgets Look Like

Salaries across professional football have risen significantly as the sport has grown in commercial value. At Premier League level, accommodation budgets can regularly exceed £15,000 per month (Knight Frank, 2025). Championship-level players typically sit in the £3,000 to £8,000 per month range, depending on career stage and contract value. For a landlord with a well-presented property in the right location, this is a genuinely compelling rental yield — often over a full season, which means twelve months of certainty rather than a series of shorter lets.

These are also tenants who, in our experience, treat properties with care. They’re often accompanied by a partner and family. They’re focused on their career. They’re not hosting parties. The profile suits landlords who want a reliable, high-value tenancy rather than the highest possible headline rent with greater turnover risk.

The Supply Problem — and Your Advantage

One factor that doesn’t get enough attention: supply at this end of the market is genuinely tight. More owners of larger, premium homes in leafy parts of the West Midlands have chosen to sell rather than let in recent years, drawn by strong sale prices and a changing tax environment. That means the pool of move-in-ready, high-spec rental properties available at short notice in July and August is consistently smaller than the demand for them.

If your property is already on our books before the window peaks, you’re in a strong position. If you wait until a club calls us, you may miss the window entirely.

How the Process Works

We handle everything. Landlords who work with us on sports relocations don’t need to manage the pace of the transfer window themselves. We maintain a curated shortlist of properties that meet the requirements of the clubs and agents we work with, and when a relocation brief comes in, we move immediately.

That means:

• A pre-agreed tenancy structure, with terms that suit both landlord and player
• Full referencing and due diligence, handled at speed
• Ongoing management throughout the tenancy
• Complete discretion at every stage

We don’t publicise the names of tenants without their consent, and we don’t use properties as marketing vehicles. The landlords and players we work with trust us to keep things professional and private. That’s why clubs come back to us — and why James Beadle is in a Partridge Homes property again this summer.

We Need Your Property Now

July and August are the window. If you own a house or apartment in Solihull, Barnt Green, Knowle, Dorridge, Four Oaks, Little Aston, or anywhere within a reasonable distance of Birmingham and the M42 corridor, and your property is furnished to a high standard, we want to hear from you before the summer peak arrives.

This doesn’t have to be a permanent letting arrangement. Many of our sports relocations run for a season, with the option to extend. Some landlords choose to keep their properties within our sports and entertainment portfolio on an ongoing basis; others prefer to return to the open market afterwards. Either way, the financial return and the calibre of tenant make this worth exploring seriously.

If you’d like to discuss registering your property for sports relocation, the team at Partridge Homes would be glad to talk it through with you. The transfer window doesn’t wait, and neither should your property.