Month: December 2016

Drop In Profits Would Result In Many Landlords To Stop Using Letting Agents

There are so many factors that affect the profitability of a landlord that has either one or more investment properties that they are letting out. For instance, the property could remain vacant for quite some time or additional expense could be incurred to replace fixtures and/or fittings. The changes in the taxation of landlords that are being introduced in a few months could also have such an impact.

Research reveals that many landlords would stop using the services of a letting agent if their profits fell.
Research reveals that a drop in the profits of a landlord would result in a large % of them stopping using the services of a letting agent.

So, what could a landlord do in order to mitigate a drop in profits? Well, a lot of landlords utilize the services provided by letting agents around the UK and, apparently, the UK Association of Letting Agents (UKALA) has undertaken some research that would indicate that a large percentage of landlords would feel it necessary to stop using letting agents to help them manage their property/properties that are let out to tenants.

Apparently, 57% of landlords use a letting agent’s services. You may find it surprising that the research revealed that 47% of landlords in the UK would stop utilizing such a service no doubt in the hope that their profit levels would improve.

Scotland, at 56%, was the region in the UK that had the highest percentage of landlords that would stop using a letting agent’s services if their profits were to reduce. This was followed by East England at 54% and then the South East at 53%. The region where the lowest percentage of landlords would stop using the services of letting agents was in the West Midlands at 29%.

Of course, many landlords are no doubt of the opinion that many of the letting agents in the UK provide an extremely useful service to them so, in some respects, would it not be a shame if landlords felt it necessary to stop using their services? It will be interesting to see if any and if so how many landlords feel they have to take such action at some point in the coming months.

Report Reveals Confidence Of Landlords Grew In Quarter 3 Of 2016

If you are a landlord you may find it interesting to read The Kent Reliance Buy to Let Britain report – Edition Five. It covers a number of key things that are happening in the buy-to-let mortgage market and private rented sector some of which we highlight below.

In the third quarter of 2016 a report shows that landlords appear to have greater confidence about letting out properties.
Landlords appear to be more confident about letting out properties in Q3 of 2016.

It is interesting to read that, of 900 landlords that took part in a survey in Q3 of 2016, it found that 54% of those landlords felt positive about their investment property portfolios. This was a considerable improvement on their feelings in the second quarter of this year when only 39% felt positive.

It is also interesting to read that 23% of those landlords were intending to buy more investment properties to let out to tenants in the next 12 months. If this happens it will be welcomed by many including the Government and prospective tenants looking for properties to rent out. One of the reasons for this is because there is believed to be a shortage of residential properties available in the UK for people to live in.

A high percentage of landlords are concerned about intervention by the Government in the lettings market. In the third quarter of 2016, 76% of landlords expressed concern whereas in the first quarter of 2016 this figure stood at 73%. So, as you can see, more landlords are concerned in this respect.

At the present time, there are 5.3 million homes in the private rented sector with this equating to 19.8% of all residential properties in the UK. This is an increase of 300,000 homes in the space of 12 months. However, it is forecast that the rate of growth in this sector has eased to 5.4% whereas in the first quarter of 2016 the rate of growth was 5.5%.

In September 2016, the average amount charged for rent in Great Britain was £881 per month and that was a record. However, the percentage amount that rents rose by, which was 3.5% per annum at the beginning of 2016, has eased to 2.4% per annum.

You may also find it of interest to read that, over the next 6 months, 33% of landlords intend to raise the amount that they charge their tenants in rent by an average of 5.4%.

So, if you are a landlord, why not take a look at the above report where there is a lot more interesting information.