Landlords are selling up in droves

[MNisMyGuiltyPleasure]

I am a landlord. Not full time but I have a couple of flats I let out. I have been for many years and bar twice, have always had good tenants. I am still friendly with a few of them who moved out to buy their own place, in fact. I go above and beyond what's expected of me because I want my tenants to enjoy living in my flats. However I am getting more and more concerned about the hike in costs related to letting properties. This has already started driving many, many LLs to sell up, with the result that the number of private rentals is dropping, driving rents up. And I'm serious thinking of selling up and finding somewhere else to invest my pension.

This morning another landlord shared this article www.property118.com/property118-founder-selling-his-best-property/ and this started a conversation about the risks of letting, which are only making more people get out of the lettings market.

So to all those people calling landlords greedy, and saying they shouldn't put rents up: if they are, it's likely they are because their costs related to letting are going up, and they need to cover themselves to meet additional costs should tenants not pay (cost of living or whatever other reason). My accountant last year told me to assume I will only make money from my flats when I come to sell them, and to budget to break even at best until then.

I get that shelter is something everyone should have, but please don't blame landlords for the hike in cost of private rents. Because if they all left the market (which may well happen at some point), the situation would be worse, not better, for tenants.

I am sure I will get a few people to flame me for the above, of course. If they do, I'd love to hear if they are renting, letting, or if they own their homes.

Seems to be quite the opposite around here (East Mids) - every property that FTB DD is offering on, she's losing out to an investor offering above asking!

I don't believe in hoarding property, but I get it because capitalism. Good luck.

But there wouldn't be any private rentals without landlords.

as I said: capitalism so I get it

I have been hearing for years that landlords are selling up in droves because it’s oh so hard to make a profit, but I don’t see it at all. Being a landlord comes with risk, if you don’t like it alternative investment opportunities are available. Of course, perhaps not as lucrative in the long term. Cue all the landlords insisting they are providing a public service to people who’d be homeless without them.

Round my way, it's primarily the Airbnb operators who are selling up.

I think there's a place, and a need, in most areas for decent-quality housing to rent as well as to buy (in terms of somewhere to live). Renting can be anything from a necessity to a helpful stage for people at various points of their lives. That said, I do think the rules around tenancies should be tightened up so that landlords are more responsible for providing property at a decent standard, and for a fair price. Scotland does this better than England, in my opinion. (We have no fixed-term tenancies here now, letting agents aren't allowed to charge fees, and the balance of rights is firmly in favour of the tenant).

I think the Airbnbs of this world are the worse parasites, personally. And I'm glad to see some of them packing up and selling up in my neck of the woods.

@FuckabethFuckor - I agree about the Air BnBs.

I rent but I am in housing association so no skin in the game either way.

I think there should be more HA properties built so that people don't have to rely on private landlords! I don't agree with BTL mortgages either, if you can't afford to buy outright you shouldn't be a landlord. No sympathy for landlords from me.

I rent out one house, which I don't have a mortgage on.
It makes a modest profit and I probably spend £1-2k a year on rolling improvements and maintenance. Plus tax, insurance and agency fees as I don't manage it myself. It's kept to a good standard.
I don't know how people with mortgages on rental property make any money on it to be honest. The margins aren't great and you can often have significant expenses for repairs etc that need doing immediately.
I am very unlikely to raise the rent on mine as the tenants have been good and I don't want to price them out. I could probably easily relet it but I'd prefer a long term tenant. I'd lose 6 months rent in refurbishment and unpaid time. I don't plan on selling it right now.

Yep! I'm in the same area and a family member is selling her house, she's had more viewings from BTL landlords than people who want to live in the property themselves!

@Beezknees - agree! Unfortunately government funding is very limited for HAs and they mostly rely on loans from private banks which are expensive. Right to Buy needs reform too. I don’t disagree with it in principle but the amount of people who buy their HA property and then rent it back to the HA to house another family for £££ is mad. The HAs can’t replace them quick enough either.

Also a landlord of a single property.
I'm seeing a lot of this around too. You'll get flamed on here because landlords= evil, but money is the main reason most landlords get in/ stay in the business, and removing that means no reason to stay in. Removing the ease of getting a problem tenant out is another big factor. Lots of posters will say good, but thats no help to the people who can't afford to buy, and are being given notice with nowhere new available to rent.

Agree with you, I actually have right to buy now but I won't do it. When I'm older and DS has moved out I'll get on homeswapper and downsize to a one bedroom place. I feel very fortunate to have this property (rent is about £250pm less than private rent!) I would like it to benefit another single mum like it did me.

I am all for legislation but only if it's balanced. At the moment it is too skewed in favour of tenants (you'll know what I mean if you've ever tried to evict a tenant!) and that's not fair either. If landlords are bound by strict rules, then so should tenants. Instead at the moment a tenant can continue to live in a property for months, even if they stop paying, and their landlord must continue to provide maintenance, for example. How is that fair? So yes to rules and legislation, but for both sides. Both before and after the rental agreement is signed.

@MNisMyGuiltyPleasure I am moving in with my partner and had planned to rent my house

However due to mortgage rates the rent I can charge will just about cover that

What are the other charges incurred for landlords? I'm increasingly drawn to just selling it

The reason a lot of people complain about and have a poor view of landlords (the "landlord=evil") is experience of landlords who do not do their part of the business, do not do repairs, do not maintain their properties, but only take the money from the tenants and often try to knock off the deposits. It's not the "making a profit of another person's living situation" problem.

It's a business, sure. That means it has risks as every other business and you cannot expect always to be getting profits and it means that you have to keep track of and adhere to the legal obligations that are required of you in this type of business. This includes certain maintenance/repairs, this includes stuff like not trying to do things you are not legally allowed to do (e.g. intrusions into tenants' lives, trying to raise the rent more often than the law allows, trying to raise the rent when the law doesn't allow you to do so... etc.) Many landlords do not do that, but seem to see renting out a property as just a way of obtaining reliable extra income without having to do anything regarding the property.

We became accidental landlords a couple of years back when we just weren't getting any interest on our savings. We have 2 properties, one with a friend in and one rented through an agency. They were both bought outright - yes, I know we're lucky - and to be honest we wouldn't have bought otherwise. No plans to buy anymore now that interest rates are rising a bit but can't imagine having BTL mortgages and being able to sleep.

I’m like Beamur, I am lucky to have 2 mortgage free properties inherited from my DDad. I have made a loss in the last 2 years as they both needed a full refurb and this was more expensive than the rent they can realise in a year, especially once you substract agents’ fees, insurance and various repairs. No tax to pay as I made a net loss, but in a normal year there’d be those costs plus tax. There’s also the stress that comes with being 100% responsible for someone else’s home.
TBH I don’t really see where things are getting much worse than before, unless of course you have a mortgage. True, there’s more regulation but I’m happy to comply- if a gas safety certificate, electrical installation certificate, EPC certificate and a carbon monoxide detector bother you, you shouldn’t be a landlord.
A lot of the people who got in the BTL bandwagon in the 90s are sitting pretty. However there’s an ageing demographic there and I think that’s often why they are selling up.

You're absolutely not an accidental landlord.

I was evicted once - the landlord used to live there with his family but then decided to cheaply rent a property from a friend who was living abroad and when the friend decided to come back out of the blue he then decided to give me 1 month notice out of the blue to move out.

I had never defaulted on rent or any bills and kept the property well.

It was around the time my exH and I separated (DV) and I had closed my small biz and was starting out as an employee again with a part time job - so low income, single parent and some benefits coming in.

Despite my savings, letter of recommendation from my landlord and my job and having guarantors, I was not able to rent anywhere else because you know: single mother on benefits is all they hear despite me showing fund for a deposit, 3 advanced moths rent and my job saying that I would be in full time work in 3 moths time.

It was humiliating, especially dealing with state agents. The landlords that didn't use state agents were very dodge and didn't want to use paperwork.

So I couldn't move - unless I made the streets my home and had to be evicted which is a very traumatic experience and more so for me without any family in the country. After being in a B&B and temporary accommodation, I am now lucky enough to have my council flat which is the same size / same area and less than half of the rent I was paying to the landlord 8 years ago.

BTW I paid the rent and bills throughout the eviction process and I left the place clean and tidy with absolutely nothing left behind to be disposed of.

Surely if landlords sell their excess homes, there'll be more houses for sale and the price of housing will drop?

@TomAllenWife Getting your property compliant so installing alarms. If you are renting to 3 or more non related persons, you might need an HMO license and your council might require you to install fire doors, wired heat detectors etc. Then as mentioned, insurance, letting agent fees, gas safety certificate ( I also have yearly cover with British Gas for boiler breakdown etc- I don’t want to be scrabbling about for a plumber in the middle of winter), inevitable repairs in the course of a year, and tax. Every 5 years an electrical inspection for an EICR certificate. I’m also a member of the NRLA for their landlord helpline, that’s about £90 pa. There’s probably more but that’s the main stuff.

Agreed. That sounds entirely intentional and you need to own it.

Hmm maybe not in your eyes but believe me we had no intention of ever owning and renting out property, there were quite a number of factors involved, hence the 'accidental' bit - note to self, remember to choose your words with care on MN

I'm a landlord - had two properties which I rented out, sold one to fund my own home purchase, the other remains with its long-term tenants. I'll spare you all the description of how my tenants are rolling in clover, but I think I do a good job and treat them how I'd like to be treated (ie leave them alone unless they let me know something needs doing, and then doing that thing promptly and to a good standard).

I hate the entire system. Tenants should have more rights and esp protection from unreasonable rent increases. Landlords should be able to evict problem tenants without the potential six-month process they now face. There needs to be more, and more readily available social housing so the market is more settled.