Any landlords NOT selling?

[Illjusthavethebreadsticks]

After reading the thread about how landlords are selling up in droves due to the changes coming in and feeling thoroughly anxious and depressed, I wonder if there any landlords on here not selling up.

I have a lovely flat and live in constant fear of the landlord deciding to sell.

Help me feel a bit more hopeful thanks !!

I'm not at the moment however I may reconsider if anyone moves on - I own mine outright though so no interest rates to consider

I have two friends who each have a house. One rents at a vastly reduced rate to her child and the other hasn’t sold but when the last tenant gave notice she decided to just use as a second home and let out to close friends at a reduced rate for holidays. The going rate would be at least 1k a week in this chocolate box pretty cottage in a beauty spot for holidays, she rented to us for £300 for a week last summer.

I've got a portfolio of 12 btl houses. I'm not selling ATM but once ECP C comes in I'll have to sell 2 houses that are Victorian terraced with ECP high D just 2 points from a C but can't get a C without internal cladding. I've been quoted £13.5k for 3 bedroom house and £10.5k for 2 bedroom house. This is so tenant can save about £86 a year. It doesn't make business sense to keep these houses so I'll be selling. It's a pity because I have lovely tenants in these 2 houses, families with DC. It's madness because privately owned houses don't have to be a C. My own hpus is a D and I'm quite happy with it.

Op

i think that many landlords will not re let, rather than evict. We are almost into April so the chance of evicting you on a no fault eviction, has passed.

now if your landlord want to sell the property they have to give you 4 months ( I think) notice and once you move out, they can’t re let the property for 12 months if they don’t manage to sell

so most likely scenario for many LL with decent tenants, they’ll bide their time and if you give notice and leave - then they’ll pop it up for sale without the string legally of not being able to re let within 12 months if it doesn’t sell etc

Helpful

Me. I rent out 2 flats and have no plans to sell up just now. In 20 years I've only ever had to evict 1 tenant and I could still do that under the RR bill.
My rents may have to rise a little next year to absorb the tax hit thats coming but my properties will still be very competitive rent wise and there's an ever growing demand for rental property, so I'm not anticipating any problems.

I'm not selling, and I just have the one property - I have fab tenants who have been with me for 16 years, absolutely no reason to sell as things stand.

On this point - there is no news on the new ECP or what it is going to be - is there?

but this is going to be a problem still for many council properties as they don’t met C rating falling short at D

i do wonder if this is the real reason this was pulled at the last minute, cynical 🤨?

as an aside, rather than internal cladding/insulation, you might be better with £5k of solar panels without a battery on each roof. It takes a house easily to the old C rating.

I’m not selling right now but will in 4 yrs when the mortgage is paid off . I am tired of more and more hate on landlords together with the constant government demands and red tape . I have a good flat and keep it maintained and legal in all aspects and am just tired of it all .

This is true, if my tenants left (I hope they don't, they have been so good for 16 years) I would sell up.

The 4 months notice isn't an issue for selling, because with S21, letting that expire and going to court, its the same or longer - but of course the no re-letting (even as air b and b or holiday let for a further 12 months) will prevent that from being abused.

Keeping mine. It’s managed by an agent, I have excellent insurance, and I never expected to make money on it month to month anyway.

We're not selling at the moment - we have lovely stable tenants. We are worried about the EPC changes though and in the past had awful problems with one bad tenant- it took ages to get him out during Covid and he left owning 25k- so anything like that again and we may give in.

Providing the s21 is served by 1st April and proceedings brought by 1st July you can still use s21.

We have a very high end 6 bed HMO with all rooms let on seperate contracts. A bit like a non staffed hotel. Possibly the worst kind of property to have now the new legislation has come in, as all 6 rooms have the potential to turn over every two months if we end up with tenants who are flighty or want short term lets. Not selling at the moment as it’s a big part of our income but will see how it goes for the first 6 months. If it’s causing too much extra work then will probably sell and replace with something that isn’t an HMO or that is commercial.

I sold my rental property last year as my tenants were relocating. I used to get £1200 in rent and I now get £1000 a month in interest so after costs I'm better off with the money in the bank and hassle free.

@IlljusthavethebreadsticksNo problem ☺️

I've got 2 rental properties and I do not plan on selling them. The income I get helps me with day to day living and will also supplement my pensions when I'm retired. I've just put in double glazed sashes in one of the properties as the EPC rating is D currently. It will need to be C at some point in the future when that enforcement comes in. So last year has been expensive but I'm hoping the costs will settle down a bit now.

Tbh I'm hoping Reform UK get in at next general election and dump the EPC nonsense. I think they will reverse RRA into something more balanced between LL and renter.

Have one property in Scotland, no mortgage on it. I would like to keep it to rent out - its a significant part of my monthly income that I need to support me and my kids - but if changes make it too costly or high risk I will very reluctantly have to sell. I don't have a high income from my employment and whilst I put money aside each month to cover repairs and maintenance on the property, if I have to do costly energy saving on the property I simply won't have the funds to cover it. My property is an old historic one and II have already done everything I can to improve the energy efficiency but its still low due to it being a solid stone building. Anything else we could do would be prohibitively expensive. If the legislation forces us to take on more high risk tenants I would also sell, as I cannot afford this either.

Yes indeed, but my meaning was it’s more and more unlikely at this late stage

Interesting. Can I ask what % interest you are getting and where?

I am in Scotland, and so our letting regs have been ahead of England by a decade or so.
I baled out when on top of the regs Labour started making noises about rent controls, limiting small landlords and more. The direction was clear.

My mum has 5 rental properties. She inherited them from my dad. They're in a will trust. She can only sell them if she goes back to the solicitors/trustees to get permission, change the deeds, redo the will trust bla, bla, bla, expense and hassle.
She'd have to invest the sale money in stocks and shares which is great if you're not 80 years old and can ride the highs and lows of doing that. But she is 80. So she's stuck as a reluctant landlady until she dies. That said there is one property where her tenants are always 3 months in arrears, clever enough to pay something on the 4th month so it would be futile to take them to court as a judge would see effort on their part, we know this will get worse come May. She won't be able evict them very easily and replace with good tenants, so selling will be her only recourse.

We have one property, a flat. It’s currently occupied by my nephew after our daughter moved out. He’s on a much lower rent than the norm, I haven’t increased it in the two years he’s been there, although the service charge has increased twice. If he decides to move out we may sell it, the service charge part is becoming a joke, I will have to increase his rent slightly, we’ll split the increase with him. Thankfully we haven’t got a mortgage on it, we used savings as an investment as our private pension plans are pretty crappy compared to a company pension, 🤷‍♀️

I’ve not sold, although I seriously doubt my thinking about it sometimes. My rental is my previous home and it’s not a straight business decision…if it was, it would’ve been long gone!