Page 2 | Buy to let - is it worth it?

Cocothebear · 2022-09-03T12:01:53+00:00

Basically my husband and I both have ok jobs but I don’t have a pension and my husbands is the absolute minimum. Neither of us will get an inheritance so understandably we are nervous about our future and our Childrens. My husband wants to remortgage and get two properties on an interest only mortgage and rent them out. He understands there won’t be much of any return now but is doing this so in 20 years or more this could secure our futures a little more. I just wanted to get some reasonable, intelligent responses from people who’ve done this and their experiences. We understand this is a pretty hefty undertaking so any advice welcome. TIA

overunderover · 17/07/2026 13:59

I did it for a while. As others have said expenses tend to eat most of the day to day income, but I did make money long term when selling the properties.

But I'm curious: If the purpose is to fund retirement, why don't you just take out private pensions instead? A lot less hassle, you can contribute up to 60K a year or up to 100% of your income, and the tax treatment is better.

ClaphamSeller · 17/07/2026 14:20

overunderover · 17/07/2026 13:59

I did it for a while. As others have said expenses tend to eat most of the day to day income, but I did make money long term when selling the properties.

But I'm curious: If the purpose is to fund retirement, why don't you just take out private pensions instead? A lot less hassle, you can contribute up to 60K a year or up to 100% of your income, and the tax treatment is better.

What expenses eat up all the rental income. How many times can plumber Electrican attend

KeepPumping · 17/07/2026 16:24

Movinghouseatlast · 03/09/2022 14:47

We did this 20 years ago as our pension- we bought two tiny houses rather than one normal sized one.

It has been great in that I have been able to 'take' my pension and semi retire early- not at all why we did it but a really great consequence.

We are looking at having to sell if/ when the new EPC regulations come in. You just can never tell what legislation is coming in the future.

Looking back I used to wish we could afford to live in a slightly bigger house ourselves- we basically lived in one and a half bed just so we had a pension for the future. Everything was tied up in the rental.property so we couldn't afford to move until fairly recently.

In 22 years we have had one major trashing with no rent for over 6 months. We now use Open Rent as you can vet tenants yourself.

How do you vet the tenants, you can only see public domain stuff like credit scores etc.?

Movinghouseatlast · 17/07/2026 16:58

KeepPumping · 17/07/2026 16:24

How do you vet the tenants, you can only see public domain stuff like credit scores etc.?

Show quote history

You meet them in person and talk to them . You make your own judgements about them from their circumstances . For example, I recently had a woman who was on a very low income but wanted to move in with her son- he passed the credit and affordability checks as he had a decent income. But how long was he going to be living with his mother and how would she afford the rent when he moved out? An agent wouldn't have bothered about that.

You also get references from previous landlords which aren't in the public domain, agents get those too.

XVGN · 17/07/2026 18:06

overunderover · 17/07/2026 13:59

I did it for a while. As others have said expenses tend to eat most of the day to day income, but I did make money long term when selling the properties.

But I'm curious: If the purpose is to fund retirement, why don't you just take out private pensions instead? A lot less hassle, you can contribute up to 60K a year or up to 100% of your income, and the tax treatment is better.

... it's far better diversified against risk and your sipp wont call you out in the middle of the night.

Not sure why this 2022 thread had to be resurrected, but hey-ho.

KeepPumping · 17/07/2026 19:47

Movinghouseatlast · 17/07/2026 16:58

You meet them in person and talk to them . You make your own judgements about them from their circumstances . For example, I recently had a woman who was on a very low income but wanted to move in with her son- he passed the credit and affordability checks as he had a decent income. But how long was he going to be living with his mother and how would she afford the rent when he moved out? An agent wouldn't have bothered about that.

You also get references from previous landlords which aren't in the public domain, agents get those too.

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Ok.

KeepPumping · 17/07/2026 19:48

XVGN · 17/07/2026 18:06

... it's far better diversified against risk and your sipp wont call you out in the middle of the night.

Not sure why this 2022 thread had to be resurrected, but hey-ho.

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Shows how out of favour BTL is now that there are no recent threads?

FartNRoses · 19/07/2026 09:04

I don’t think the current government want any private landlords anymore so they are making it extremely difficult to be one. I wouldn’t bother.

Movinghouseatlast · 19/07/2026 09:33

FartNRoses · 19/07/2026 09:04

I don’t think the current government want any private landlords anymore so they are making it extremely difficult to be one. I wouldn’t bother.

The new rules were brought in by the previous government. It was a Tory idea.

FartNRoses · 19/07/2026 10:08

Movinghouseatlast · 19/07/2026 09:33

The new rules were brought in by the previous government. It was a Tory idea.

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Ag yes, you’re right 👍

KeepPumping · 19/07/2026 14:33

If there is a nice crash in flat values, and they tidy up leasehold, and give landlords a bit of legal power to get rid of non-paying tenants quickly it could be worth a punt in future.