Any positive stories from buy to let ?

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I have some £ that i inherited
And sometimes consider this ....

I have complex medical history, & am deemed - disabled -, and sometimes question if i should do this

Sorry it was an absolute disaster for us. We ended up spending a fortune on legal bills. It’s something I deeply regret.

What do you mean by “positive” stories?

I mean, I suspect I know, but I’d like to be sure…

I have a house I rent out.

It costs me money every month - the rent doesn’t cover the mortgage / insurance / letting agents fees.

I see it as a pension. Long term I’m sure it will be fine. But it’s not a short term money spinner.

Interested to hear some too. I’ve only ever heard about the people who have been stung by people
not paying rent and ending up with huge legal costs. That can’t however be the case for everyone or why would anyone do it

It's not what it once was. Years ago it people were encouraged down that road to make their money work harder to essentially be a pension for them. Now they have tightened the rules more and more which means that one single property is likely to carry so much more risk. When things go wrong it can be hugely costly

I own a house that i rent out. I have never had any issues. My tenants have all been lovely. I don't have a mortgage and it has been a very good investment.

I am a long standing landlord with several properties looking to get out of the market. Now is NOT the time to get into BTL. You will get a far better return on capital in a well managed balanced fund - get some advice from a good IFA

Do not do it. The Government is announcing tomorrow further taxes on BTL landlords, widely expected to be NICS on income.

Its tough being a landlord, not for the faint hearted.

We’ve not had any problems. But it is not the safest or most lucrative investment! I would not go into it if you don’t already own a property, and wouldn’t go into it if you would need a mortgage. Don’t expect to make much money day to day - after maintenance costs and tax, you should be aiming to break even. Your profits will be from capital growth due to house prices rising. House prices are not rising much at present and are stagnant or falling in many areas, but in 15-20 years’ time they will have gone up.

You will almost certainly make more over the same period of time by investing it.

Did it for a while years ago when the return was much better than now. In short held onto a flat after buying a house with my then partner (now DH).

If you get a good tenant it can be manageable, but even then the amount of effort is considerable.

It’s very far from maintaining your own home and the regulations, insurance and expectation from tenants (though not unreasonable) is considerable.

Have a poor tenant who won’t pay, trashes the place or simply places an unduly high level of wear and tear on fixtures and fittings and it can become a money (and sanity) pit very quickly.

There are far, far better investments today and it’s not a road I’d go down again.

The day I finally sold up was a massive relief.

No. Under no circumstances. I have a few buy to let properties. It's not worth it with a few but with just one it's pointless and stressful.

It depends where it is and who would rent it. Do not think of it as an alternative to a pension. Theres no enhancement on anything in terms of tax relief. Pension contributions benefit from tax relief. You have far more costs with buy to let but some are good if in a sought after area.

I am not necessarily against income having NICS levied. It’s income after all - if it’s a meagre profit.

I’ve had several properties I rent out. Only once had a nightmare of a tenant . A couple have been a bit fussy (complaining when a light fixture was broken when all it needed was a bulb changing, that the drains were backed up but plumber says there was a huge fat buildup), otherwise they’ve all been fine. I live off the rentals so it worked for me.

It feels like there is some bias at play here. Do you want to hear positive stories so that you can ignore all the previous threads advising people not to?

My diversified investments are currently yielding 4% pa above inflation. No work (a little rebalancing every now and then) and they don't call me in the middle of the night to fix a boiler. A single BTL is incredibly illiquid and not diversified. One hit and it's down. You'd probably need a portfolio of, say, 10 BTL's in different locations and of different types in order to start getting some proper diversification.

TLDR: Don't do it!