Friday, 19 January 2018

The Future of the Rutland Buy-To-Let Market

A recent report issued by the ‘Home’ website suggested many landlords are selling their buy-to-let investments due to increasing burdens on them.

Their findings suggest the number of new properties that came onto the sales market jumped by 11% across the UK as a result.





Those increasing ‘burdens’ include new tax rules coming in over the next 3 to 4 years and the announcement that all ‘self-managing landlords’ (i.e. landlords that don’t use a letting agent to look after their buy-to-let property) will soon need to register with a compulsory redress scheme to resolve tenant arguments and disputes.

Other recent legislations that have hit the private rented sector include the ‘Right to Rent’ regulation which came in to operation last year, whereby landlords have to certify their tenants have the legal right to live in the UK. This is, of course, one of the services included if landlords appoint a letting agent to manage their property. For ‘self-managed landlords’ who ignore these regulations, the consequences and fines can be severe.


So, what about those properties being released onto the sales market? 
 
Well, overall, Oakham doesn’t match the quoted national trend, with the number of properties on the market actually rising by 54% in the last year.  It was particularly interesting to see the number of flats increase by an impressive 338%, yet the number of semi's on the market only rose by 12%.


 
 
The majority of that movement in the number of properties and the types of properties on the market isn’t down to landlords dumping their properties on the market. The whole property market has changed in the last 12 months, with the majority of the change in the number and type of properties for sale due to the ‘owner-occupier’ market, not landlords.  Over the last 10 years, there has always been a small number of Rutland landlords who have been releasing their monies from their Oakham buy-to-let properties - as is the nature of all investments!

Nationally, the number of rental properties coming on to the market to rent fell by 16% in Q4 2017 compared to Q4 2016, but that isn’t because there are 16% less rental properties to rent – it’s because tenants are staying in their rental properties longer meaning less are coming on the market to be RE-LET.

Nevertheless, some landlords will want to release the equity held in their buy-to-let properties in 2018.  Landlords should seek advice from their lettings agent first, as putting a rental property on the open market often unsettles the tenants and may prompt them to hand in their notice days after you put it on the market, and can create costly void periods.
 
However, some letting agents who specialise in portfolio management have select lists of landlords that will buy with sitting tenants in.  If you have a property portfolio in the Stamford and Rutland area and are considering selling some or all of them - drop me a line as I might have a portfolio landlord for you (with the peace of mind that you won't have any rental voids).
 
David Crooke
 
Tel: 01572 725 825
 
 

 

 

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