Taylor Scott International News
Being a landlord in the UK is becoming an increasingly stressful business with over half using their holidays to sort out issues, new research shows. Some 25% have found being a landlord more stressful than they had expected and 67% said they were more stressed than 12 months ago, according to a survey by UK Landlord Tax. The survey showed that 53% of landlords use up to 20% of their annual leave sorting out issues with their properties. Also 46% of landlords spent up to 20 hours a year on phone calls, negotiating with agents and tenants as well as sorting out insurances, house repairs and maintenance. Other contributing factors included late rent payments (58%), funding property maintenance and repairs (40%) and tax worries (38%). Expat landlords feel under the most pressure with 86% worried about the potential changes to personal allowance entitlement. However, those who had been landlords for 10 years or more felt under least pressure. Other issues and worries for all landlords included properties lying empty with no tenants in place (35%), not having enough time to deal with issues at the property due to work constraints (28%) and expensive agency fees (15%). Four legged friends were another ‘pet hate’ landlords had to tackle. While 60% of those surveyed said they don’t currently allow pets in their property, 5% discovered at the end of the tenancy that their tenants had been keeping pets without consent, and experienced some level of damage to the property. While 74% of those surveyed said they had no plans to stop letting out their property in the next 12 months, 51% said they didn’t expect to make any money in that time either. This ties in with figures from the National Landlords Association which revealed that 27% of landlords who let out a single property break even or run at a loss, meaning just a few unexpected expenses can leave them struggling. ‘Following the dramatic increase in landlords in the UK it’s not surprising that they are becoming more stressed. Letting properties is a serious business and with the number of so-called ‘accidental landlords’ increasing significantly it’s no surprise that landlords are feeling the pressure,’ said Simon Thandi, director at UK Landlord Tax. Taylor Scott International
Taylor Scott International, Taylor Scott
