Two in three landlords in the UK live within 10 miles of their buy to let property and manage day to day maintenance of the property themselves, new research has found.
The study from Simple Landlords Insurance also shows that a fifth of landlords live within a mile of the house or flat they rent out and a further 46% live between one and 10 miles away.
A further 13% live between 10 and 25 miles from the property they rent out and only 15% of landlords live more than 50 miles away from their buy to let investment.
The firm says that the findings suggest that people prefer to invest in bricks and mortar in areas they know well, despite advice from some professionals that they could gain higher rent yields further afield.
Meanwhile a poll by Simple Landlords reveals that 65% of landlords made a conscious decision to invest in buy to let property while 17% identify themselves as ‘accidental landlords’ who decided to rent out a property they inherited or were unable to sell their home. Some 9% of landlords bought their property specifically for a family member to live in, such as for a child at university.
Some 45% of those polled owned a single rental property, while 40% owned between two and four properties and 15% said they have a portfolio of over five homes.
Most landlords, some 65%, play an active role in the maintenance of their property, dealing with any problems with tenants themselves rather than via a lettings agent, 24% use an agent to find tenants and then manage the property themselves, 41% do everything themselves, while 35% use an agent to do everything.
‘We are seeing an increasing trend of savvy landlords taking direct control of how their property is let and managed and becoming much more self-sufficient,’ said Alex Huntley from Simple Landlords Insurance.
‘While it can be easy to bash landlords as faceless investors, these results show they are more likely to be part of the community they invest in and take a personal interest in making sure their property is well maintained and tenancies are long term,’ he pointed out.
‘We are also seeing a growing demand from landlords to be able to manage their insurance policies online 24/7 and to buy flexible and scalable policies as their investments change and grow,’ he added.
A separate piece of research suggests that many landlords are too embarrassed to admit it. On 21% didn’t want people to know they let out property with those in the East of England and the East Midlands the most likely to feel that way with 29% and 29% respectively saying so.
At the other end of the scale the South East and Yorkshire and Humber have less embarrassed landlords with just 18% in these regions not wanting to reveal their status while it is just 13% in Scotland.
Richard Blanco, who lets property in London and the East Midlands, said he hasn’t always been truthful when it comes to admitting he’s a landlord. ‘Before becoming a landlord I thought long and hard about it because I had always disliked landlords as a student due to a bad experience I had over my deposit,’ he said.
‘These days I’m more upfront about it, but I tell people I work in property instead, because I still assume people won’t like me if tell them what I do. I also say that I work for the National Landlords Association (NLA) and that we campaign to improve the private rented sector, which tends to go down a bit better,’ he added.
The findings indicate that approximately 400,000 of the UK’s two million landlords avoid telling people what they do. The NLA, which is the largest representative body for landlords in the UK, says that despite the bad press, the majority of tenants are satisfied with their current landlord and tenancy.
‘The number of people looking to invest in property is rising all the time yet the stigma attached to being a landlord never seems to diminish,’ said Richard Lambert, NLA chief executive officer.
‘It’s the minority of rogues and criminal landlords that make the headlines, and this has a negative impact on everyone else. The majority of landlords are hardworking individuals who put their own money into providing homes for others, and they should not be ashamed to say so,’ he added.
