Wanted - BTL Landlords

Gorgeous_George

BTL Landlords have taken quite a bit of stick over the past few years. Some of it deserved but much of it borne purely out of envy.

Popular opinion right now is that the housing market will falter over the next few years. Some BTL LLs may be spooked by the negative vibes and may take the opportunity to offload some, or all, of their properties once the capital gains tax (CGT) rules change in April this year.

The result is that there will be less properties in the rental sector. Not all tenants are wannabe homeowners.

Where would a fall in BTL properties leave those who choose to rent?

Will BTL LLs see a surge in popularity?

GG

TJ27

Well I don't know about other parts of the country but where I am there is a large excess of BTL properties. If some are sold then the balance might be about right. And perhaps those who do want to buy will at last be able to.

I think you're probably right that there will be lots of such properties on the market before too long. Whether they will sell or not, for anywhere near the asking price, is another matter.

The landlords I speak to with lots of houses in desirable areas (close to university. Some have several hundred.) aren't too worried about the future. Most of them have been in the game for years and have seen it all before. Those with only one or two houses, purchased recently, are a little more concerned that their "pensions" might not provide for them in their old age.

teabelly

Being close to a local university isn't a guarantee though. The one nearest me is having problems and is shutting departments. Falls in student numbers affect the local market quite seriously. There were lots of rental properties I noticed that seem to remain unlet for most of term time which is unusual. They were the bottom end price wise so I think students may just be becoming more fussy as the posh flats and laminate floor palaces seem to rent without bother. Landlords around here seem to be selling off multi let places in droves but that may because of HMO legislation rather than lack of demand.

If the property market does go a bit south then more will choose to rent as they are fearful of losing money over the short term but forget they'll be paying someone else's mortgage with their rent. I also think rents have to rise more to reflect the actual cost and space of the property that is being rented as it seems bizarre that a one bed flat worth 75k will rent for £450 pcm and a 3 bed semi worth £130k will only rent for £500 pcm. It may of course be a reflection of demand in that no one wants to rent a house and they all want flats for some reason :-)

clutton_2

some universities now build their own student accommodation - Bristol landlords struggled last year to fill houses for this reason

teabelly

Students don't seem as prepared to share houses as they used to. I think most prefer to have their own space these days as communal living seems to cause most no end of stress with less well off students nicking their food and the usual disagreements about levels of cleanliness. That may be one of the reasons as well as the uni building more student accommodation. Were there just as many problems with letting out one bedroomed flats?

Gorgeous_George

Students used to be sociable animals. Drinking, partying, meeting in the library to study - whatever.

Today, they do their research on a PC alone in their room and spend hours playing on-line games.

Boring, boring, boring.

And most are doing courses that have no real value. Wasted lives.

GG

silvercar

The difference in standards between university accomodation and private used to minimal. Rooms in hall were generaly small and self catering options limited, so students often valued the freedom of a shared house.

Nowadays university accom is more varied with lots of self catering options as well as broadband and gyms becoming standard. Also unis have introduced en-suite facilities (at a price) in order to attract the conference market in holiday times. The differences are now too great and so private accom is generally considered a poor second bast. Add to that the HMO legislation for BTL landlords to contend with and the whole option becomes unattractive.

Generali

Let us not forget that there's good money in it for the university to provide rooms for students too. And they seem to get planning permission where others wouldn't.

Rick62

Gorgeous_George wrote: »

The result is that there will be less properties in the rental sector. Not all tenants are wannabe homeowners.

Where would a fall in BTL properties leave those who choose to rent?

Will BTL LLs see a surge in popularity?

GG

Why do BTL landlords keep spouting this utter nonsense. If rather than selling the BTL LL bulldozed their property then it might be true, however they don't, they sell. When they sell it is either bought by another BTL LL and rented out, or it is bought by someone to live in, who in many cases will have been renting before. The total housing stock remains the same.

What does happen however, if the BTL sells and no other LL wants to buy is the price comes down, making it more affordable for the owner occupier, thus less people rent and more might own again.

In fact BTL reduces the available housing, because ([EMAIL="I@m"]I'm[/EMAIL] guessing) more BTL properties are vacant with voids than for residential property.

Peoples objection to BTL is twofold, first that property is artifically restricted by planning, so a BTL property is not of benefit, but is substituting an owner occupier property, and second that loads of people are now strutting around thinking they are great business people and lording it over their tenants when in fact it took no great skill, just luck to have ridden the biggest ponzi scheme in British history.

TJ27

Oh there are a stack of university halls being built here too. But we have a student population of about thirty thousand, so we still need privately rented houses too. The result is basically that the houses which are a long walk away will be empty next year, whereas those a short walk away will be full.

The landlords of the empty properties may well wish to sell up but who will want to buy at current prices? A lot of oldish people bought one or two of these houses fairly recently because they saw it as an alternative to poorly performing pensions. I sometimes fear that they may have made quite a poor financial decision, especially when I visit them and say that they must spend tens of thousands to bring the house up to standard.

sm9ai

Lets not forget stupidly high tuition fees means more people study at a local university and have no need for rented accommodation.