Do You Fit the Private Landlord Profile?

A snapshot of landlords and letting has just been released by the Department of Communities and Local Government following a survey of property investors.

The aim is to profile landlords how they buy, let, manage buy to let and shared homes, sometimes called houses in multiple occupation (HMO).

The survey – compiled from data collected in 2010 – is carried out every four years.

• The results profile property investors and landlords in England – and here are some of the findings:
• Nine out of 10 landlords are property investors owning 71% of all private rented homes
• 78% of landlords own a single letting property
• Just 8% of property investors claim they are full-time landlords
• Around a half of homes (54%) meet decent homes standards, although the number shoots up to 74% of new landlords.
• Only 42% of homes have energy performance certificates although they are required by law
• The boom years of buy to let were 1990 until 1999, when 25% of all buy to let properties were bought and 2000 until 2010, when 50% of all properties were purchased.
• A fifth (22%) of landlords have invested in buy to let in the past three years, while the rest have owned their properties for four years or more, with the majority (48%) buying their first letting property between 2001 and 2007.
• Almost all landlords (97%) agree written tenancy agreements, while 91% ask tenants for deposits and 84% take up references.
• Most part-time landlords (84%) earned less than 25% of their income from rent, but more than half (57%) of fulltime landlords earned 50% or more of their income from renting out homes

Download a full copy of the report here