Landlords looking to sell as tenant demand grows – Propertymark

In my home town, there are no 2 or 3 bed properties available to rent. I’ve never seen this before, other than when some areas suffered severe flooding and rental properties were snapped up within 24 hours.

Social media often has people asking for rental property and they’re prepared to pay more than I charge.

Desperate times for tenants. Well done Shelter (who don’t provide shelter to anyone).

In the past 12 months i have sold three properties, consisting of two with ground floor shop units with two flats each above and a single property with three flats (one on each floor). Total 9 units, (two commercial and seven residential). All the properties were tenanted, (the longest being 15 years, the shortest 3 years) Both commercial properties were purchased for office accommodation and have had the residential elements stripped out. The three unit property has been reconverted back into a single dwelling which was sold to a couple who wanted some dedicated "work from home" space. Net result was two shop units converted to offices and seven one bedroom flats removed from the rental market. In my area the biggest housing shortage is one bedroom flats! Sadly all the buyers wanted vacant possession, five of the seven displaced tenants are in "temporary" accommodation and have no idea when (or even if) suitable properties will be available. I didn't want to sell, the tenants didn't want to go. Ironically as I owned the properties mortgage free I hadn't been focussed on increasing rents in line with market rates for several years and so my the% yield on the properties was falling. When I sold up I took the cash generated and invested it and now make more money than I did before. So I'm getting better income, for much less hassle, win-win. The only losers are my former tenants! Well done to the previous Tory Government and their appeasement of housing "charities" and generation rent pressure groups!

Reply to the comment left by Steve A at 13/05/2025 - 10:13
Please can you tell me what you invested in?

Reply to the comment left by Steve A at 13/05/2025 - 10:13
I wish my figures reflected yours. I would like to sell but we are trapped by the CGT. Taking into account inflation, after 25 years of ownership and after paying CGT our real profit would be a sorry 6K.
We do have a 100K mortgage. We have a large Victorian property which has been converted into commercial at basement and 4 flats above. If we sold it would not leave us with enough money to even buy a 3 bed in the same area. Investing would not give any where near our rental income.

The lettings market was virtually self governing and self controlling by market demand for years. If you had a bad Tenant you just put the matter in the hands of your Solicitor and he served a Sec 21. I've only had to do it once and the Tenants left of their own volition within the 2 month notice period.
Of course there was the odd rogue Landlord but by the same token I suggest there are 100 times more bad Tenants.
A Landlord really cannot obtain an awful lot of info on Tenants before letting. In my case; yes you can obtain employer references or speak to their previous Landlord. However, I soon leaned that a previous Landlord are totally unreliable as they will say anything to get rid of troublesome Tenants.
I was forced to rely heavily on intuition - which many of us do but it should'nt be that way.
Now, letting your newly redecorated property in pristine condition is so much more of a risk when the means to remove an errant Tenant is more limited, costly, and time consuming.
The system worked fine for years, why change what isn't broken? There are already means at a Tenant's disposal to report a Landlord to the LA if there are problems with a property a Landlord doesn't address. There is absolutely no need for a Register of any type for Landlords - if anything, there should be a Register for Tenants to assist Landlords in referencing. But then there's no money to be made having a Tenants' register is there!
Have you ever thought what happens to the 'Tenants from Hell' who stop paying rent, Council Tax, Utilities, cause antisocial behaviour, and who are only evicted by the Bailiffs after a Landlord has been without rent for 18 months and has had to spend thousands to get them evicted? Then they wreck his property? These Tenants are perfectly free to move on to some other poor sod of a Landlord and do the same to them - and there is absolutely no way that new Landlord can check beforehand.
I always tried to provide lovely homes for my Tenants well below market rates. I welcomed them with £££ credit on their gas and electric and if there was a lady or couple moving in then there would be a bunch of flowers and a card wishing them happiness in their new home. I took pride in what I did and was often rewarded with good Tenants who looked after my properties with some staying 10+ years.
Since the Gov imposed Sec 24 it's been a steady downhill progression for me and it was then I started selling up. The introduction of further legislation and now Landlord Registers and Tenants Right Bill (why isn't it Landlords and Tenants Rights Bill)?
Anyway, I have now sold up and I am so glad I did. I've invested the money from the sales elsewhere. I'm getting a better return without any hassle. The biggest problem is watching my money grow without doing anything!

A big problem with the renter's rights bill and the decent homes standard are the conditions we have to meet. We are busy refurbishing to meet the decent homes standards. Our flats were not slums but they were tired. I would make clear to tenants that kitchens would not be replaced etc and that if something broke the first course of action would be repair not replacement. We dragged the life out of the carpets because they were quality BUT our rents reflected that. And tenants were happy. With the amount of investment we have incurred over the last few years with refurbs, new bathrooms new kitchens etc etc our rents have had to increase enormously and will now increase at every opportunity. The payback period after a refurb is long. Our most expensive refurb had a payback of 4.5 years. Smaller flats are 2 years. It is a shame because our flats used to be very affordable particularly for single people. Government intervention only makes everything more expensive for the landlord and the tenant. They have no idea how to comprehend that young people on lower income are happy to live in their own place which although may have problems is very cheap. BTW when I say problems it was never anything like heating or water it was just simply tired and old.