"I have one landlord with 50 houses which he is unable to refinance as no lenders will lend, and another with 40 properties and a £6,000 per month mortgage deficit - the only option is to sell"
According to The Landlord Sales Agency, experts in selling buy-to-let portfolios, even with a significant increase in landlords looking to sell their buy-to-let properties, 75% of their agreed sales over the last 12 months have been to other landlords who are keeping the existing tenants.
Among the average 240 enquiries a month the firm receives from landlords looking to sell, Shauna, who recently sold her portfolio of 23 properties in Warrington through The Landlord Sales Agency, said aside from looking to retire she no longer wanted the stress of managing the properties. Despite a total portfolio value of £2.7m, rising costs and interest rates mean she is subsidising others to live in her properties.
David Coughlin, Managing Director of The Landlord Sales Agency, has joined others in raising concerns about the number of rental properties which could be lost from the private rented sector. He is working with large portfolio and corporate landlords, as well as tenants and in some cases local authorities, to keep as many tenants in their homes as possible, despite the landlords’ circumstances.
David says: “We have a market right now which is not serving landlords, tenants or homeowners! No-one wins. Rising interest rates, higher bills and tighter regulation are making it impossible for some landlords to remain in the market as their retirement plans no longer stack up financially.
"I have one landlord with 50 houses which he is unable to refinance as no lenders will lend, and another with 40 properties and a £6,000 per month mortgage deficit - the only option is to sell. That’s just two examples, and on average more than 200 tenants who could stand to lose their home.”
Adopting an unusual business model, Coughlin says there is such as critical need for rental properties in this country, that he and his team are going above and beyond to work with landlords to try and keep properties in the PRS by selling tenanted properties.
He adds: “We will go to any lengths to help solve the problem, enabling the landlord to offload the properties but keep the tenants housed."
Landlord Sales Agency have helped tenants pay their current rents, paid off arrears, paid for tenants to relocate and in some cases, even paid tenants’ rent in advance for the next landlord who takes on the property. For more challenging cases, they have built relationships with local councils across the UK who can support tenants’ rent payments where applicable, clear outstanding funds and even pay off legal costs.
David concludes: “We’re trying to help both landlords and tenants navigate their way through this extremely challenging time. Tenants are having to accept rent rises, and in 50% of the sales we have agreed, the tenants have opted to stay with a higher rent because they know fierce competition for rental properties could see them paying even more elsewhere.”
