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Two-thirds of private landlords have what is classed as ‘normal’ jobs, renting out property to supplement their main income.

New research from online letting agent MakeUrMove found that the most common occupations for landlords are jobs in IT, teaching and accountancy. Surprisingly, just 5 per cent of buy to let investors are full time landlords who own five properties or more, which suggests that very few landlords profit from large portfolios.

Although many landlords are in the business through choice, the number of accidental landlords has risen significantly in recent years. The research found that a mere 18 per cent of landlords became landlords through intending to create a property investment business. 16 per cent of landlords let a property that they inherited and 22 per cent became landlords through a range of circumstances, such as being unable to sell a home.

The fact that more than half of landlords own just one property refutes the conception that all landlords are wealthy.

Managing director of MakeUrMove, Alexandra Morris, said: ‘These figures shed some light on what British landlords really look like. The reality is that wealthy, multi-property owning landlords are quite rare. Most landlords are ordinary people working in normal jobs who are renting out a property to try and save for their retirement or to supplement their main income. With 53 per cent of landlords owning one single property, it’s clear that most landlords are not living off a portfolio of properties. They work as electricians, taxi drivers, hairdressers or social workers – they are just normal people who want to maintain healthy, stress-free relationships with their tenants.’

She continued: ‘We’ve found that a good number of landlords fell into renting their property through unforeseen circumstances such as inheriting a property or struggling to sell their own house. Many of these landlords start on a consent to let mortgages and later become buy to let mortgage holders, having a mortgage on the property means they are forced to pass on the costs to their tenants.’

Source: Residential Landlord

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