Buy to let investors are potentially losing £500 million collectively as they are encouraged to sell their property investments empty and tenant free.
New figures from buy to let marketplace Vesta have revealed that over half a billion in rental income is lost due to private landlords evicting good tenants due to the belief that they need to sell their properties empty. This can lead to the average landlord losing over three months rent as a result of evicting tenants in order to sell.
Loss to a single private landlord with just one home to sell can amount to £2,757 or even £5,514. The total loss to Britain’s private landlords can reach £551 million – £1.1 billion.
In addition to losing landlords money, this practice causes distress to long-term tenants who are forced to find alternative accommodation. Creating longer tenancies has been marked as a goal by the government. The latest industry figures have suggested that up to 380,000 private landlords could sell their properties empty, leaving many families displaced.
Vesta’s Chief Executive, Russell Gould, commented: ‘The practice of landlords evicting perfectly good tenants when they want to sell their property is outdated in this day-and-age and highlights that the sector is long overdue for reinvention and transformation. You really have to question a process that loses rental income for the seller whilst putting the tenant through huge amounts of stress and cost when it is totally unnecessary. Until we adopt a different approach, the problem for both landlords and tenants will only get worse.’
He continued: ‘Forecasts suggest that 380,000 private landlords are planning to sell their properties in the next 12 months resulting in thousands of tenants facing unnecessary evictions. We want the buy to let sector to realise that there are viable alternatives to the traditional model that are both socially responsible and financially beneficial to investors, landlords and their tenants.
Source: Residential Landlord