Landlords prefer childless couples as tenants
The best tenants being favoured by landlords are childless couples, says a new survey.
According to Intus Lettings, these couples are considered to be the 'perfect tenants' by landlords with 29% stating that couples without children are their preferred choice when letting property.
However, the worst tenants for landlords are students with just 1% of landlords favouring them.
The second most popular category for tenants is that for single young professionals with 25% of landlords preferring them, while one in five landlords say they prefer to rent their property to a family.
Landlords are opting for couples with no dependents
Hope McKendrick, the firm’s lettings manager, said: “It's likely landlords are opting for couples with no dependents because of the stability it provides.
“Landlords understand that finding the right tenant can save money, time and stress over the long-term and with numbers of people renting growing, landlords need to be reassured that their tenants will be reliable.”
The findings come after the latest English Housing Survey revealed that renting is increasing and there are now 4.5 million homes in the UK's private rental sector – a rise from the 2.5 million properties recorded in 2000.
BTL portfolio landlords seek investment alternatives
Meanwhile, it's been revealed that there are growing numbers of landlords with significant property portfolios looking to move their investments into alternative assets.
The findings from Irwin Mitchell Private Wealth point to a growing trend of landlords wanting to downsize their portfolio size because of legal and lending changes and tax implications.
However, the firm says it tells landlords that disposing of their BTL portfolio is not as straightforward as many of them assume.
Landlords are thinking of exiting the buy to let market
A partner in the firm, Jeremy Raj, said: “It's understandable that landlords are thinking of exiting the buy to let market to invest elsewhere as they've been hit with difficult changes.
“We have seen an increase in landlord enquiries who are worried about the market's future.”
He added: “It's easy for landlords to overreact to recent negative signals but a current portfolio can produce good capital growth and income and in a low interest environment many of the attractions for bricks and mortar investment remain.”
Mr Raj warns that landlords thinking of selling their portfolio should consider the capital gains tax liability for each property being sold and this must be factored in when considering whether it's best for a landlord to offload their property portfolio or not.
