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The Buy to Let property boom over the past decade has seen a flood of new landlords enter the market. But with over 145 individual laws and more than 400 regulations to follow, it’s surprisingly easy for even the most well-meaning landlord to end up breaking the law.
New research from property marketplace, TheHouseShop.com, has shed light on the scale of the challenge that landlords face, and how they are dealing with the increasingly complex issue of compliance.
Shockingly, almost 1 in 5 landlords (18.2%) said they find it “impossible” to keep up with constant regulation changes – with a further 30% (29.9%) saying they find it “very difficult” and another 30% (31.2%) finding it “quite difficult”.
The results clearly show that landlords are being overwhelmed by the sheer volume and complexity of rules and regulations in the rental market. In fact, compliance with law and legislation was listed as the most challenging aspect of managing a rental property by almost two thirds of landlords (63.4%).
While hiring a letting agent to manage your properties would remove the stress of compliance, many landlords simply don’t want to hand over 10-15% of their rental income to secure a full management service. Landlords are also wary of the fact that the cost of using a letting agent could increase even further when the Tenant Fees Ban comes into force.
Research from ARLA Propertymark found that tenant fees make up on average one fifth of letting agents’ revenue and that two thirds of letting agents would recuperate losses from the fees ban by increasing costs for landlords.
This means that landlords are stuck between a rock and a hard place – with increasingly complex and difficult to manage compliance responsibilities on one side, and increasing costs for professional management on the other.
