Despite an increase in stamp, fears of a property slowdown following the Brexit vote and next year’s mortgage tax relief cut, it is business as usual for most landlords, a new survey has revealed.
According to the second annual Landlord Voice survey conducted by Simple Landlords Insurance, four in five landlords have no intention of changing their plans to invest in buy-to-let properties, despite the vote to leave the EU prompting fears of a property slow down.
Only 9% said the Brexit vote meant they would postpone expanding their portfolio, while 3% said they were likely to invest even more, the same proportion who said they planned to sell a property.
In response to the government’s plans cut tax relief on buy-to-let mortgage payments, 70% of those polled said their plans would not be affected, and 4% said they were planning to invest more as a result of the changes.
A further 12% said the changes meant they planned to wait before adding new properties to their portfolio, while 8% said they would now sell one or more properties.
However 20% of landlords said they expect to increase their rents in next year, which could indicate that some plan to pass on the costs of buy-to-let tax relief to tenants. Only 1% of landlords said they would reduce rent, with the remaining 79% planning to keep rent at the same level in the next 12 months.
The top concerns for landlords include unoccupied properties, government legislation, tax changes, tenant’s damage and rent collection.
Asked what they were worried about, 48% chose government legislation, tied with periods of unoccupancy, followed by 39% who are worried about tax changes.
Jenny Mayes from Simple Landlords Insurance said: “While some landlords are adopting a cautious ‘wait and see’ approach and slowing down their investment, others see opportunity in the changes and the vast majority want to keep or grow their property investment.
“Landlords are reacting in different ways to political changes, but one thing they have in common is that most are refusing to let it negatively deter them. With many, re-evaluating their objectives, changing their strategy, moving to limited company ownership or focusing on capital appreciation they are ultimately continuing to invest.”
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