At
present there are an estimated 1.5 million private landlords in England, with
the buy-to-let market historically providing excellent and sustainable returns
over an extended period of time.
However,
the buy-to-let market in the UK has endured difficult times of late, against the
backdrop of increasingly stringent tax regulations and Brexit uncertainty. In
fact, a recent survey of 19,000 landlords in the UK revealed that 17% were likely to
sell up before the end of 2019, whilst a further 56% aren’t convinced that their
investment will yield a return over time.
In order to improve their prospects and potentially save money over time, however, landlords who are committed to the market should consider handing over a portion of their business to property management experts such as Avison Young. Here are the advantages of this:
You Lack Time
If
you’re like most buy-to-let landlords, the chances are that real estate
provides a secondary income stream for you to enjoy.
However,
combining this with a full-time job can be extremely taxing, particularly when
you consider the challenges of managing tenants and the properties in which
they reside.
Without
the assistance of skilled property managers, you may find yourself regularly
called out to attend property repairs and maintenance tasks, while also
arranging for tradesmen to visit and take care of these issues. You could also
be inundated with queries from tenants, many of which have to be addressed
urgently under the terms of your agreement.
In this respect, working alongside a property management firm can help you to save both time and money over a significant period of time.
Shorter Vacancies
On
a similar note, you may find it extremely difficult to minimise turnaround time
and fill vacant properties once a tenant’s agreement has come to an end. This
can cost you huge sums of cash, both in terms of lost rental income and time
required to source brand new tenants.
You
can rely on property management firms to focus on this issue and make it a key
priority, however, creating a scenario
where vacancies are filled much quicker with barely any effort at all on your
behalf.
As a result, you can continue to optimise your primary income stream whilst also reducing the amount lost in rental income. In most instances, these savings more than make up for the cost of hiring a property management firm in the first place.
Enjoy Superior Vendor Relationships
If
you do have to carry out a repair, you may also find it difficult to source
affordable and reliable tradespeople who can carry out the work.
You
can negate this issue by partnering with a property management firm, however,
as this type of business will have a reliable list of regional vendors who can
carry out work quickly, efficiently and to an exceptionally high standard.
This
helps you to save time and achieve genuine value for money as a landlord,
whilst the tenants also benefit as repairs are carried out in a relatively
short space of time.
Over
time, you can also cultivate strong vendor relationships that unlock even
greater cash savings, so this is an important consideration that shouldn’t be
overlooked.
