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.