Tough financial climate leaves experts with tough decisions

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Property guru Vanessa Warwick has admitted that she is one of the many landlords impacted by rising interest rates.

Speaking to Phil Spencer on Move iQ’s Property Podcast, the co-founder of PropertyTribes said that with a long-term tenant in one of her properties still paying £600 less than the market rent, this had become unsustainable as it didn’t support the existing borrowing on her tracker mortgage. “Do I put the rent up or ask them to leave and get new tenants to pay the going rent of £1,700?” she asked.

Unclear position

In a discussion about why landlords are leaving the sector, Timothy Douglas, Propertymark’s head of policy and campaigns, said the government’s unclear position didn’t help, along with tax changes and the push for more homeowners. He believed that the narrative from politicians was important. “They talk about the sector being a key housing provider, but it needs nurturing and a strategy to grow and meet tenants’ needs.”

He added: “If we had a change of government however, they’re more interested in a smaller, more professional private rented sector which could mean licensing of letting agents and more registration and training requirements on landlords.”

Current disconnect

Warwick pointed to a current disconnect between central government putting in barriers to keep landlords in the sector and encourage new ones, while local authorities were pushing for more landlords. Spencer agreed that leaving the business of legislation to local authorities created a complete lack of consistency for renters and landlords. “Consequently, we have a messy and disjointed private rental sector – we need clarity and soon.”

Warwick suggested that one way to weed out poor practice in the PRS was to force landlords to let through accredited agents. She said one of the sector’s biggest problems was caused by self-managing landlords who didn’t understand the rules or were rogue landlords. “Good agents protect tenants from rogue landlords and good landlords from bad tenants,” she added.

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