Buy-to-let still cottage industry
A North Staffordshire lettings agency is urging buy-to-let landlords in the area to adopt a more professional approach to make the most of their investment and to treat their properties just like any other business.
Heywoods Property, which provides estate agency and letting services to the Newcastle-under-Lyme area, said that the buy-to-let sector was populated by a large proportion of amateur landlords, making it one of the few remaining cottage industries in the UK.
It said that many armchair landlords were losing money as a result of costly void rental periods because of their failure to go about renting their property in a businesslike manner.
The company advised would-be buy-to-let landlords to speak to the professionals, who were able help to them avoid the common pitfalls by marketing their properties effectively and using their market knowledge to set the right level of rent.
Heywoods also warned that amateur landlords more often experienced problems with tenant arrears and advised a more professional approach by carefully vetting prospective occupants and maintaining good communication with their tenants.
Many buy-to-let landlords, it concluded, still didn't recognise that their property was a business and would often try to save money by going it alone, without turning to professionals, only to end up losing money in the long-term.