Landlords: how much are you giving back?
It's official - landlords make a valuable financial contribution to local communities. Landlords get a lot of flack, The bad ones – who in our experience are very much in the minority – are given more than their fair share of column inches in the press.
Even the Government often seems to be helping create an unhelpful ‘them and us’ culture in the PRS. So here’s a good news story for a change. Letting Agent Today reports that mortgage company Aldermore has carried out new research, identifying how much of a financial contribution private landlords make to their local economies. The company polled 1,000 UK-based landlords to find out more and the results make interesting reading. Here’s what they found. More than 80% of landlords who need to repair or renovate their rental homes use a local company. On average property owners in the rental sector spent £1,443 in the last 12 months on plumbers, builders, letting agents and other tradespeople. And they all hired suppliers from the local community for most of their requirements. Landlords spent the most on letting agents – around £900m in the last year. This was followed by:
- £442m on small-scale repairs
- £396m on plumbers
- £375.4m on electricians
- £377.3m on builders
- £243.2m on cleaners
Almost a third of landlords responding to the survey said they are keen to actively support their local economy by using local tradespeople and one in four say they tend to be cheaper than big-name nationwide alternatives. So next time landlords are being given a hard time, they now have some ammunition to fight back with.
Under Offer: This term applies to a property where the landlord is considering an offer but remains on the market. It implies that further offers may still be considered until the landlord formally accepts or declines the current offer.
Let Agreed: This term indicates that a landlord has provisionally agreed to enter into a rental agreement with a prospective tenant, pending additional checks and referencing. It doesn't require the prospective tenant to have paid a holding deposit.
Let: This term signifies an established binding rental agreement between the landlord and tenant.
For both lettings and sales, the guidance addresses additional terms:
New On The Market: This term is used for a property not advertised since its last sale or rental. It should only be used for a brief period.
New Instruction: It applies to a property assigned to an agent for marketing recently, even if it was previously listed with another agent without being sold or rented.
New and Exclusive: This term refers to a property that is either new on the market or a new instruction, exclusively available through a specific agent or portal.
New Method of Sale/Let: This term is used when a property is being marketed for sale or rent using an alternative approach to the original advertisement, such as transitioning to an auction or sealed bid.
Reduced: This term indicates that a property's price has recently been reduced. The reduction should be genuine and comply with the Chartered Trading Standards Institute's guidelines on pricing practices.