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Two-thirds of landlords live within ten miles of investment
This article is an external press release originally published on the Landlord News website, which has now been migrated to the Just Landlords blog.
An interesting new survey has revealed that 65% of landlords live within ten miles of their buy-to-let investment property. In addition, these landlords manage day-to-day maintenance of the property themselves.
Research into more than 10,000 addresses from Simple Landlords Insurance also shows that around one-fifth of landlords reside within one mile of their buy-to-let property. 46% live between one and ten miles away.
Another 13% live between ten and twenty-five miles from their property. Just 15% of landlords live more than 50 miles away from their investment.
Close comforts
Findings from the report suggest that people prefer to invest in properties in areas that they know well. This is despite advice from some property professionals that they could get higher rents further afield.
Further data from the report indicates that 65% of landlords made the decision to invest in a property, with 17% describing themselves as so-called accidental landlords. 9% said that they had purchased property specifically for family members to live in.
45% said that they own a single rental property, with 40% owning between two and four. 15% said they have a portfolio of 5 or more properties.
Manual maintenance
65% of landlords actively manage the property themselves, while 24% use a letting agent to find tenants and then take over. 41% of landlords said that they do everything themselves, while 35% use an agent to do everything.
Alex Huntley, from Simple Landlords Insurance, noted, ‘we are seeing an increasing trend of savvy landlords taking direct control of how their property is let and managed and becoming much more self-sufficient. While it can be easy to bash landlords as faceless investors, these results show they are more likely to be part of the community they invest in and take a personal interest in making sure their property is well maintained and tenancies are long-term.’[1]
‘We are also seeing a growing demand from landlords to be able to manage their insurance policies online 24/7 and to buy flexible and scalable policies as their investments change,’ Huntley added.[1]
[1] http://www.propertyreporter.co.uk/landlords/majority-of-landlords-live-within-10-miles-of-their-investment.html