Times are tough, and costs for most things are going up.

Landlords are not billionaires or (for the most part) millionaires. The vast majority are ordinary middle or working-class people who have managed to acquire one or more properties to rent as an investment.

For example by investing in a buy-to-let as an alternative to a traditional pension, inheritance or maybe by having a spare property after two homeowners start living together.

Landlords are as affected by the cost of living crisis as everyone else.

There are many outgoings they will need to pay – whether or not their tenants are paying rent – such as their mortgage, insurance, agency fees (if they use agents), repair and maintenance expenses and the cost of complying with their legal obligations to carry out gas and electricity inspections and the like.

No doubt there are other expenses I have omitted.

The Landlord Trends Report

In an interesting post here, Property Reporter reported on the Q1 2024 Landlord Trends report carried out by Pegasus Insight in March and April 2024 on behalf of Foundation Home Loans.

The report was based on 774 online interviews. Multiple responses were allowed – which is why the percentages come to more than 100%! Many of the landlords reported multiple changes.

So, what did the report discover?

• 30% of landlords said they had renegotiated their mortgage with their existing lender
• 29% said they had increased rents
• 25% had cancelled plans to purchase additional property,
• 22% had remortgaged to another lender,
• 15% said they had paid part of their monthly mortgage payment out of non-rental income like savings,
• 15% said they had sold a property to reduce their mortgage outgoings.
• 17% said they now carry out more of the property management themselves
• 8% said they had switched away from letting agents to self-management.

The article does not state how many landlords are selling up and leaving the sector. But as the various articles citing this report are approaching it from the point of view of mortgage advisors and the opportunities now available to them, no doubt this was of less interest!

Moving to self-management

I am not surprised that a significant number of landlords are taking on more management or moving to self-management.

Agent fees are a significant cost, and in the current cost-of-living crisis landlords need to be sure that agent fees are cost effective.

In a large number of cases, they will be – many agents are fantastic and do a brilliant job for their landlords. However, others less so.

Many landlords joining my Landlord Law service tell me that they are taking on the management of their property themselves because they are so unhappy with their agent’s service.

If YOU are considering this, take a look at my free guide here, which will help you decide whether self-management is right for you.

If you have problems with your agents, you can read about our ‘dealing with problem leltting agents guide’.

Your feedback

Landlords – what is your view of the report? Are you carrying out any of the cost-saving measures set out in the report?

Do you have any suggestions for other cost-saving measures?

Let us have your comments in the comments section below (note that comments close after 90 days).

The post How are landlords dealing with the cost of living crisis? appeared first on The Landlord Law Blog.

This is a question to the blog clinic from Lisa (not her real name), who is a tenant in England.

My assured shorthold tenancy contract mentions this:

“The team certain of *Six months from the 26th August 2018 / *The number of months must not be less than six”.

Now, I have been living in the same property since then and haven’t signed any renewal contract, does this mean my contract is renewing automatically every month (as per the rent paid) or every six months?

The document also says that we need to comply with

“One month notice, in writing, with effect from the day that rent falls upon during months five of this tenancy provided that the duration of the tenancy will have been at least six months at the end of the one month’s Notice period”

Which makes it more confusing – if we need to wait until month 5 of the 6 months, or if I only need to give one-month notice as I have been living in the same property for more than 6 years.

Answer

It’s always a bit of a risk commenting on tenancy clauses without seeing the whole document.  But that said, I don’t think you need to worry about either clause.

The period of your periodic tenancy

The first quotation is about the fixed term of the tenancy – which would have ended in February 2019.

You are right when you say your tenancy is renewing. Assuming your tenancy agreement did not provide for a contractual periodic tenancy, you will now have a statutory periodic tenancy pursuant to section 5 of the Housing Act 1988.

This provides that if a tenant is still living in the property after the fixed term ends, a new periodic tenancy will be created where the ‘period’ will relate to the rent paid.

So, as you were paying rent monthly, the period of your periodic tenancy will be monthly.

The break clause and your periodic tenancy

The second clause appears to be a break clause, which seems to have been drafted on the basis that the fixed term would be longer than six months.  For your (six month) tenancy, it would have been irrelevant as it would have ended it more or less at the same time the fixed term would have ended anyway!

However, this wording will not apply to your periodic tenancy..

This is because of s5(3)(e) of the Housing Act 1988. This deals with the terms of any new periodic tenancy created under the act, saying that they are

the same as those of the fixed term tenancy immediately before it came to an end, except that any term which makes provision for determination by the landlord or the tenant shall not have effect while the tenancy remains an assured tenancy.

So, as the clause you quote is about ending the fixed term, it will have no place in your periodic tenancy.

Ending a periodic tenancy:

• Tenants can end their tenancy by serving a notice to quit, the notice period of which will need to be the same as the period or (if the period is less than 28 days) 28 days
• Landlords can (at the moment) request the tenant to vacate by serving section 21 notice, which has a minimum notice period of 2 months. If the tenant fails to vacate, this can (assuming the landlord has drafted the notice correctly and is compliant with ll relevant rules) obtain possession through the courts.

It is expected, however, that this will change during the coming year.  Either by the passing of the Renters Reform Bill or by some other legislation.

The post Tenant questions about tenancy agreement clauses and periodic tenancies appeared first on The Landlord Law Blog.