More landlords using letting agents, research shows

The doom mongers who said escalating costs for landlords created by the recent tax squeeze and the looming letting fees ban would encourage more to self-manage appear to be wrong. Research by the National Landlords Association (NLA) among property investors has revealed that more landlords are now using agents than last year, particularly in outer London, the South East and Wales. Just over 60% of the 800 property investors it quizzed said they currently use a letting agent, an increase of seven percent when compared to the final quarter of 2016. Annual increase The NLA said this is an unusual increase because the proportion of landlords who use agents has remained steady in recent years, rising by only one percent between 2014 and 2016 to 54%. This has created a corresponding drop in the number of those who self-manage their properties, which has slumped by 10% since the end of last year. “As landlords plan ahead to compensate for the tax changes over the next few years we would expect to see the number who use an agent to slowly fall away, and for more to start considering whether they are able to manage their properties themselves,” says Richard Lambert, CEO…

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