New research has found that two in three landlords live within 10 miles of their buy-to-let property and manage day-to-day maintenance of the property themselves.
Simple Landlords Insurance’s analysis of over 10,000 addresses shows a fifth of landlords live within a mile of the house or flat they rent out and a further 46% live between one and 10 miles away.
A further 13% live between 10 and 25 miles from the property they rent out. Only 15% of landlords live more than 50 miles away from their buy-to-let investment.
Meanwhile, Simple Landlords found that 65% of landlords made a conscious decision to invest in buy-to-let property, meanwhile 17% of people who rent out a property identify themselves as ‘accidental landlords’ who decided to rent out a property they inherited or were unable to sell their home. Some 9% of landlords bought their property specifically for a family member to live in, such as for a child at university.
45% of those polled owned a single rental property, while 40% owned between 2-4 and 15% said they have a portfolio of over five homes.
The survey shows that 65% of landlords play an active role in the maintenance of their property, dealing with any problems with tenants themselves rather than via a lettings agent. 24% use an agent to find tenants and then manage the property themselves, 41% do everything themselves, while 35% use an agent to do everything.
Alex Huntley from Simple Landlords Insurance said: “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.
“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 and grow.”
