Landlords are overwhelmingly unhappy with how the media portrays the BTL sector and, by extension, landlords themselves, according to research by Landbay.
Polling landlords with portfolios totalling 3,000 properties, Landbay found only 9% felt the media’s portrayal of the market was fair or accurate.
This is a drop from a similar survey held by the lender in 2023, when 19% felt this way.
There was little variance between how different landlords, those with single properties and those with HMOS and MUFBs, felt about the media’s portrayal.
Rob Stanton, sales and distribution director at Landbay (pictured above), said landlords suffered from a view that they were “rolling in cash” and highly profitable.
In contrast, Rob pointed to the fact many were being forced to leave the sector.
“As more landlords – small business owners – leave the market in the face of counterproductive red tape, the landlord-bashers are going to get a wake-up call when they realise the housing crisis has not disappeared and – because the supply of rental properties has shrunk – rents have risen,” said Rob.
“Landlords with only a few properties tend to be those that have invested all their savings and inheritance into their properties in the hope of providing themselves with a retirement income.
“I think they genuinely care about the state of their properties and therefore find their demonisation even more unfair.”
