If you’re a landlord, you’d be forgiven for not wanting to read the current headlines. From landlords rushing to exit the market, to the dreaded Renters’ Rights Bill, landlords seem to be getting hit left, right and centre.
But it isn’t all bad news. Landlords will always find a way, and this year it’s no different. For landlords who don’t fully understand the implication of the Renters’ Rights Bill, it’s a Bill that’s expected to become fully operational from July and, amongst other consequences, landlords will have just 3 months to issue Section 21’s or Section 13’s (rent increases) before the new system takes full effect. Ultimately its goal is to give tenants more security to stay in their homes and more freedom to leave substandard properties. Overall, rents will be limited on how much they can increase by, properties will have to undergo major refurbs to hit the required standards, and landlords will not be allowed to sell a property in the first 12 months of a tenancy. Nor will they be able to issue “no fault evictions.” In summary, the situation – whilst great for tenants – is extremely grim for landlords.
So how are some landlords getting around it? And why are their portfolios still so profitable?
The answer is simpler than you think:
- Landlords take stock of their portfolio and identify the top performing properties that they should keep.
- They sell the remaining properties that don’t strategically fit long-term holds or will have costly damp/condition repairs using a specialist portfolio selling company to maximise the amount they can get for it.
- They use the cash to level up the properties they’ve kept, making them money-making machines, and then float the rest of their investment elsewhere.
Now for many landlords, selling might seem like a drastic option, it might even seem like a step back to the empires we’ve so carefully built. But it isn’t.
This year is the year of tightening up our assets. Crucially, whilst we can. What we’re faced with is an opportunity to make our best properties bomb-proof, turning over a great income, and cut the chaff on the rest. Why? Because, put bluntly, we’re about to enter a war on landlords and we need to be bulletproof if we’re going to survive this next era of landlord regulations.
We might find that from the money we’ve made from selling the lower-performing properties, we reinvest in buying again from landlords that missed the boat and need to exit quickly at discounted prices after the Bill takes effect.
So how do we sell our lower-performing properties to make sure we’re getting the most possible cash, and ensuring we’re making a strong business decision? Estate agents won’t get them sold before July, auctions will sell for a fraction of the property’s worth, and that’s precisely why landlords are turning to property portfolio exit specialists.
In fact in the first three months of this year already, almost 150 landlords per month contacted us to sell their low-performing properties to tighten their portfolios so they could continue to see high profits from property. And it worked.
As a company run by landlords for landlords, there’s no surprise the volume of enquiries to Landlord Sales Agency are growing week by week. We’re experts at selling tenanted properties anywhere in the UK, no matter the tenant situation and regardless of the condition. Our private database of over 30,000 buyers, plus relationships with property buying funds and companies means that we’ve got buyers who have 100% trust in us motivated and ready to buy. We also assist sellers selling Off Market. We even sell through local agents to get best price for the right property where that’s the best solution. With landlords keen to shift the “dead weight” before July, we’ve been working faster than ever before, and are versatile to focus on the right solution for each property.
What’s more, buyers get text messages every time we list a property, allowing us to start a bidding war to drive up the value of landlord properties to achieve the best possible prices. Our method gets higher prices and the same 95% completion rates as traditional auctions. In one portfolio, we sold a flat in Warrington with a tenant in situ in under two weeks for £115,000 – other property buying companies or auctions would have achieved £90 – 100K. We’re selling faster, and for more, and we’re doing it every single week.
It’s clear that the landlords who are thriving right now know what they’re doing. Taking stock, saving their best properties, selling the rest, and reinvesting or keeping the cash ready for when the market works in our favour again.
The time to act is now. Whether or not you’re sure about selling, our company of landlord experts are here to help. We’re ready, and we deliver. So get in touch today and let’s chat.