Tenants are staying longer at rented properties, recent research has shown. The study, conducted by letting agents Your Move, shows that the average time spent in a rented property has increased from 18 months in 2014 to 20 months in 2017, although there are significant regional differences.
Wide variation
The research found that the London area was within the national average, while there was a wide variation across other parts of the UK. The areas outside London tended to have longer tenancies, with Sevenoaks in Kent, showing an average tenancy of 44 months. In comparison, tenancies in the South West of England averaged around 15 months.
Northern Ireland tended to be slightly less than average with a typical tenancy length lasting 17 months, whereas Wales came in at just above average with two years, although there were some variances in local areas – for example, a 30-month stay was the average for the market town of Abergele.
Longer tenancies
Laws surrounding the rental and buy to let markets are still changing. On top of the recent tax changes, landlords may be seeing changes to laws surrounding tenancy agreements. In 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/money/2018/jul/01/uk-tenants-to-get-minimum-three-year-contracts-says-minister 80% of tenancy contracts were set to six or 12 months, and the government put forward proposals for longer minimum tenure contracts. With an increasing proportion of families renting, more tenants are looking for long term assurance with their rental contracts.
These changes can result in uncertainty for both tenants and those who operate rental properties as a form of business and consulting with a Conveyancing Gloucester company is incredibly important when looking to purchase additional buy to let properties to ensure that the property is adequate and legally owned.
In this uncertain environment, it’s vital that landlords support their property management businesses with robust property inventory software. There’s a range of different software available that goes far beyond logging inventories. The more sophisticated versions act as a portable office, allowing landlords to build detailed inspection reports of the property during and between tenancies. Equipped with the ability to take photographs of inventories, fixtures and fittings, a landlord can track details of wear and tear, and identify maintenance issues, either by dictating or writing the report on site. Administrative features allow scheduling, billing, admin team diaries, communication with tenants, which saves time and reduces the risk of disputes.
While landlords may not have control over the possible changing of legislation affecting tenancy length, with the right software they can have full control over the day-to-day managing of their businesses so they can focus on profitability.
