Purchase-to-let landlords have had it robust lately owing partially to numerous tax and legislative modifications however there’s one other main difficulty that’s adversely affecting people who put money into the personal rented sector: the media.
Landlords are sometimes labelled as grasping, rogues, or exploitative within the media, and this language performs a big function in how the general public perceives them, however the media portrayal of the buy-to-let market is just not correct, in line with analysis undertaken by Landbay.
Information retailers priorities main tales that vilify landlords – typically seen as simple scapegoats, particularly when there’s a housing disaster or the cost-of-living surges. However the in ballot of landlords, the buy-to-let (BTL) lender unsurprisingly discovered that solely 9% stated they agreed that the media portrayal of the market was “truthful and correct”.
The findings of the analysis, performed in Could 2025, polling buy-to-let landlords with portfolios totalling roughly 3,000 properties, represents an enormous drop from an identical ballot in 2023 when 19% of landlords felt the portrayal of the market was truthful and correct.
Rob Stanton, gross sales and distribution director at Landbay, stated: “The media – mainly social but in addition the mainstream press – is traducing buy-to-let landlords. Folks appear to have a view that landlords are rolling in money making enormous income; the scenario has obtained worse during the last yr presumably inspired by the legislative agenda.
“As extra landlords – small enterprise house owners – go away the market within the face of counter-productive pink tape, the landlord-bashers are going to get a wake-up name after they realise the housing disaster has not disappeared and – as a result of the availability of rental properties has shrunk – rents have risen.”
When Landbay broke the numbers down additional, they discovered little distinction between predominantly HMO or MUFB landlords and people with extra vanilla portfolios. However there was a big distinction between landlords borrowing through Ltd firms and people nonetheless borrowing as people.
Whereas 10% of these borrowing solely by Ltd firm buildings (or with a mix of Ltd firm and particular person borrowing, thought the media’s portrayal was neither truthful nor correct, solely 4% of these borrowing solely as people shared this view.
Equally, solely 4% of landlords with single properties or portfolios of two or three properties thought the media portrayal was truthful and correct, in comparison with 10% of these with 4 or extra properties.
Stanton added: “Landlords with just a few properties are usually people who have invested all their financial savings and inheritance into their properties within the hope of offering themselves with a retirement revenue. I feel they genuinely care concerning the state of their properties and due to this fact discover their demonisation much more unfair.”
