28^th Feb 2018

The South West of England is experiencing a slowing down of house sales which has encouraged a rise in 'accidental' landlords who prefer to rent out their homes, rather than having to wait for a long 'sales period' in trying to sell their property.

During last year one in twelve homes that entered the private rented sector had previously been put up for sale - so claims an agent from its latest report.

Since 2014 this type of rented property entering the market has steadily increased, however 2017 is still below 2010's peak when 11.2% of homes that were taken off the market ended up in the private rented sector.

London has the highest numbers of 'accidental' landlords with 12.5% of homes that had previously been put up for sale and were instead rented out, which is higher than the 12.1% peak of 2010.

The research shows that outside of London there is a far stronger market with house sales being much faster for sellers and therefore not having to resort to renting out their 'homes'; in Scotland only 5.6% of new rental properties had been put for sale.

'Accidental' landlords have a tendency of staying in the PRS for a much shorter length of time than ''professionals', who on average will rent out their poverties for seventeen years. The typical accidental landlord will be in the market for around fifteen months.

The agents' report forecasts that as mortgage rates are still low then some sellers are prepared to rent out their 'homes' giving them sufficient leeway to gauge how the market is performing. Surprisingly 10% of accidental landlords put their house back up for sale after their first tenant moved out of their property.

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