More BTL landlords needed to meet demand from a growing population

By Marc Da Silva

Supply and demand are perhaps the most fundamental concepts of economics, and it is the main reason why UK house prices have increased so much in recent years, and why Britain’s growing population will almost certainly push property prices even higher in the medium- to long-term.

The latest forecast from the Office for National Statistics that predicts a 8.4 million rise in the UK’s population over the next 22 years from last year’s 65.6 million, eventually reaching 74 million in 2039, spells bad news for young people trying to get a foot and the housing ladder, and underlines the urgent need for more private rented homes.

That is why the government needs to reverse many of its recently introduced anti-landlord policies, such as the scrapping of the ‘wear and tear’ allowance, phasing out of mortgage interest relief and the 3% stamp duty surcharge.

Jonathan Stephens, managing director of Surrenden Invest, said: “Whilst it’s wonderful that we can all enjoy a longer life and a larger population can positivity impact the size and capability of those of working age, it does also increase pressures on basic requirements such as housing – namely, where will we all live?!

“Successive governments’ record of building enough homes to meet demand we know has and remains woeful with the creation of new homes, especially within the private rented sector which is growing rapidly, being funded more and more by individuals and private institutions.


“With population forecasts such as these, it would seem wise for landlord investors to be encouraged, not penalised through stamp duty reforms and tax hikes as we have seen over the past 18 months.”

https://www.landlordtoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2017/8/more-btl-landlords-needed-to-meet-demand-from-a-growing-population

Landlords with limited companies may earn £1,000 less a year

By Marc Da Silva

Buy-to-let investors who acquire properties via a limited company could be £1,000 a year worse off due to higher mortgage rates, fresh analysis from Private Finance shows.

The research found that a borrower with a limited company could expect to pay 3.41% for a two-year fixed 75% loan-to-vale mortgage deal, compared to 1.92% for personal borrowers.

A growing number of landlords are opting to acquire property through a limited company as a means of combating recent buy-to-let tax changes, including the current phasing out of mortgage interest relief.

But according to Private Finance, the high cost of mortgage borrowing for a limited company will outweigh any tax advantages for landlords who have a portfolio of containing less than four properties.

It says that a landlord earning £46,010 annually (£35,000 base salary plus £11,010 in rental income – the average for a two bedroom house in the UK) will have £36,194 in take home income if purchasing as an individual, after tax and mortgage costs have been deducted.


But if the same landlord purchased through a limited company, they would earn £34,825 in take home income, which is £1,369 or 4% less, mainly because limited company borrowers pay higher rates on mortgage borrowing, which reduces net income.

Private Finance also suggests that repurchasing into a limited company structure could also prove too costly, even for larger landlords.

For landlords who already have a number of buy-to-let properties, one option is to repurchase into a limited company structure. However, this incurs two major tax bills: capital gains and stamp duty, making it an inadvisable move for landlords with a small number of properties who do not have much to gain from being in a limited company.

The calculations suggest even larger landlords could be better off remaining as personal investors.  A landlord with five rental properties, earning £90,050 in total income (a £35,000 salary and £55,050 in rental income) would have £53,768 in take home pay once mortgage and tax costs are deducted when acting as an individual.

If the same landlord was to repurchase their homes under a limited company, they would have £54,584 in take home pay. However, once capital gains and stamp duty costs are taken into account they would be left with just £5,374. Spreading these one-off payments across ten years, take home pay would be £49,663: more than £4,000 less per year than operating as an individual.

Shaun Church, director of Private Finance, said: “The option to invest through a limited company has come under the spotlight recently as landlords look for ways to offset recent tax changes.  But landlords shouldn’t rush into this assuming it’s a safe bet for saving money. Limited company mortgage products are available through a handful of smaller lenders, resulting in higher rates compared to personal borrowing. Investors need to drive down mortgage costs as much as possible to prevent this from eating into their profits.

“Larger landlords might find the tax benefits associated with limited company ownership outweigh the higher cost of mortgage borrowing. Each investor is different and there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. Landlords should ensure they seek professional advice on how best to maximise their profits: an independent mortgage broker can help explain the range of options available to limited company and personal BTL borrowers.”

https://www.landlordtoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2017/6/landlords-with-limited-companies-may-earn-1-000-less-a-year

Why Britain has turned into a nation of storage keepers

By Rhiannon Bury

Britain is now home to almost half of all of Europe’s self-storage units CREDIT: CUSHMAN & WAKEFIELD

UK residents rent four times more self-storage space than the French, and nine times more than people in Germany, causing a boom in Britain’s storage sector.

Britain is now home to almost half of all of Europe’s self-storage units with almost 42.2m sq ft of space in total, according to a report from property advisory company Cushman & Wakefield, while growth in demand is continuing to outstrip supply.


Last year, 24 new self storage sites opened in the UK in 2016 – the greatest number in any European country. Occupancy increased by almost three percentage points in the last 12 months, to 75.8pc, despite more units being built.

Cushman & Wakefield’s report found that large self storage brands in particular have been expanding rapidly in recent years to ensure a larger chunk of the £540m UK market.

Safestore said last week that record enquiries for its space continued to boost its profits, while Big Yellow has spoken of expansion across the South East in particular.

81pc of self-storage users are between 35 and 70 years old CREDIT: CUSHMAN & WAKEFIELD

Two thirds of self-storage customers are aged between 40 and 65 years old, and 81pc are between 35 and 70, showing that younger people are the least likely to use storage facilities. This fits with the general trend among so-called millennials to settle down later in life.

Divorced or separated people are also more than twice as likely to use self storage as a single person.

Rents in London, which sit at £29.45, are almost twice that in the East Midlands and the North. Scotland, however, has shown the greatest increase, rising 23pc from £18.29 to £22.49 in the year, whilst the South East, East Midlands and the North all experienced a decline.

Rennie Shafer, chief executive of the UK Self Storage Association, said: “The longest standing customer in the survey began renting their unit in 1987. While that’s exceptional, 44pc of business customers have stayed for three years or more, compared with 31pc for personal customers.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2017/06/20/britain-has-turned-nation-storage-keepers/

Quarter of households in UK will rent privately by end of 2021, says report

By Julia Kollewe
Almost 5.8m households expected to be in private rentals as home ownership and social renting continue to fall, says Knight Frank report

An estate agent’s board advertising a property for rent. Renters tend to spend more than half their income on rent. Photograph: Alicia Canter for the Guardian

Almost one in four households in Britain will be renting privately by the end of 2021 as soaring house prices and stagnant wages put home ownership out of the reach of growing numbers of people.


Around 5m households, or 21% of the total, are in private rented accommodation, a quarter of whom are families with children. This is set to rise to 5.79m (or 24%) over the next five years, alongside 14.3 million owner occupiers and 4.3 million social tenants, according to an annual report from estate agency Knight Frank. It commissioned a YouGov survey of more than 10,000 tenants and spoke to 26 major investors.

The report says that while at least three-quarters of UK renters are living in homes owned by private landlords, they will increasingly rent from large-scale corporate landlords such as City firms and property companies.

The proportion of households living in the private rented sector has doubled over the last decade, as rising house prices coupled with stagnating wages have put the dream of owning a home out of reach for many, especially the young.

Dubbed “iGens” by Knight Frank, the early twentysomethings have joined “nesters” – couples ranging from millennials to forty-somethings – and 25 to 49-year-old “soloists” and “sharers”, as those who are renting while saving for a deposit to buy a home.

However, renting families, along with 50- to 64-year-old soloists and couples and retired people over 65, tend to spend more than half their incomes on rent. Overall, 40% of renters pay more than 50% of their incomes on rent, the report found.

Not surprisingly, 68% of renters still expect to be living in rented accommodation in three years’ time. The most common reason for renting was saving for a deposit to buy a property, cited by 30%; followed by 21% who said renting allowed them to live in an area where they could not afford to buy; and 18% who said renting was more affordable than paying a mortgage.

Guardian graphic | Source: Knight Frank Tenure Distribution Model, EHS, DCLG

Just 8% said they were renting because they did not want the responsibility of owning a home; 6% need the flexibility because of work; 6% are downsizing; another 6% cannot find an appropriate property to buy; and 5% do not want to be stuck in one location.

Young professionals aged 25 to 34 make up the largest proportion of private renters and this is expected to remain the same in 2021 – but they will be renting for longer than now while trying to save enough to buy a home, said Diana Babacic of PRS Research Consultancy, one of the authors of the Knight Frank report. She is also predicting slightly faster growth in the number of renters under 25, as well as an increase in older renters, especially the baby boomers.

With rents rising rapidly in recent years, the key concern for tenants when looking at a rental property is affordability, the report says, although other surveys now indicate that rents are flatlining or even falling. Tenants also pay hundreds of pounds in letting fees every time they move.

Buy-to-let landlords have dominated the market in recent years, but in the past year the introduction of extra stamp duty on second homes and the curbing of mortgage interest reliefs have prompted a number of private landlords to sell up.

Big City investors such as pensions and insurance firm Legal & General have started building thousands of flats for rent around the country in recent years. The first purpose-built rental blocks, constructed by Essential Living, in Archway and Bethnal Green in London are filling up quickly, with rents starting at £375 a week for a studio including utilities, wifi and furniture (there are no service charges or agents’ fees).

The burgeoning “build to rent” sector – professionally managed rental accommodation in purpose-built blocks – is worth £25bn today. Knight Frank reckons this will soar to £70bn by 2021. Just last week, the UK housebuilder Telford Homes teamed up with US residential landlord Greystar to build 894 flats for rent in Battersea in London.

Amid calls for more regulation to protect tenants, City firms L&G, Hermes and M&G, along with property firms Greystar and Grainger, are among those that have pledged to offer three-year tenancies.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2017/jun/12/one-in-four-households-in-britain-will-rent-privately-by-end-of-2021-says-report

Where to buy in Hertfordshire:four villages for London commuters, with good schools and 30-minute journeys to the capital

By Ruth Bloomfield
Great transport links, grammar schools and good-value family homes make Hertfordshire a sound lifestyle investment.

The top-performing towns and villages in the lovely county of Hertfordshire share one huge advantage — great transport links. A new study today finds the areas that have seen the greatest price growth over the past five years are those where the commute into London is half an hour — or even less.

The research by Savills analysed the property price performance of every Herts town and village within a maximum 65 minutes’ travelling time of central London, and found many journeys shorter than travelling in from Zones 3 and 4. Leading the pack is Chorleywood, a slightly suburban sort of village just beyond the M25, at the tip of the Chiltern Hills.

CHORLEYWOOD

Average home prices in Chorleywood have increased by 53 per cent in the last five years to £749,806. The village is just on the Tube network, with rush-hour Metropolitan line trains to Marylebone taking 31 minutes. An annual travel card costs £2,616 — comparatively modest by commuter standards. There are several good primary schools, along with the Ofsted “outstanding” St Clement Danes School for seniors.

Adam Salem, manager of Hetheringtons estate agents, says Chorleywood is not a chocolate-box village, “but it does have a real sense of community. People get involved in the schools, in the summer fête. And the country pubs are lovely. The Gate is the locals’ favourite.”

Buyers should expect to pay from £900,000 for a four-bedroom post-war house, or about £550,000 for a two-bedroom Victorian cottage, Salem says. “We have just sold to a family who got £700,000 for their London flat and were able to buy a big a four-bedroom house at just over £1 million.”

TRING

The market town of Tring is another strong performer. Average property prices have expanded 52 per cent in the last five years, to £481,851. Trains from Tring to Euston take 37 minutes, and an average season ticket costs £4,060.

£600,000: a four-bedroom cottage in Henry Street, Tring, with a private rear garden. Brown & Merry (01442 738 033)/

This affluent town has a predictably strong crop of primary schools and popular Tring School, for seniors. Parents with brainy offspring are within catchment for the grammar schools of Aylesbury, and would-be stars of stage and screen could audition for the independent Tring Park School for the Performing Arts.

Caroline Murgatroyd, director of Hunters estate agents, says families can enjoy the many lovely acres of the National Trust-run Ashridge Estate, teeming with bluebells at this time of year. She finds the typical Londoners arriving in the town are “couples with kids about to start school” who often lived in north London. “Tring is like a mini Crouch End,” she explains.

They could buy a four-bedroom detached house from about £600,000 or a period Victorian villa of a similar size for between £750,000 and £800,000.

WELHAM GREEN

Just south of Hatfield, Welham Green has equalled Tring’s price performance, with prices also up 52 per cent to an average £325,937. Its nearest primary school is North Mymms which “needs improvement”. There are other options in neighbouring Brookmans Park, while Hatfield is a good choice for senior school pupils. Trains to King’s Cross take 37 minutes, and an annual season ticket is £2,368.

£650,000: a three-bedroom cottage in Walton Street, St Albans, part of the Bernard's Heath conservation area, Hamptons (01727 629 096).

ST ALBANS

Perhaps Hertfordshire’s best-known commuter destination, St Albans has also performed well with price rises of 49 per cent to an average £565,239. This lovely cathedral city, with its boutiques, restaurants and bars, great schools and buzzing town centre, is ever-popular thanks to its 19-minute rush-hour commute to St Pancras International. Season tickets are priced from £3,380.

http://www.homesandproperty.co.uk/property-news/where-to-buy-in-hertfordshire-four-villages-for-london-commuters-with-good-schools-and-30minute-a110506.html

It's a housing class war as the Tories set their sights on young people

By Dawn Foster

Young people aged 18 to 21 will no longer receive housing benefit towards their rent – but those saving up to buy will get cash from the Treasury. Photograph: Dimitris Legakis/Athena Pictures

With April heralding the new financial year, a number of political fresh starts are due this weekend. One is the removal of housing benefit for 18- to 21-year-olds.

I’ve written about this before. Leaving aside its arbitrary and politically nonsensical rationale, supposedly stopping “dependence on benefits” by starving poor people into economic activity, the costs that the policy incurs will outweigh any potential savings.

Young people will simply not be able to afford their rent, and will turn to loan sharks and the type of high-cost, dodgy credit available to people on low incomes. Or they’ll end up homeless, on the street or relying on the local council to place them in a hostel or temporary accommodation, which invariably costs many times more than the local market rate for a private rented flat.

Now, in addition, the Chartered Institute of Housing has released research which shows that housing is almost totally out of reach for young single people in many areas. Single young people are finding that the gap between how much the cheapest properties in their area are and how much help they get with housing costs through the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) makes housing inaccessible. And a freeze on LHA until 2020 will only make matters worse.

Young tenants can either attempt to find the cash needed to make up their rent from the rest of their budget – skimping on food, fuel and other bills – or will end up in arrears and face potential homelessness. In 50 areas, LHA covers less than a quarter of local rents and, with competition for cheaper properties already high, young people in receipt of benefits often find they aren’t private landlords’ preferred tenants anyway.

So we have very young adults who’ve had housing support completely stripped away, and even on reaching their 21st birthday, there is no relief to be found, only a tough market increasingly squeezing them out. Housing simply isn’t working for millions of young people, and has become a huge source of constant anxiety on a scale it has rarely been in the past.

But it isn’t all bad news for young people. This April the government is also bringing in the “Lifetime ISA”, a tax-free savings account that gives you £1,000 of cash from the government when you save £4,000 a year towards buying your first home. So if you save the maximum for five years, you’ll receive a £5,000 wad from the Treasury. The maximum you can receive is £32,000. This will encourage and help first-time buyers, we’re told.

These policies are completely typical of the Conservative approach, dividing young people and entrenching deep inequality.

The people who need help least, the minted with parental help available for purchasing homes, get a tax-free lump sum to make their lives even easier. The people who need help most are completely cut adrift, and have any hope of becoming solvent and achieving not even comfort but basic shelter destroyed by actively cruel policies.

It’s typical of austerity policies in all its hypocrisy, combined with turbo-charged venom for the poor. After the financial crash, we were repeatedly told that paying wealthy financiers and bankers less, or even scrapping bonuses was out of the question: paying them more would incentivise them to perform far better and benefit everyone. But the poor are a different species to Conservatives: the only way to make them find a home, or a job, or to work harder, is to starve them into action, deny them a roof over their head, and threaten them with sanctions and the withdrawal of subsistence welfare payments.

For years politicians and commentators have argued there is a generational war, shown in the effects of the housing crisis and the erosion of workers’ rights. But old habits die hard. April’s disparate approach to young people over housing shows the Conservative party is still fighting the class war.

https://www.theguardian.com/housing-network/2017/mar/31/class-war-housing-conservatives-young-people-unaffordable

Buyers caught out by limits on living

By Felicity Hannah

Growing numbers of house builders are placing restrictions on what buyers can do with their properties, long after the contracts are exchanged. 

The promise of a brand new home could be shattered by a growing trend in restrictive covenants. PA

Imagine spending more than half a million pounds on a new family home only to discover you might not be allowed to bring your dog when you move in.

That’s just one of the cases The Property Ombudsman (TPO) is grappling with, after the buyers of a £550,000 new home were assured they could move their dog in and so paid a £2,000 reservation fee on the property. Two weeks later it emerged that they would need to apply for a dog permit, meaning they had no certainty that their beloved pet could live with them after all.

TPO ensured that the full reservation fee plus £540 extra was paid to the would-be homebuyers, which is reassuring. But few of us realise that a home builder can sell a property but still impose wide range of surprising and sometimes even distressing restrictions that affect how they live long after they receive the keys. And it’s getting worse.

Cats, vans and washing lines

When a property builder places restrictions on what buyers can do with or to their new homes it’s called a restrictive covenant. These are nothing new, builders have often imposed restrictions on what buyers can do with their homes.

However, in recent years a number of covenants have made headlines after developers banned washing lines, cats and even sheds from their new-build estates, even after the homes are all sold.

Neil Stockall, head of residential property at Higgs & Sons Solicitors, says that developers are increasingly keen to retain control of their developments.

“It is very common and they generally last in perpetuity,” he says. “Builders would argue that restrictive covenants are essential in maintaining the aesthetics, layout and use of the development and the dwellings, and should be seen as positively protecting the value of the estate as well as individual homes.

“They want to ensure that whilst they are developing the estate they have control on how the built areas are used so that they don’t impact on the sale of subsequent plots.”

Richard Freshwater, director at property firm Cheffins, agrees that there’s been an increase in the number of covenants enforced on new build schemes.

“This increase can partly be attributed to the increase in competition for developers and as more new schemes are built, their overall appearance is important to set themselves above the rest.

“Once a scheme is fully sold, these covenants will often still apply and this is partly due to the developer trying to protect their reputation. Should the scheme then be surrounded by caravans, commercial vans and washing lines, this will not reflect favourably on the reputation of the development in general.”

Rover's refusal

A restrictive covenant preventing near neighbours from having a cockerel in the garden might make sense but many would-be buyers will be surprised to learn that the builder might stop them bringing their dog.

Managing director of Bewley Homes Andrew Brooks, explains: “The restriction of pets in properties tends to apply to those properties with shared communal areas, such as apartment blocks or multi-floor developments without private garden space.”

And he is keen to defend homebuilders’ decisions to impose other restrictions on the homes they create. “As developers, we have a duty of care to think about this in conjunction with the long-term aesthetic impact our developments are going to have on the environments in which they are built – an environment which is very important to our clients when making the biggest investment of their lives.  One way in which we can protect this environment is by putting restrictive covenants in place.

“In the main, restrictive covenants are built into the deed of a property and will last in perpetuity.”

A force for good

While some restrictive covenants may protect buyers from neighbours devaluing their homes or developers’ reputations, some do more. For example, Pocket is a developer that builds starter homes for first-time buyers at 20% less than the going market rate.

It imposes a covenant on buyers that restricts who they can sell their home onto and for how much, to ensure it remains affordable for medium-income buyers.

Pocket CEO Marc Vlessing says: “Restrictive covenants can be a force for good if they help homes stay affordable in perpetuity. Pocket’s homes are sold with a restrictive covenant which ensures they remain affordable for local first-time buyers forever.”

Whatever the reason for the restrictive covenant, if buyers don’t know to look for clauses then they risk being caught out.

Paula Higgins, chief executive of the Homeowners Alliance, says: “We would always advise anyone looking to buy a new-build home to check their contract closely and have their conveyancer do the same. These restrictions must be included in the contract in order to be adhered to and if you spot them in time you can challenge the developer.

“Too many buyers take an almost nonchalant approach when buying a new build under the misguided illusion that since it is a new build property there'll be little of any concern. Obviously this is not the case.

“Employ the services of a good solicitor (don't use your builder's preferred choice) and read the small print in the glossy brochure as well as the contract.”

Cancelling the covenant

Homeowners who find a restrictive covenant irksome can challenge it. Gideon Sumption of Stacks Property Search says: “if the covenant no longer serves a useful purpose, namely that it is of no tangible benefit to the land or buildings that the covenant was created to enhance, then it can be challenged via the Lands Tribunal.

“A good example is the frequently found restrictive covenant imposed by the Church of England on the sale of redundant rectories, that they may not be used as a public house. Attitudes to drinking have changed since these covenants were imposed and it is highly likely such a covenant could be removed, in the event that you wanted to turn your old rectory into a pub…”

However, plenty of homeowners simply ignore the restrictions, hoping that once the builder has packed up and left there will be no one around who cares enough to enforce it.


Freshwater adds: “When it comes to getting around these covenants, we have seen that sometimes they are simply ignored by purchasers. For example, there is a series of flats in Cambridge which have covenants against them being rented out, these have been completely ignored by purchasers and there has been such a blanket breach of the covenant that it is no longer enforceable.”

http://www.independent.co.uk/money/homebuyers-caught-out-by-limits-on-living-a7655576.html

Show your fees! Campaign to get letting agents to obey law steps into second phase

By Rosalind Renshaw

Almost 180 letting agents in parts of Berkshire and Hampshire are now being targeted in a campaign to find out if they are displaying fees correctly.

In the second phase of a campaign being conducted jointly by The Property Ombudsman and the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, 179 letting agents in and around the Basingstoke and Reading areas are being targeted as from yesterday.

They are being asked to provide photographic evidence of their compliance with the law, which requires fees to be displayed both in the branch and on the company website.

This is phase two of a campaign which follows on from the end of the first phase, where out of 266 TPO letting agents in Swansea and Dorset, 99% were found to be compliant.

All had been asked for similar photographic evidence.

Agents found to be displaying the required information incorrectly were then given the chance to amend it and re-submit their evidence.

The campaign found that just two agents failed to comply, either by not responding or not addressing inaccuracies which had been flagged up. Both will now be referred to TPO’s disciplinary and standards committee for further investigation.

This committee is independent, and has the power to fine, suspend, or expel an agent from TPO, plus refer it to Trading Standards officers who can impose fines of up to £4,000.

Letting agents are required to display fees, along with membership details of redress and Client Money Protection schemes.

Katrine Sporle, Property Ombudsman, said: “TPO has seen an increase in the number of enquiries about fees from tenants in recent weeks.

“It is essential that agents provide clarity and transparency about what fees are being charged for what service so that all parties understand the commitments they are entering into.”


The campaign continues while details of a consultation on a ban on letting agent fees charged to tenants have yet to be announced.

http://www.propertyindustryeye.com/show-your-fees-campaign-to-get-letting-agents-to-obey-law-steps-into-second-phase/

Significant rise in number of retired people that are renting

There has been a sharp increase in the volume of people residing in private rented accommodation in retirement across much of the UK since 2012, new figures show.

The latest survey from the National Landlords Association (NLA) reveals that the number of retired private renters has increased by more than 200,000, or 13%, in the last four years, reflecting the fact that more people are turning to the private rented sector.

A breakdown of the data reveals that just 3% of the retired private renting population live in London, despite the fact that 17% of the nation’s retired population reside in private rented accommodation across the South East – the area with the highest proportion across the UK.

There are close to four times as many retired renters living in the North West at 15% compared to the North East at 4% and twice as many retirees rent property in the West Midlands at 8% compared to the East Midlands at 4%.

However, only 9% of landlords said that they currently let to retirees, down from 19% in 2012.

The findings from the research indicate that it could may soon become harder for those approaching retirement to find suitable rented accommodation in the future due to the general supply-demand imbalance in the market, according to Carolyn Uphill, chairman of the NLA.

She said: “More and more people are turning to private rented housing at every stage of their lives, including in retirement. Landlords appreciate the stability and assurances often provided by older households, but are finding it increasingly difficult to build businesses around the needs of potentially vulnerable tenants.

“Successive cuts to the welfare budget, uncertainty about pension provisions, and the devastating impact of the Government’s tax changes are likely to mean that private landlords will soon be unable provide homes in high cost areas like Central London for anyone without a well-paying job,’ she pointed out.

“As the proportion of retired renters continues to grow there’s a real worry that homes won’t be available in the private sector, forcing people to look further afield, leaving communities they have known and contributed to for decades.”

https://www.landlordtoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2016/6/significant-rise-in-number-of-retired-people-that-are-renting