There's a lot of supposition on this thread. Particularly as to the automatic rise in property prices. We recently sold a flat we had owned since 2014 there wasn't really any rise to speak of. Flats, even here in the south east are not necessarily a great investment often due to ever increasing management fees. My perception, maybe wrong, that possibly the majority of lettings are in flats and there is a downturn in the desirability of that type of property.
The company managing the block where we owned a flat recently levied charges of a couple of thousand in consecutive years over and above their twice yearly standard charges. First for internal fire doors, which were told were mandatory, secondly a contingency fund for roof repairs, although they later stated that those were to be carried out sometime in the future. We'd paid out the money for the fire doors a couple of years ago, they still hadn't put them in by the time we sold, our money just left lying in their bank account. There's nothing much the owner can do about these companies, we know at times they're turning us over in they can't always substantiate some of the items in their accounts, which amounts to money for old rope. Unless owner occupiers have the ability to oust them and manage the property themselves then they are stuck with them. Managing a block of flats takes time and effort. Continual liaising with the other owners in the block as to having a consensus as to what contractors to use and obtaining the best estimates. Understandably not everyone wants to take that on.
Then there are the letting agents. Mine charged 12 and half percent plus VAT, for that they do very little. Drew up the contract, organised safety certificates, placed the tenant's deposit in an approved investment scheme, organised an inspection and inventory of the flat. Most of the first month's rent forfeited to these services. After that they inspect the property once or twice. They have a panel of maintenance people who charge top dollar. Their plumbing arm were particularly useless and obtuse with it. When we had to have a new pump installed in the bathroom, when I asked for the spec. they actually told me they weren't prepared to divulge that information to me. The person who was paying the bill ffs! I'd never been told that by any plumber before, but then again we'd never used cowboys. These were so bloody useless, they had to come back and do the same job twice. Eventually we were of the opinion that they were setting up issues on purpose. So we got rid of them and found our own plumbers. So of course that kind of makes the letting agent redundant, in that we were organising what they should be doing and they made it ultra difficult for us to liaise with our tenants, thus hindering some essential work. However, although the tenants wanted the work done, they in turn weren't cooperative in letting us sort out the matter. They were super cagey about who came to the flat because they had 4 other people living there un-be-known to us, thus breaking the terms of the lease.
So people ask, why did you want to sell up? Most of the articles in the financial press seem to suggest it isn't really worth it for the single property Landlord and it was certainly getting that way. A perfect storm of dealing with uncooperative agents, tenants, management companies, their fees and the prospective legislation coming down the line. I'm not saying we didn't make money from the letting. In the end the return didn't justify the aggro. We've spread the money between ISAS and other investments, less return but minus the headaches.
I'm sure Blackrock and large companies buying into great swathes of the buy to let market, won't give a stuff about their tenants, we always tried to play fair as I believe many Landlords do.
