This week saw a concerning report stating that up to 25% of buy-to-let investors could be driven from the sector, as a result of existing and proposed tax changes.
However, a leading letting agent has moved to quash this prediction from the Residential Landlords Association.
Misleading
Ajay Jagota, head of North East lettings and sales firm KIS, feels the data is misleading and incomplete. He argues that it does not take into account regional variations.
Mr Jagota said: ‘I’m not disputing that these tax changes will affect landlords and that the ultimate losers will in all likelihood be the tenants whose rents go up to cover those costs – but this poll is less accurate than the polls which missed Brexit and the election of Trump.’[1]
‘We work with a similar amount of landlords to the total number who took part in the survey, and not one of them has even hinted to me at any point this entire year that they are thinking of selling up. Other major agents I’ve spoken to have said the same thing. So where are these one in four landlords who are packing in?’[1]
Letting agent refutes one in four quit claim
‘Self-selecting’
Continuing, Jagota said that the survey reflects, ‘1,000 probably self-selecting landlords,’ who in reality do not show the thoughts of the majority of investors.
‘There’s a wider issue here that some eye-catching headline figures are once again failing to accurately reflect reality on the ground. It happened in the 2015 election, it happened in the EU referendum, it happened in the US presidential election – but it also happens in housing,’ Jagota noted.[1]
Concluding, he said: ‘As a local agent you know the micro details about community you serve which will be missed by – even the Office of National Statistics would miss. You can even see when an individual street is on the up. But you are then told that statistics show how things are entirely different from what you’ve seen with your own eyes.’[1]
[1] https://www.lettingagenttoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2016/11/letting-agent-rips-into-landlord-survey-of-buy-to-let-quitters
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