January 2025

You don’t have to look very far to find stories about the effect of renting on the health of tenants. One of the most recent was by the charity Shelter. It said 40% of renters questioned had experienced poor health due to their living conditions, with aspects such as damp and run-down properties making mental and physical health conditions worse.

Very little, however, is reported on the health of landlords. As humans, they too suffer but their plight is often overlooked. One industry body that chose to recognise how landlords were faring was the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA).

The pandemic prompted the organisation to question its members. The survey found 40% of landlords said the pandemic had had a ‘negative or very negative’ impact on their mental health.

Since then, lettings and the wider financial landscape has been subject to a series of detrimental and stressful changes. Landlord profits have fallen to just £7 per year and with the Renters’ Rights Bill already in the House of Lords, power will firmly lie with tenants in the very near future.

Landlords will also have to factor in the transition to more stringent EPC standards and the reality that mortgage rates won’t be dropping below 2% any time soon – a fact that is perturbing many buy-to-let borrowers coming off fixed-rate mortgage deals.

While many landlords take pride in providing accommodation for renters, the financial toll is forcing more to exit the market and it’s a matter not helped by age. In 2023, Hamptons estimated around 140,000 landlords retired in 2022, which accounted for nearly three-quarters (73%) of all landlord sales.

The agent said that figure will rise over the coming years as those who joined the buy-to-let boom when it first started are now reaching retirement age. In fact, Hamptons says around 96,000 landlords will turn 65 in each of the coming years across Great Britain. Some landlords are even older. According to Confused.com, almost 10% of landlords are older than 75.

With age comes illness and a toll on health. When studying data issued by the Centre for Ageing Better, poor health in the over 50s is most likely to be attributed to musculoskeletal disorders, mental disorders, diabetes, chronic kidney disease and neurological disorders.

Unlike when you’re an employee, it’s much harder to take medical retirement from being a landlord. Being signed off for health reasons doesn’t lead to an easy exit, a payout or early access to a pension pot.

Landlords who have poor physical or mental health do have options, however. The conventional route – waiting for vacant possession and selling on the open market – comes with zero guarantees in terms of an end date. It’s very much an unknown, open-ended exercise.

An alternative is to sell to a professional buy-to-let purchaser. Selling to a company like LandlordBuyer is a valid option for landlords who want to exit the market quickly so they can concentrate on their own health. With us, exchange and completion can be achieved in as little as 42 days, with cash paid into the landlord’s bank account.

A sale to LandlordBuyer is also the most stress-free option too. As we buy direct from the seller there are:

  • No estate agents involved
  • No agency fees
  • No need to evict tenants
  • No legal costs
  • No public viewings required
  • No EPC costs
  • No need to decorate or repair the property

LandlordBuyer specialises in purchasing tenanted properties and those classed as problematic, including flats with short leases, dilapidated houses and buy-to-lets with spray foam insulation. We also pay the landlord’s conveyancing costs and come to the table chain free.

If conflict with tenants, the pressure of being on call, the strain of losing money or stress of compliance is combining with poor health, please contact LandlordBuyer to explore an exit strategy. Alternatively, speak to one of the following for free advice.

Resources for landlords

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