Shortage of mortgage funding fears raised by landlords – TML

The study of 100 landlords, which was conducted by OnePoll on behalf of the lender, also noted concerns around property purchases and the future of mortgage finance.

It found that of those investors who have already suffered financially, 28 per cent reported rent arrears and 18 per cent had tenants who left their rented home. 

The landlords surveyed also experienced issues relating to the property chain as a fifth said they faced delays when purchasing a property and 13 per cent were subjected to hold ups when selling. 

When it came to the mortgage process, 14 per cent said they had seen delays with their mortgage or valuation. 

Future concerns 

Along with a potential recession, landlords are worried about how the future of the job market may affect their properties as 41 per cent cited increased unemployment as something they felt would impact their portfolio in the next two years. 

A third of landlords said they were worried about how an increase in taxation will impact on their portfolios over the next two years while 21 per cent believed movement from cities to suburbs and rural areas could adversely affect their inner city properties. 

Changes to the way people work, study and live were also among the problems landlords believed would impact their investments.

Some 14 per cent thought there would be a reduction in UK-based students taking up accommodation in high yielding student towns while 15 per cent believed there would be a drop in international students.  

Fears towards the mortgage process were also highlighted as 18 per cent predicted interest rates would rise over the next two years and 11 per cent believed there would be problems with the availability of mortgage funding. 

Still willing to invest

The Mortgage Lender sales director, Steve Griffiths, said: “Landlords are facing an uncertain future with many moving parts. 

“And there is some evidence that the pandemic could change the structure of the buy–to–let market in a more fundamental way than any of us could have anticipated at the beginning of this year.” 

He added: “Despite the uncertainty, landlords understand that property investment is a long term strategy – indeed half of the ones we surveyed said the pandemic hadn’t changed their investment plans at all and that is borne out by the number of applications we have seen for our buy to let products over the last four months.”