Buy-to-Let repossessions increasing

Kesh Thukaram, managing director of Smartlandlord.co.uk, comments on CML buy-to-let figures: "It's not a surprise to see the number of buy-to-let repossessions increasing. In the current environment, rental arrears are a rising problem for landlords - and increasingly they're getting landlords into arrears with lenders."

"Rental arrears not only disrupt landlords' income streams, but the costs to evict tenants from the rented property are substantial. Buy-to-let is not regulated and, as a result, landlords risk having properties repossessed very quickly, without due consideration of TCF guidelines that govern owner occupied sector. In the long-term, we are going to see more of this because the most common reasons for tenants getting into arrears with rent is redundancy or some reduction in income."

"Landlords should protect their income with Rent Guarantee products which will protect them against non payment of rent and provide legal expense cover. Rent guarantee products are available for less than £10 a month from Smartlandlord.co.uk. And with Smartlandlord Rent on Time landlords do not need to worry about tenants skipping rent payments; the rent will be paid on the due day whether the tenant has paid or not."

"Landlords who are not in trouble should not be complacent. Payments for buy-to-let mortgages have dropped considerably thanks to the cuts in interest rate. They should overpay on their existing mortgages now to improve their credit rating for the future. Having said that, 40% of landlords own their property outright, so rising buy-to-let arrears figures do not represent instability of the whole private rented sector and should not be overblown."