Rental voids fall by three days

Rental voids fall by three days in February: Goodlordhttps://t.co/nTHtqLDM3q

— Mortgage Strategy (@MortgageStrat) March 2, 2021

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Average rental void period drops in Feb

Average rental void period drops in Februaryhttps://t.co/ejagAafNUz

— Mortgage Strategy (@MortgageStrat) March 4, 2020

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Time taken to let property hits a low

The average time it takes to let a home dropped to a record low of 20 days during the first seven months of the year.https://t.co/Z8QEfKsmjh #renters #property pic.twitter.com/wzTT9T6hv4

— Zoopla (@Zoopla) August 13, 2019

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Tempting tenants to stay

Accidental landlord, @VicWhitlock says if you want long-term tenants you must tempt them to stay: https://t.co/vS3XkI5R4D

— ES Homes & Property (@HomesProperty) December 8, 2015

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Tips on avoiding rental voids

UK rental voids For landlords the biggest drag and drain on resources is always the curse of the rental void.

Luckily for landlords rental voids are near a historic low.

Classic tips on avoiding a rental void are:

1. Don't be greedy on the rent. Don't hold out on unrealistic rental demand. This is a classic mistake made many newbie landlords. The reality is that they will never get back the lost rent of a void.
2. Keep pushing the market - make sure you keep pushing your letting agent and look for other ways to market your property outside the big property portals for fee
3. Always make sure your rental property looks it's best before marketing it for letting. Tenants are easily put off and in an increasingly competitive market they won't come back
4. If the rental property starts to stick on the market consider using rental incentive like free sky

Having said all this NEVER EVER let to tenants who you are unsure about without the back up of rental guarantor. If the tenancy goes wrong a small rental void will pale into insignificance compared to the massive costs of getting possession of your rental property and the costs of getting your rental investment back on track.

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Rental voids near a low

Paragon's latest survey of landlords showed a decline in rental voids.

The Q4 2014 Paragon survey recorded the average rental void as 2.6 weeks. This compares with 2.8 weeks recorded in their Q4 2013 survey. 

The survey data  compares to the all time lowest rate of 2.5 weeks, recorded back in Q4 2002.

The highest average rental void recorded by Paragon's survey was the 3.5 weeks of Q2 2010.

John Heron, managing director of Paragon Mortgages, commented

‘The low average void periods we have seen over the past year, and in previous years, reflects the strong and growing demand we have seen for private rented property together with effective property management by landlords and letting agents in renting out properties,’ he added.

‘This is positive news for landlords and, as tenant demand continues to rise, it is possible that void periods may decrease even further in 2015.’ 

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Renters face post Christmas money worries

'Research' from Shelter guess-timates that nearly 60% of households are struggling to meet their January housing costs after the christmas blow out. 

The charity believes that one in nine of the population ( which equates to 3 million UK households by their reckoning) are fearful as to whether they will  be able to afford January’s rent or mortgage repayments.

Shelter report a spike in the visits to their websites help pages on advice for eviction and repossession  advice, saying

“Many people have spent a long time thinking they have nowhere to turn and are often close to breaking point by the time they come to us. If you’re in this situation, it’s so important to remember you’re not alone and that help is available.” 

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London landlords embrace Airbnb

The holiday accommodation sharing platform Airbnb is stuffed with BTL listings in London according to the Guardian.

The Guardian's research has found many of the properties listed on the site are from professional landlords. Of the 13000 London listings,  6,600 were renting out an entire home or flat and not just a spare room, and more that 1500 people were listing multiple properties.

Some users have dozens of rental properties across the city, with one user listing more than a hundred.

The British Hospitality Association aren't happy with what they insist is unregulated competition.

"We are very concerned that large numbers of private homes are being let on a semi or even permanent basis to tourists because it's unlikely that any of these properties have ever had any fire risk or health and safety checks," said the organisation's legal and policy director.

"76% of fire deaths in the UK last year were in the home and if you have strangers staying there who aren't familiar with how things work, the risks could increase."

My thought is, it might be a way of profiting from a scheduled void period between lets.

Rejoice - rental voids reduce

The National Landlords Association (NLA) have reported a fall in void periods in private-residential property. 

The NLA report data showing that only 33 per cent of landlords experiencing vacant periods in the last three months, down 13 per cent from a year ago. 

Their data shows that the North East struggled the most with voids, with 54 per cent of landlords have experienced empty periods in the last three months. London, unsurprisingly reported the lowest rate, with just 20 per cent. 

The average length of a rental void also fell. Down from 69 days from Q1 2012 to 60 days.

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Rental void periods fall

According to the most recent Paragon survey rental void periods have continued to fall.

The average rental void is now down to 2.8 weeks, down from 3.5 weeks in the second quarter of 2010.

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Letting voids fall

The latest Paragon Group’s Private Rented Sector (PRS) Trends report shows that landlords are experiencing greater tenant demand with 4 out of 10 landlords reporting increasing tenant demand compared to 36% during the third quarter.

Tenant demand has now risen for six consecutive quarters and only 4% of landlords reported falling demand from tenants in the quarter, the lowest proportion since the third quarter of 2008 and the 2nd lowest since Paragon started collating the data in 2004.

The average void period fell for the second quarter in a row to an average of 2.9 weeks a year.

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Rental voids fall by 15%

According to letting agent LSL Property Services the average void period amongst the landlord portfolios that they manage has fallen by 15% over the year.

In October 2009 the average rental remained unoccupied for 36.4 days per year but this dropped to 30.9 days in October 2010.

On top of this their research shows that landlords expect this trend of falling voids to continue. with nine in ten landlords expecting void periods to be lower than four weeks in the next 12 months.

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Voids hit 8 year low

The average void period being experienced by landlords in the UK has fallen to the lowest level in 8 years according to research carried out by the Association of Residential Lettings Agents (ARLA).

There members have found that the void period had fallen to 3.2 weeks from 3.6 weeks in the first quarter of 2010.

Void periods have shown a dramatic turn around falling from a high in the first quarter of 2009 to the lowest since records have began 10 years ago.

The south east is experiencing the lowest viod periods averaging 2.9 weeks whilst Scotland, Wales and Northern have the highest with 3.7 weeks.

For more regional information see here.