Landlord & Buy-to-Let Magazine | Page 24

For latest show news visit www.landlordshow.info industry news Most landlords don’t want to deal directly with tenants According to a new study, most landlords prefer letting agents to manage the tenants and generally don’t want to be troubled with tenant complaints. The study, conducted by PropertyLetByUs.com – a leading online letting agent, reveals that over 85% of landlords don’t want to deal directly with tenants and almost 90% are unhappy about tenants calling or emailing them with problems. The research shows that despite landlords avoiding contact with tenants, nearly 60% pay for all the repairs to the property, while 10% expect tenants to pay for small repairs and just 2% confess to ignoring repairs for as long as possible. Jane Morris, Managing Director of Property Let By Us, comments: “Landlords often come in for bad press. But the majority of them are professional and take their responsibilities seriously. Many landlords work either full- or part-time and need the support of an agent to help them with managing the relationship with the tenant. “We know from our research that 66% of landlords find managing their properties more stressful than their full- or part-time jobs and dealing with tenant complaints is a top cause of stress. Landlords are under a huge amount of pressure with mounting legislative and tax changes. Agents can be a big help for landlords, offering a range of services that help reduce their workload and ensure they are fully compliant with legislation.” Council benefit payment delays affect half of tenants Half (52 per cent) of private sector tenants on housing benefit have experienced delays over its payment from their local council, according to new research from the National Landlords Association (NLA). The figures, which are thought to affect approximately 3.3 million tenants, also show that in over a third (36 per cent) of those cases, tenants say that the delays have caused them problems with, or prevented them from, paying their rent on time. The news follows reports from housing charity Shelter, who predict that 80% of working English households claiming housing support will face a benefits’ shortfall as a result و