Propertymark chief exec pays high cost thanks to rogu...

It’s been revealed that Propertymark chief executive Nathan Emerson had to bear a huge £18,000 cost thanks to a rogue tenant.

The Tines reveals that Emerson - a buy to let landlord with 11 properties in Lincolnshire - had a tenant during the pandemic who ran up arrears of some £10,000.

It took a further expenditure of some £8,000 to repair the property once the tenant finally checked out.

“I’ve had to bear the brunt of that personally” he tells the newspaper in an article about how regulation and tax are combining to make buy to let unprofitable for many landlords.

He makes a point rarely heard in the debate over landlords - that the long term shortage of social housing pushes tenants with special care needs towards the private rental sector.

“[Landlords are] usually not qualified and not equipped to be able to handle those types of individuals” notes Emerson.

The article cites sales data from lettings agency Hamptons showing that the average investor selling a property with a gross yield of 4.8 per cent is then buying another property with a yield of 6.3 per cent.

David Fell, a senior analyst at Hamptons, tells The Times: “This means a move northwards, away from larger homes in London and the South East towards flats and terraces further north, which tend to offer higher yields. Higher interest rates are likely to accelerate this shift and exacerbate rental stock shortages down south.”

The article suggests that almost 260,000 private rental homes have been sold off over the past four years while some 230,000 more a year are needed to keep up with rising demand.