With talk of the short-term lettings industry booming and many changes forcing landlords out of the traditional lets sector, we spoke to Akash Sharda, the CEO and Founder of short-term rental management firm Spothost, to find out more about the market.
It is claimed that landlords can earn significantly higher rental yieldsin the short-term lettings industry than letting their properties to long-term tenants. But how true is this?
Indeed, Sharda claims that Spothost’s data reveals that landlords can earn 2.5% more per month from short-term lettings, compared to traditional lets.
But, aside from strong rental yields, there are other benefits to the short-term lettings sector.
Sharda picks out the points that could appeal to landlords moving away from the traditional market: “They can expect a much higher standard of property maintenance, as the property is inspected several times a month and cleaned to a high standard. In conventional long-term lettings, the majority of the time, landlords need to re-paint walls or replace furniture after the end of contracts.
Sharda believes that it’s legislation that is causing landlords to move into the short-term lettings industry. He claims that, with more favour towards tenants in the traditional rental market, landlords will consider the change.
With the tenant fees bandue for introduction in England in less than two months’ time, the short-term lets sector could see an influx of investors from the private rental market, Sharda adds.
“The tenant fees ban was another money making exercise for agencies and landlords, therefore, once this become illegal, more people will look at how to recoup this extra income,” he says.
So, if you’ve decided that you’d like to take advantage of higher returns in the short-term lettings sector, how should you change your investment strategy?