The point I am trying to make is: it may seem as if rents are galloping ever further upwards (and causing much consternation in all tenant groups) but the fact is: they are galloping way slower than a landlord’s actual costs.
It was interesting to note Hamptons research suggest that rents will rise 25pc over the next four years, because I’m not sure that’s enough to cover the colossal cost pressures landlords are facing – and that’s before you factor in any regulatory changes or EPC announcements that may get put back on the table.
But the other key thing the research highlighted was that despite the surge in rents, many landlords will find themselves worse off than they were in 2021. I agree. Like many, I have never worked so hard to try and stand still. Progression feels like an empty promise.
With the price of materials and labour still at a meteoric high, I am having to rethink planned projects because the projects that are already happening, or in the pipeline, are coming in wildly over budget.
Greedflation has crept into every single sector of the market. Trying to carry out even routine maintenance has become so abhorrently expensive that it’s sometimes easier – and more financially prudent – to make a bigger job from a small job.
But as the landlord, there are only so many costs of doing business that I can bear. I do not have a vanishing button on my spreadsheet. I do not have a magic money tree at the bottom of the garden. I can only do what the sums allow me to do.
If that means I have to increase a tenant’s rent by 12pc, then by my accounts, I think they got off lightly.
