Property maintenance, outgoings and the importance of the advice process

As the rise in the cost of living is testing all our financial capabilities, this is certainly no different for landlords who have many different forms of outgoings and costs to calculate relating to their property investments. Maintenance has long been one of the major considerations for landlords from a time and cost standpoint and with the price of labour and materials rising, even greater scrutiny is being placed on even the smallest of jobs.

To gain some kind of perspective on these outlays, research from property maintenance solution provider, Help me Fix, revealed that maintenance in the rented sector in the UK totals a huge £30 billion a year. The general rule of thumb is that the cost of maintaining a property each year sits at roughly 1% of the property’s value. With the current average house price hitting £278,436, this means annual maintenance costs total £2,784 per property for private and social landlords and management companies. Apply this to total rental stock and the current annual maintenance cost for the UK rental market is £29.7 billion a year: £15.6 billion for private stock and £14.1 billion for social stock.

On a regional level, London is home to by far the biggest rental market and, as a result, has the largest annual rental maintenance bill at £9.7 billion. In the South East, annual rental market maintenance costs total £4.8 billion, with the East of England (£3.1bn), the South West (£2.7bn) and the North West (£2.4bn) also home to some of the largest annual maintenance bills in the UK rental market.

These spiralling costs demonstrate how important it is for all landlords to carefully manage their outgoings on individual properties across their portfolios. A major component of this for many landlords will be the mortgage, which emphasises the value attached to the advice process. Having access to the right financial products at the right time can help ensure that landlords have greater control over their outgoings and take advantage of any additional opportunities as and when they present themselves.