The UK's most vulnerable landlords are to be found in Chichester, research has revealed.
The findings from Gatehouse Bank show that landlords in the city are facing 269 days, on average, without a tenant in their property.
The study set out to find where the most vulnerable landlords are using a range of indicators and highlights that the next most vulnerable location is Oxford.
Here, landlords can go 261 days without a tenant with Warwick in third place with 254 days.
Rather than looking at yield, as most surveys do, the research from Gatehouse considered how long rentals have been on the market and also affordability between rents and average salaries.
The UK's least attractive buy to let locations
If the study from the buy to let financer looked solely at yield, then landlords in Padstow, Bedford and Taunton would be offering property in the UK's least attractive buy to let locations. Shrewsbury and Salisbury make up the top five under this criteria.
However, landlords in the Midlands and North of England are the least vulnerable with the best place to have a rental property being in Bootle in Merseyside, followed by Inverness, Stoke, Barnsley and St Helens.
Gatehouse's chief executive, Charles Haresnap, said: “Our research shows that Northern hospitality isn't a myth, and it's a great place to live and be a landlord with cities doing better across all indicators.
“Rental homes are being let more quickly than in the South, which is no surprise when cities like Manchester and Liverpool are within commuting distance of towns like Bootle.”
He added that one striking aspect from the research is that the best performing areas are those that have affordable rents which help the relationship between landlords and tenants.
BTL landlords are facing another tax hike
Meanwhile, it's been revealed by one national newspaper that the UK's 2.5 million landlords could be facing a stamp duty surcharge hike in this year's autumn budget.
The Sun reports that the Treasury is looking to increase the levy, which was introduced on the purchase of second homes, including buy to lets, two years ago.
While properties worth up to £125,000 are exempt from stamp duty, for a buy to let purchase they are still liable to a 3% charge.
For homes worth up to £250,000, the surcharge is 2% or 5%, and for homes worth up to £925,000, there is a surcharge of 5% or 8%.
The newspaper reports that the buy to let hike is opposed by Tory backbenchers who say more homes need to be built and the move is a diversion from this issue.
