London's Landlords Worse Off Because Of Brexit
Since the vote to leave the European Union in June 2016, London's landlords have been left worse off, says one index.
The data from Landbay highlights that landlords may have seen rent growth being 2.84% lower than was predicted, leading to a £1,806 drop in income.
In June 2016, rent growth was predicted to be 4.15% and the property market in London has also suffered disproportionately from Brexit uncertainty.
Landlords have seen average annual rent growth falling -0.33% in June 2017, from 1.26% in June 2016.
There was a slow recovery until February last year when rents grew by 0.05% and in December rose by 0.58%.
London landlords saw a fall in rent price growth
However, other UK regions stayed in line with growth expectations with only London landlords seeing a fall in rent price growth.
Landbay's chief executive, John Goodall, said: "It's hard to ignore the impact on London's property market that the vote on leaving the EU has had.
"While tenants are better off without them realising it necessarily, market uncertainty has caused a conundrum for landlords."
He added: "Many landlords will have been looking to offset the punitive tax regime from the government by increasing rents but Brexit uncertainty has forced most to forfeit this to keep a steady income."
He added that while no-one is any clearer about what the UK's future relationship with the EU will be, he said the impact of a no deal Brexit could have a 'significant effect' on the UK's property market.
Universal credit will be paid directly to landlords
Meanwhile, the government has revealed plans to alter Universal Credit so claimants can have it paid directly to their landlord.
A new online system has been unveiled and it is hoped that this will reduce the number of rent arrears involving tenants who are receiving Universal Credit.
The Residential Landlords' Association (RLA) has also carried out research and found that 61% who have tenants receiving Universal Credit have experienced their tenants going into rent arrears.
That figure is up from the 27% of landlords who had the same issue in 2016.
The RLA says that tenants on Universal Credit in rent arrears owe nearly £2,400, which is an increase of 49% on last year's figure.
The RLA's vice-chairman, Chris Town, said: "Speeding up and improving the process of payments being made directly to the landlord has been a central part of our campaign on Universal Credit."
