Accidental Landlords

Confidence slowly drained out of the property market throughout the whole of 2010 with many people getting into financial difficulties and having to sell their house fast.
Its been a gloomy start to the property year with prices falling on a monthly basis, homeowners trapped in negative equity, repossessions everywhere and estate agents
reporting a further slump in sales.
The chief executive of one of Britain’s biggest building companies described the state of the economy as ‘pitiful’ and warned that we may still face the most challenging downturn in two decades.

People wanting to sell their house due to debt, separation, bereavement or job relocation, but found that they could not, have become ‘accidental landlords’.
Having to then cope with landlord legislation, non-paying tenants and ongoing maintenance can be a nightmare. The cost of letting agents may be too much.
It is clear that UK property remains over valued and needs to be considerably lower. If this were to happen it would mean bad news for homeowners desperate to sell.

The level of property transactions is roughly half the normal level and will continue to fall until houses reach an affordable level.
Homeowners needing to sell their house fast, will find that their local estate agent may not be able to help them.
Some ‘experts’ are predicting a 5% loss (some predict considerably more) in 2011. Add to this inflation at 4% and 1% property deterioration and the downwards trend continues, for now.

Francis