PROPERTY UPDATE – Tuesday 30 June 2009

• Number of repossessions is revised – Downwards!
• Tenants in arrears owe more than 250 million.
• Central London short term rentals get cheaper!

This week the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) revised their projection of housing repossessions this year from 75,000 – 65,000…when asked for comments they said it is a combination of lower interest rates and the improvement in Government Schemes currently on offer.
Is it really that – or have we all just been too negative?  The fact is, many people bit off more than they could chew and the 100 and 125% mortgages should have never really been offered to people in the first place...
There will always be repossessions but the figures are quite deceiving, a large number of repossessions are one time buy to let landlords who thought they could make their fortune over night...
They are now experiencing the real hard work, involved in being a landlord, with many just giving up and either selling their investments at very low prices or being repossessed...
LSPL Property Service, a letting agent, has recently reported that more than 55,000 Tenants are in arrears on their rental payments, the sum owing is more than £250m between them which equates to 12% of all rent due.  It says 133,000 are facing eviction with Welsh Tenants being the worst payers and London Tenants being more likely to keep up to date with their payments.
Traditionally a typical short term let was for three months but it is now possible to move in for a night, a week or a month. "The downside of short term lets is the shorter the tenancy, the more expensive it will be, and they might have to accept the fact that the landlord will want to show potential buyers the property.