According to new research by Standard Life Bank, One in five landlords use their significant rental income to improve their overall quality of life.

In a recent survey, Standard Life questioned over 500 landlords across the UK about their earnings from buy-to-let properties.  The results showed that these investments can often be very lucrative.

"Our survey revealed that a quarter of all respondents are earning up to £200 more than their mortgage commitments every monhth, 27 per cent are earning between £200 and £500 extra, and 13 per cent are earning up to £1,000 each month," said Andrew Boddie, Head of Marketing at Standard Life Bank.

Although the results show the majority of people (52 per cent) first became landlords in order to invest in their future, Standard Life is predicting an increased trend in "buy-to-let-to-lifestyle" as people start to cotton on to the earning potential that buy-to-let can deliver.

"Earnings on successful buy-to-let projects can be significant and provide landlords with income to change their lives - and with one in five already reporting that they benefiting in this way, we expect to see this number rise as more people use their property to embrace a more flexible lifestyle,"  Mr Boddie stated.

17 per cent of respondents used the money earned from their property to go travelling, 10 per cent used their earnings to reduce their working hours and work part-time, while 10 per cent used the money to retrain or set up their own business.

According to a recent ARLA Review, 57 per cent of buy-to-let landlords currently own just one other property in addition to their own home and 23 per cent own two or more properties.  Significantly, around three per cent of respondents now own more than ten houses, with many investors finding that money from buy-to-let projects can be sensibly reinvested in expanding a eisting portfolio.