Buy to let residential property investment

The buy to let phenomenon as we now know it is a relatively new activity that has opened up the role of landlord to a whole new cross section of society.

The official birth of buy to let took place in 1996. Buy to let is the name given to an initiative originally conceived by the Association of Residential Lettings Agents (ARLA) that was initially supported by a small panel of eight mortgage lenders. These were the first mainstream financial institutions that were willing to throw open their lending to investors wishing to invest in the private rental market.

Since then, the number of lenders who service this section of the market has grown to more than 50, as property investment has become increasingly popular. The fact that there are a lot more lenders willing to advance people money in order to purchase investment property is just one of the reasons why there has been a large growth in the market sector over the last five or ten years.

The investment environment for landlords has improved dramatically over the past decade:

• Firstly, the 1988 Housing Act was a very favourable piece of legislation, that gave landlords much greater power to evict problem tenants. Previously, tenant occupation was extremely detrimental to the value of a property, making residential investment something of a mug's game.
• Secondly, as the 90's wore on, we have had more and more lenders entering this sector of the market, meaning that once-specialist mortgages have become more mainstream and therefore more competitive.
• Finally, the last few years have seen steady, sustained growth in the broader economy, with low inflation. This makes for a pretty good climate for owning property. At the same time, various socio-economic factors have been pushing up the demand for rental property.

If this is the sort of information you are looking for, why not read our full section on buy to let and letting property. If you are more interested in finding lettings agents or places for advertising your property on the web, you should visit SiteFinder. It is a comprehensive directory of UK home, move and property websites. We have reviewed over 6000 websites that should help you find the sites and services that you need. SiteFinder is always expanding and we welcome your suggestions for new sites that aren't already included.

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