Fiona Maclean, 64, sold the Hammersmith flat she’d rented out for nearly 20 years this year – a result of increasing overheads and more rights for tenants.
She said: “The main two issues for me were, firstly, the increasing cost of licensing fees, safety certificates and service charges and, secondly, the shift in legislation to favour the tenant, even if the tenant caused the problem or didn’t pay rent.”
Fiona purchased her small one-bedroom flat, which is in a Victorian terrace, in 1991 for £60,000.
“My story is probably the same one that many smaller landlords would tell. I never intended to be a landlord; I fell into it by accident.”
She wanted to maintain her base in the west London after her job, working for Vodafone, relocated to Newbury, Berkshire. She also bought a small cottage in Wiltshire for the weekdays, returning to London to see her friends at the weekend.
“During the week, a friend who was a nurse used [the London flat] because it was central enough for her to get home easily. She just kept it nice and clean. People did that then, we just muddled through; I wouldn’t have taken any money off her for it.”
After a stint working for phone firm, Orange, in Belgium, Fiona moved back to the UK and, as she was now contracting and working from home, decided she needed somewhere bigger.
“In 2004/5, I bought a second property, a two-bedroom flat to live in, a 20-minute walk away in W12. Property prices had increased at this point so I thought I’d see if I could let the Hammersmith flat out.” She had no trouble, and the flat has only been empty for one week since then.
During this time, Fiona kept the rent low and, apart from two problem tenants, it was generally a positive experience.
“One tenant went to South America for work and then stopped paying the rent for months at a time so I couldn’t pay the mortgage. I was freelance, so my income was variable, and I did rely on the rent being paid on time. He did it twice, so the agents issued him with an eviction notice.”
The next tenant was also a headache and left the property dirty, leaving rubbish in the hallway and not co-operating with Fiona to help prevent a mouse infestation.
“I told him to get mice traps, but he ignored me, so I had to send pest control in. The pest control officer said they’d never seen anything quite so filthy.”
Fiona admits to finding younger generations difficult to understand. “I’m of a generation when there was a drive to buy property. With Generation Rent there’s an attitude that they can always live with mum and dad or with friends, and choose to spend their money on other things like holidays and takeaways. What Kirstie Allsopp said [suggesting young people could buy a home by giving up luxuries like Netflix and Starbucks], wasn’t entirely true, but it was a little.”
Fiona flags that when interest rates were at 15 per cent, it was a struggle getting and staying on the property ladder.
“I survived only by the skin of my teeth. I don’t have children but my friends with children say they spend money on things that would be luxuries and special occasions for us, so they have no money for a deposit.”
She also feels like the prevailing mood against landlords is unfair.
“There’s an attitude issue which makes people worse: ‘I’m entitled to this and that and, if you don’t give it to me, I’ll sue you.’ Where do you get the idea that you have a right to a property that’s not yours?”
“Landlords aren’t nasty people; our focus was on how to manage to get our own property. There are alternatives that they have now which we never did, for example shared ownership.”
She says the real villains are the letting agents who get paid large fees but don’t do very much. “I tried a managed service and, when I needed a new fridge, they said the cheapest one they could find was £700. I could get one for much less myself at John Lewis – and get it fitted.”
Her final tenants were a “lovely” Romanian couple, but, when they went back to Romania, Fiona decided to sell instead of putting the £1,050 per month rent up, something she needed to do to cover her increased costs.
“If I am honest, I felt uncomfortable charging a ‘market rent’ to nice tenants who could barely afford it!”
By selling a portfolio of dating sites, Fiona had managed to pay off the flat’s mortgage in 2017, but, over the years, the cost of renting out the property had increased significantly.
Whereas previously all that was needed was an annual gas certificate, Fiona now had to also pay for an electrical certificate every five years and £600 for a licence from Hammersmith and Fulham council, which she describes as “just a very, very long questionnaire”.
She flags that many of the requirements the gGovernment is introducing are things that landlords can’t control.
“For example, my flat had some black mould in a cupboard. The flat is small and has double glazing to make it more energy-efficient and warmer. When I lived there, there was no double glazing and no black mould. If you make a small property warmer, black mould grows if you don’t open the windows when you dry your clothes. It’s a Catch 22.”
Fiona, who now runs a consulting company and online website, sold the flat in April this year for £360,000 and had to pay £60,000 in capital gains tax [the tax when you sell a second property for a profit]. She wanted to sell before Labour’s October Budget, which was predicted to include an increase in CGT, something that didn’t materialise in the end.
The flat’s buyers were also landlords but bought it as a limited company. After they’d completed a small amount of cosmetic work, it was listed to rent for £2,500 a month.
“The bedroom still had the original MDF wardrobe, and it has the same kitchen. It is what it was when I rented it cheaply, and not at London prices. No one wins in today’s market – neither tenants nor landlords.”
'President Musk' is flexing his muscles and revealing how weak Trump is