Challenging tenants forcing landlords in Sheffield to sell

Half of landlords in Sheffield are considering selling their rental properties due to problem tenants, with unpaid rent and damage running into thousands of pounds cited as the main problems.Nationally 33 per cent of landlords are planning to sell, suggesting landlords in the city are feeling the pressure more than others across the UK.Seventy five percent of Sheffield landlords have had issues with tenants who don’t pay the rent on time, compared to 47 percent nationally, according to a new survey commissioned by online letting agent MakeUrMove.Ten percent have also faced large bills when tenants have left properties in a state of damage and disrepair. Many have had to pay thousands to restore their property after a tenant has moved out, with one landlord surveyed left with £16,000 of damage. Landlords say damage caused by tenants far outstrips the sum of the deposit usually taken at the start of the tenancy and held in the government-backed Deposit Protection Scheme.his pressure is leading the majority of ‘good’ landlords, who try their best to support tenants, to feel they can’t continue to rent out their properties. The study found 100 percent of landlords in Sheffield believe it’s important to keep tenants happy, 85 percent have a good relationship with their tenants and 25 percent update items for the benefit of the occupant. Despite their best efforts, landlords are suffering when tenants don’t repay the favour, with 60 percent of landlords saying their biggest worry is problem tenants.MakeUrMove managing director, Alexandra Morris, said: “Forty five percent of landlords in Sheffield are ‘accidental’ or ‘casual’ landlords, meaning they only have one property and rent it out to supplement their main working income. As these landlords make up the backbone of the British property market, it’s important they feel happy to carry on letting. Stress and financial pressures caused by ‘challenging’ tenants is a sure fire way to put them off and steer them away from further investment.“This could also be a real worry for smaller landlords when it comes to cash flow. Generally, as long as the rent is coming in every month to cover mortgages and other associated costs, smaller ‘casual’ landlords don’t often plan for bigger costs caused by damage from tenants or lack of funds due to unpaid rent.“As a result, when a big outlay comes around, some landlords find themselves in trouble, and there’s very little protection offered from the government against these things.”Other issues faced by landlords in the city include tenants breaking items and refusing to pay (five per cent), tenants refusing to leave at the end of their tenancy (15 per cent) and extra people living in the property who are not on the tenancy agreement (10 per cent). The latter could even put the landlord at risk of breaching Right to Rent provisions, which may in some cases, amount to a landlord being found guilty of a criminal offence following changes to the Immigration Act 2016.