Most buy-to-let landlords take hands-on approach

Two thirds live within 10 miles of their buy-to-let home, within one in five living within one mile.

Most landlords prefer to live near their property to ensure they know the market and can manage it personally, research from Simple Landlords Insurance has found.

Two thirds live within 10 miles of their buy-to-let home, within one in five living within one mile.

The research, which analysed over 10,000 addresses, also found that just 15% live more than 50 miles away.

Alex Huntley from Simple Landlords said: “We are seeing an increasing trend of savvy landlords taking direct control of how their property is let and managed and becoming much more self-sufficient.

“While it can be easy to bash landlords as faceless investors, these results show they are more likely to be part of the community they invest in and take a personal interest in making sure their property is well maintained and tenancies are long-term.

“We are also seeing a growing demand from landlords to be able to manage their insurance policies online 24/7 and to buy flexible and scalable policies as their investments change and grow.”

Two-thirds (65%) of landlords made the conscious decision to invest in buy-to-let, with 17% identifying themselves as ‘accidental landlords’ who rent out a home they inherited or were unable to sell their property.

A further 9% of landlords bought their property specifically for a family member to live in, such as for a child at university.