Almost 80% of landlords chose to use local tradespeople for renovations to their properties, the latest research from Aldermore shows.
Landlords are spending on average £6,003 each year on local services with electricians (52%), plumbers (50%) and handymen (34%) topping the list when it comes to maintenance issues.
Meanwhile, many landlords are opting to shop local for a wider variety of professional services with around one in seven (15%) opting to use local interior designers and structural engineers, while a similar amount (14%) use local architects.
Landlords say that the main reason for using local services is their desire to support the local economy, while a third (34%) shop local because they trust local services.
For almost a third of landlords (32%) local tradespeople provide a deeper insight into the local area and, in turn, can give them better advice.
However, in a challenging economic environment, three in five landlords (59%) are looking to downsize their portfolio due to a combination of high interest rates, falling house prices, regulation changes and cost-of-living pressures.
Almost two thirds (63%) of landlords are finding it harder to be a landlord this year compared to 12 months ago.
This comes at a time when demand for rental accommodation is high, with 73% of landlords seeing an increase in tenant demand for their property in the last year.
While some landlords would like to expand their portfolio, 64% are unable to due to market conditions.
Aldermore suggests that with landlords considering divesting from the market, the private rental sector could see greater strain.
Almost 70% of landlords believe private landlords exiting the market will hurt the quality of properties available while 71% feel the private rental sector is essential to meet the UK’s housing demand.
Aldermore head of mortgages Jon Cooper says: “Amid a backdrop of ongoing market challenges – from high interest rates through to regulation changes – some landlords are considering downsizing their portfolios.”
“However, there will be plenty of larger-scale, professional landlords that will instead look to purchase more BTL properties. This should, over time, provide useful ballast to the private rental sector.”
