Nearly two thirds of landlords in the buy-to-let sector would prefer to be called something else, new research has revealed.

Broker Mortgages for Business canvassed the sector and found that only two thirds of landlords (36%) preferred to be called landlord, with 43% opting for ‘small housing provider’ and 7% warming to ‘rental accommodation provider’.

These attitudes mirror developments in the US, where many buy-to-let business people have called on the media to stop using the word landlord, largely because it has become associated with negative connotations such as ‘slum’ and ‘rogue’.

Three quarters of the landlords in the UK who responded said they felt “unfairly portrayed as this generation’s financial bogeyman”. 

But only 8 per cent felt that landlords were not financial bogeymen at all while the remainder accepted that their notoriety might not be entirely unwarranted.

“Sections of the media have vilified the buy-to-let community,” says Gavin Richardson, MD of Mortgages for Business (pictured).

“The government has hammered them – think Theresa May’s 3% Stamp Duty surcharge and other tax deterrents. 

“It’s got to the point where the buy-to-let community doesn’t want to be associated with the term ‘landlord’ anymore. The term carries much more baggage than it once did. No wonder the community wants a rebrand.”

Richardson also says landlords are now significant contributors to the exchequer’s revenues following recent tax rises but that hammering landlords has not prompted a huge shift in first-time buyers entering the housing market.

“Frankly, the Government should be championing landlords and lauding their contribution to the housing sector – landlords are bailing the Government out,” he adds.

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