Over half of landlords have lost rental income as a result of the pandemic and many are considering pulling out of the market or selling off some of their portfolio, according to latest research.

A survey by carried out by an industry body states that 56% of landlords had had suffered loss of rental income in 2020 because of the pandemic with 12% saying that they had lost over a fifth of their rental income.

Around a third of landlords said it would be very likely that they would either sell up or put some of their properties on the market.

Other information gleaned from the survey is that when assessing October to December in 2020, it was found that of those landlords who had lost rental income 22% had suffered losses of more than £5,000 and 59% had lost over a £1,000.

Over a third of respondents – 36% – stated that losses are increasing month on month.

The data also found that 26% of respondents had also taken a hit on other sources of income because of Covid-19 with 12% who had suffered losses of a fifth of revenue; 41% of those had lost non-rental income of over £1,000 and 20% had lost around £5,000.

A spokesperson for the industry body said: “Although most landlords have done everything they can to help tenants affected as a result of the pandemic, we have now reached the end of what they are able to do.

“Simply continuing to ban repossessions just means that tenants struggling to pay their rent are accumulating more debt reducing the chances that they will be able to pay it off. This ultimately will put more renters at risk of losing their homes.

“Ministers need to develop a proper plan to sustain tenancies and help the rental market recover. This needs to include a financial package to enable tenants to pay off any arrears built as a direct result of the pandemic.”

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