A mortgage company has calculated how much the landlords contribution is into local communities throughout the UK.

The company surveyed 1,000 UK landlords, and found that 81% have used local tradespeople when renovating or having maintenance work carried out to their properties.

On average over the last twelve months landlords have spent £1,443 on builders, plumbers, other tradespeople and letting agents, with the majority being used from the local area.

Having made calculations from the survey, the company claims that UK wide landlords spent the most on letting agents of around £879m in the past twelve months, next was £442m on handy-workers and £396m on plumbers.

Landlords also spent £375.4m on electricians, builders £375m and £243.2m on cleaners.

Nearly a third of respondents said they have always preferred to support local tradespeople with putting money back into the community and in the main they were cheaper than other alternatives.

Damian Thompson, group managing director of retail finance for the company, said: “Landlords are an integral part of local communities across the UK, providing investment and fulfilling the demand of the expanding Private Rented Sector.

“Around every landlord is an ecosystem, in which they pay local tradespeople, like plumbers, builders, decorators, for jobs and those companies in turn train up employees and pay their own local suppliers for services also.

“The contribution landlords make to local communities extends much wider than merely providing rental accommodation.”

Thompson added: “Our findings show supporting local economies also brings benefits to landlords own businesses. Local workers bring a lot of value to landlords with respondents to our surveyA report on the condition of a property
citing in particular the quality work, cost effectiveness and the understanding of local areas as key benefits.”

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