According to the latest findings from a newly commissioned survey by Aldermore, the UK's 2.5m landlords have spent an average of £1,443 using local tradesmen in the last 12 months - contributing to boosting local economies by billions.
Aldermore’s new buy to let research, which surveyed 1,000 UK-based landlords, reveals the important contribution landlords make to their local economy via services such as plumbers, builders, letting agents and other tradespeople.
Of the total amount paid to local service providers, landlords spent the most on letting agents coming to £879m in the past twelve months, followed by £442m on general handy-workers and £396m on plumbers. Also, landlords spent £375.4m on electricians, £377.3m on builders, and £243.2m on cleaners.
Using local provides peace of mind for landlords
Over a third (39%) say trust is the main reason why they turn to someone local, while one quarter (26%) say, due to not living close to their rental property, having local people do maintenance is reassuring to them. Furthermore, one in three (31%) want to support their local economy by using local tradespeople and one in four (24%) say they tend to be cheaper to alternatives which helps keep their business costs down.
The report found that landlords are happy with the services local tradespeople provide and two thirds (65%) will continue to use them, with a further quarter (25%) intending to use them even more in the future. Only 7% of landlords say they haven’t used local services for their properties, mainly due to being able to do the jobs themselves or having a family member who can service the property.
Damian Thompson, Group Managing Director of Retail Finance at Aldermore, 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.
“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 survey citing, in particular, the quality work, cost-effectiveness and the understanding of local areas as key benefits.”
