Here's another aspect of higher interest rates. I am an expat landlord, having rented out the house I used to live in before I left the UK. Even if the value has recently gone down, it's probably still worth more than 200k. Although the rent has gone up over the last few years my net income hasn't increased. The agents are making more, and the charges for contractors to do even unskilled jobs have gone up tremendously - 180 quid to clean out gutters on a small terraced house? I have a bank account in Guernsey which now pays 3.5% (for Instant Access!), so if I sell the house that's 7000k just to have the money sitting there, which is more than I make at the moment. So I'm selling up this year, though my main reason is that I'll be 80 next year, and I want to relieve my executors of the hassle of doing it when I'm dead. Given also the increasingly punitive attitude of the government towards landlords, likely to intensify under Labour, there doesn't seem to be a downside to getting out now.
Here's another aspect of higher interest rates. I am an expat landlord, having rented out the house I used to live in before I left the UK. Even if the value has recently gone down, it's probably still worth more than 200k. Although the rent has gone up over the last few years my net income hasn't increased. The agents are making more, and the charges for contractors to do even unskilled jobs have gone up tremendously - 180 quid to clean out gutters on a small terraced house? I have a bank account in Guernsey which now pays 3.5% (for Instant Access!), so if I sell the house that's 7000k just to have the money sitting there, which is more than I make at the moment. So I'm selling up this year, though my main reason is that I'll be 80 next year, and I want to relieve my executors of the hassle of doing it when I'm dead. Given also the increasingly punitive attitude of the government towards landlords, likely to intensify under Labour, there doesn't seem to be a downside to getting out now.