Tenant void time is falling

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Landlords are managing to find tenants quickly, because of strong demand for rented property.

A new survey by the Mortgage Trust found that three in ten landlords say they managed to find a tenant in under a week, with a further 40 per cent able to find one between one and two weeks.

As well as this, the proportion of landlords saying it took more than two weeks to fill an empty property fell from 42 per cent last quarter to 28 per cent. This means that the average 'void time' has fallen from 16 to 13 days.

Factors such as the uncertainty of the future of the UK housing market have encouraged many would-be buyers to rent for a while longer, pushing up demand and putting upward pressure on rents.

Mortgage Trust managing director John Heron said: "All our research, and indeed research from other bodies such as RICS, shows that there is very strong tenant demand for the right properties - particularly family homes and terraced houses.

"Reports that landlords are selling off properties are also wide of the mark. In fact tenant demand remains strong and void periods are low and getting lower. With property prices moderating, I expect yields to rise over 2008 - this is a good environment for the professional landlord to expand his portfolio."

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