Landlords who manage their own properties are spending an average of 51 hours each month overseeing them, according to Pegasus Insight’s Landlord Trends research. The study, which examines landlords' use of letting agents and time spent managing portfolios, also found that landlords paying for full management by an agent still spend an average of 11 hours a month on administration.
Across all landlords, the average time commitment for property management is 33 hours a month. Bethan Cooke, director at Pegasus Insight, noted that being a landlord has become an increasingly demanding responsibility, with legislative and regulatory changes adding to the complexity of the private rented sector.
The research indicates a growing demand for letting agents, with a quarter of properties now utilising a full management service, an increase of five percentage points from 20% in the last quarter. This rise has contributed to agent involvement reaching its highest proportion in two years, with 66% of properties using an agent for at least part of the letting process.
The monthly workload for landlords increases with the size of their portfolio, ranging from an average of 18 hours for those with one to five properties to 83 hours for landlords with 11 or more. However, the research suggests that landlords with more buy-to-let mortgages are not necessarily more inclined to use an agent for management.