The operations director of letting agency haart has told landlords not to ‘stress too much’ over Brexit.

Paul Sloan says it’s easy for landlords to ‘sink into gloom’ about Brexit, but that agents are here to be positive about the rental sector.

Britain’s departure from the EU now looks set to be delayed until at least October 31, with the UK planning to participate in European elections later this month. 

“Brexit is a short-term distraction. The rental world has not ended, and in fact the UK remains in the grip of a long-term housing shortage,” Sloan explains.

“That’s why the demand for rental accommodation will remain high through Brexit, and well beyond it.”

He points to successive housing minister bemoaning a lack of housing in the UK and says that with the private rental sector now accounting for around a fifth of all households, ‘landlords are vital to the country’.

“The government should balance care for tenants, which all good landlords exercise anyway, with consideration for private landlords, who make up this vital fifth of the housing market.”

Sloan says that when it comes to property prices for investment purposes, figures have been a long way short of the plummet that was predicted and that the situation is patchy across the country.

“It’s hardly the property portfolio carnage that some commentators were predicting. And anyway, buying in a down market is a favoured tactic of investors in any field,” he says.

In April, haart reported that the number of landlords registering to buy was up 7.9% compared to the previous month, a sign that the market is ‘on the way back up’.

Sloan adds that rental prices are likely to remain steady or increase as demand for homes continues to rise.

He concludes by saying that landlords should ask themselves why they became landlords in the first place.

He cites the government’s English Private Landlord Survey, which shows that the most common reasons for landlords investing in the rental sector is because property is preferable to other investments and to contribute to their pension.

“Look around at other low-risk investments, they still don’t come close to property,” he says.