The medium to longer term effects of the pandemic continue to have a major bearing on various industries, sectors and individual businesses within these. The housing and mortgage markets have been fortunate to emerge from these challenging times relatively unscathed, although it’s evident that some homeowners, landlords and tenants have suffered to some degree. And we can’t, and mustn’t, ignore the financial strain being placed on such people.

Thankfully, if a recent study from Foundation Home Loans is anything to go by, the robust nature of the BTL sector and the long-term planning of landlords continues to provide a solid base for the future. The research suggested that two in three (64%) landlords do not think that the pandemic will have an impact on their business. This represents a 3% increase from the 61% reported in Q2, with little differentiation by portfolio size. The Q3 research undertaken by BVA BDRC also showed that despite self-employed landlords being hardest hit by the pandemic, only 1% expect to lose their business as a result of COVID-19.

In addition, the proportion expecting to suffer financial hardship has declined marginally to 9% from 11% but did increase slightly among landlords with 20-plus properties. Only one in three landlords report that they have actually seen their lettings income reduce as a result of the pandemic. The research found that it was the self-employed landlords who are most likely to feel they have been negatively impacted by the pandemic (62%), compared to landlords who are retired (39%) or employed part-time (45%).

All landlords have had to look long and hard at the individual performance of properties over this period and it really is testament to the resilience and strength of portfolios across the UK that such an overwhelming number of landlords have successfully navigated their way through one of the most challenging periods in recent history.