Landlords falling behind mortgage payments, report finds

Buy-to-let landlords are increasingly falling behind on mortgage payments, a report has stated.

According to an estimate by financial advisor Hargreaves Lansdown, 10,000 landlords are currently three months in arrears.

Rising mortgage rates and falling house prices look set to further increase this figure, as the report predicts that landlords who benefited from low-interest deals in 2006 and 2007 will face difficulty when their fixed-rate deals end.

"Borrowing to invest can be a hazardous strategy, just as much with property as with any other form of investment, because you magnify losses as well as gains," said Hargreaves Lansdown pensions analyst Laith Khalaf.

Last month Tom Entwistle, the editor of Landlordzone, advised those considering buy-to-let to look into urban terraced houses.

Such properties, he explained, are a sensible choice as they could prove to be far more lucrative than urban flats, since these are currently in a state of oversupply.

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