Why the Maths Is Different for You
This is the heart of it. A void that is a rounding error to a portfolio landlord is your entire income gone. A tenant who stops paying is not one problem tenant among many; they are the only tenant you have. The risks that a big landlord manages by averaging, you carry in full on a single property.
What that means in practice
- One empty month is a hundred per cent void, not a small percentage.
- One non-paying tenant is your whole rental income, not a fraction of it.
- One unexpected repair can wipe out months of profit on a single property.
- One difficult tenancy is the only tenancy you have to deal with.
A government lease is the one arrangement that gives a single-property landlord the same certainty a large portfolio gets by spreading risk. It fixes your income for the term regardless of what happens with occupancy, which is worth more to you than to almost anyone else.
What Changes Day to Day
The practical difference is that the parts of being a landlord you did not sign up for simply stop. No advertising the property, no viewings, no referencing, no chasing rent, no arranging repairs, no wondering whether this month’s payment will arrive. One fixed sum lands on the same date, and the rest is handled.
For a landlord who has been doing all of this themselves around a job or family, the change is less about the money and more about getting the property out of their head. It stops being something to worry about and becomes something that quietly pays.
When It Suits You, and When It Does Not
A government lease is not right for every individual landlord, and it is fairer to say so than to pretend otherwise. You give up the highest rent your property might achieve in a strong year, and you give up choosing who lives in it. In return you get certainty and your time back for the term.
If you are in the second group, we will tell you so at the survey rather than talk you into something that does not fit. The arrangement works because it suits the people it suits, not because everyone signs up.
Individual Landlord Questions
Yes. There is no minimum. Most individual landlords own one or two properties, and a government lease works perfectly well on a single dwelling. In fact the certainty it gives often matters more to a one-property landlord than to anyone with a portfolio to spread the risk.
Yes. Your rent is paid for the full term of the lease whether the property is occupied or not. For a landlord with only one property, this is the whole point: your income no longer depends on there being a tenant in place at any given moment.
Yes. A government lease suits distant and overseas landlords particularly well, because it removes the need to be on hand. You do not attend viewings or meet contractors. The property is managed for you, and your involvement is receiving the rent and deciding what to do at the end.
You get it back with vacant possession at the end of the term. You cannot recover it early unless a break clause was agreed before signing, so if there is a realistic chance you will need it, tell us at the outset and we will factor that into the term.
Usually a little less than the top of the market in a strong year, because you are trading some income for certainty. What you save is the voids, the arrears, the repair bills and the agent fees, which for a single property often makes the net position comparable or better.
Find out what your property would earn
Free survey and valuation, and a written offer setting out the rent, the term and which body would be taking the lease. No obligation at any stage.
Or call us on (612) 123 - 4456 78 to talk it through first.