Buy-to-let investors living the high life

Buy-to-let investors are using their additional incomes to live life to the full, a new study reveals.

Standard Life Bank points to data showing 17 per cent of buy-to-let landlords use the money earned from their properties to go travelling, ten per cent use their earnings to cut back on time in the office and now work part-time, with another ten per cent using the money to retrain or set up their own business.

And along with using the money to support their buy-to-let lifestyle, the nation's landlords are also improving their own homes.

Almost one buy-to-let investor in four (23 per cent) have used their rental income to renovate their family pile.

"Our survey revealed that a quarter of all respondents are earning up to £200 more than their mortgage commitments every month, 27 per cent are earning between £200 and £500 extra, and 13 per cent are earning up to £1,000 each month," said Andrew Boddie, head of marketing at Standard Life Bank.

"Earnings on successful buy-to-let projects can be significant and provide landlords with income to change their lives - and with one in five already reporting that they are benefiting in this way, we expect to see this number rise as more people use their property to embrace a more flexible lifestyle.

"The majority of people (52 per cent) first became landlords in order to invest in their future, but many of those in buy-to-let have now started to realise the earning potential that renting can deliver."

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