Women now make up 48% of BTL landlords in the UK

[Mark Rocks]

According to new research, the gender gap in property investment is getting closer to ending - as women now make up 48% of BTL investors in the UK; https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/buytolet/article-9781295/Women-make-half-UK-landlords-Heres-started-buy-let.html

Our Rob D was asked to comment, and said that it was very encouraging to see - but also reiterated that there should be no reason why property investment would appeal more to men than women.

Hopefully this trend continues! What are your thoughts on this news?

[Sam_F3]

2 hours ago, Mark Rocks said:

According to new research, the gender gap in property investment is getting closer to ending - as women now make up 48% of BTL investors in the UK; https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/buytolet/article-9781295/Women-make-half-UK-landlords-Heres-started-buy-let.html

Our Rob D was asked to comment, and said that it was very encouraging to see - but also reiterated that there should be no reason why property investment would appeal more to men than women.

Hopefully this trend continues! What are your thoughts on this news?

Without even reading the article, I can tell you that personally, all my (personally held) properties are in my wife's name as she doesn't work and I utilise her lower tax bracket meaning s24 doesn't bite until £50k in net rental income. Other friends of mine do the same thing, then have a deed of trust on the side to reflect actual % ownership. I suspect a proportion of the statistic quoted in the article will reflect this trend. I should also add that my wife has no clue what the full addresses of our properties are, hasn't visited half our properties and couldn't care less about it either! So yes, her name is on the title but that's where it ends! 

[c_milne05_yahoo_co_uk]

I am delighted with this stat. and hope this trend continues. I think property is an excellent business to run alongside raising children, and offers women long term financial security for themselves and their children. I should also add that my husband has no clue what the full addresses of my properties are, has never visited half of them, and in fact doesn't like thinking/talking about property at all!

 

[Holly Edge]

What great news, I agree it probably has a lot to do with tax planning and my husband and I also use a deed of trust to split income in my favour.  However I just wanted to give an alternative view to the above as in our case it is my husband who has no clue of the addresses, hasn’t visited most of them and couldn’t care less.  

 

[Darrenr]

Hi guys, the wife and I are in a not dissimilar position as she doesn't share the same interest in property, and will likely be going down the same route to take advantage of our differing tax brackets. Can I ask where/how you went about setting up the deeds of trust to reflect ownership in that regard?

Thanks

[swinstan]

Nice to see women speaking up for themselves. We're not all sleeping partners. I'm sure many of us are more actively involved or going it alone. 

[Holly Edge]

@reedar When you purchase the property you can choose to purchase it as tenants in common and the solicitor will use a deed of trust to show the different shares of the property. You also need to fill in the income tax form 17 on the HMRC website or HMRC don’t recognise the split.

[alice_s]

This makes a great headline but before we start popping the champagne, I think it's worth digging further to find out what's really going on. Sam_f3 above already highlighted the very common situation in which a hetero couple's property is put in the woman's name in order to take advantage of lower tax rates (because the man is earning more). It'd be interesting to know just how common this is. If it accounts for any significant share of property investors, then I'm afraid the statistic just highlights an issue of inequality... why are women earning so much less than men that they are in lower tax bands to start with? 

This article suggests that women and men are almost equally powerful in the property investor market, and I'm afraid I just don't believe that is true. 

[Sam_F3]

6 hours ago, holly edge said:

@reedar When you purchase the property you can choose to purchase it as tenants in common and the solicitor will use a deed of trust to show the different shares of the property. You also need to fill in the income tax form 17 on the HMRC website or HMRC don’t recognise the split.

If you purchase as tenants in common and you're not fussed about anything other than who owns how much, you can actually simply put the % ownership directly on the TR1 form and your solicitor will not charge you anything. I've seen some solicitors charge quite a lot for a DoT where really they shouldn't if it's very simple. 

Very important point made by Holly above - do not forget to lodge your form 17! I think you will have 60 days from completion from memory.

[Darrenr]

Thank you sam_f3 & holly - much appreciated