What is buy-to-let?

There are two main reasons for investing in property:

• Property speculation
• Buy-to-let

Property speculators buy with the intention of profiting from the rise in value of the property. They will generally own a property for a relatively short period of time.

Buy-to-let investors aim to profit during the ownership of the of the property from the rental income. This tends to be a longer term investment and many have no intentions of ever selling.

Obviously there can be considerable overlap between the two positions in that speculators will often rent the property out for a period of time before resale and buy-to-let landlords may choose to profit from the sale of property.

In addition to those people who have deliberately become landlords there are many who have either done so accidentally or had the status of landlord forced on them. Recently many people have needed to move home but found it impossible to sell. As a results they have chosen to rent out their existing home to enable them to live elsewhere.