Void periods, the number most landlords never calculate

Most landlords think a void is one missed month. In reality a four week void on a £1,200 a month property costs closer to £2,000, and most portfolios have one every tenancy.

Here's why the number is bigger than the rent, and how to work out yours.

What a void actually costs

A tenant gives notice. The property sits empty for four weeks while it's cleaned, viewed and re-let. The obvious loss is the rent: £1,200.

Then the bills that used to be the tenant's problem become yours. Council tax on an empty property is charged in most councils after a short exemption, so call it £150 for the month. Gas and electric on standby, £60. Water, £30.

Then the re-let. A letting agent's tenant-find fee runs from half a month's rent to a full month, so £600 to £1,200. The check-out clean and the odd repair the deposit didn't cover, £150 to £300.

Add it up and a four week void on a £1,200 property costs between £2,200 and £2,900. Not £1,200.

How often it happens

The average private tenancy in England lasts a little over four years, but the average is pulled up by long-term tenants who never move. Newer landlords with newer tenants see turnover every eighteen months to two years.

Every one of those turnovers carries a void. Even a two week void, which is a good outcome, carries the bills and the re-let fee.

So the honest annual number is the void cost divided by the tenancy length. A £2,500 void every two years is £1,250 a year, off a £14,400 rent. That's nearly nine percent of the income, gone, before you count a single repair.

The part the yield calculation misses

Landlords compare properties on gross rent and price. Nobody prices the void in, because it's not on the listing and it's not on the mortgage illustration.

It compounds. A void means no rent that month, which means the mortgage comes out of your own account, which means the next repair is deferred, which means the property lets slower next time. One missed month becomes a pattern.

How to work out yours

Pull the last three years of statements. For each tenancy change, write down the empty weeks, the council tax and utilities you paid in that gap, the agent's re-let fee, and the clean and repairs at check-out. Add them, then divide by the years.

That's your real void cost per year. For most landlords with one or two properties, it comes to a four figure sum every year, per property.

What short lets do differently

A short let doesn't have a tenancy to end. When one guest checks out, the next one checks in, and the calendar is the only thing that decides whether the property is earning.

That doesn't mean it's occupied every night. It means the empty nights are spread through the year and priced, rather than arriving as one four week block with a re-let fee attached. Weekday contractors, weekend visitors, staff on placement and families relocating all want the same rooms on different days, and a managed property is set up to take all four.

That's the mechanism behind no void periods. Not a promise that every night is sold. A calendar with no cliff in it.

What we'd say honestly

Short lets carry their own costs: cleaning between stays, linen, higher wear, platform commission. They also earn more per night, which is where the 30 to 50% more income comes from once those costs are paid. The comparison that matters is net payout over a year, void included, and that's the number an income estimate should show you.

If you want that number for your property, the estimate is free and takes a minute.

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