Fewer landlords are feeling negative about the prospects of their buy-to-let (BTL) business and investments, a Landbay landlord survey reveals.

The survey found that 27% of landlords felt negative about their business, compared to 37% at the end of last year while 40% of landlords remained neutral.

The 33% of landlords who were positive highlighted increased or steady demand as the reason for their optimism.

The strongest positive sentiment was among those landlords with portfolios over 20 properties.

Of those with between four to 10 properties, more felt negative than positive.

However, the feelings of landlords with portfolios between 11 and 20 properties were evenly split between negative and positive sentiment.

Among houses of multiple occupancy (HMO) landlords, just over 43% felt positive about their businesses, with just under 30% feeling negative.

Those landlords who felt negative cited uncertainty over a change in government and potential rental reform.

Some were particularly worried about the proposed abolition of ‘no fault’ evictions, or Section 21s, to which both Conservatives and Labour have committed while several landlords mentioned anti-landlord sentiment as a problem.

Landbay sales and distribution director Rob Stanton comments: “Whichever party forms the next government, we hope that they will be committed to supporting the rental sector.”

“Nurturing confidence among landlords is absolutely key to the health and prosperity of the UK housing market, helping to provide much needed accommodation. With affordability still a real challenge for residential buyers and demand continuing to outstrip supply, there is an abundance of tenants ready to rent across the country.”