“Pay what you can.” That was the response of one landlord to his tenants in the days following the coronavirus lockdown, as requests rolled in for rent reductions of up to 50 per cent. 因為要求減租至多50%。

In messages and phone calls, tenants related how their income had dried up枯竭, with business put in cold storage被冷藏, and jobs furloughed or cut被解雇或削減.?

With a small portfolio of buy-to-let properties spread across north London, the long-term landlord-investor, who did not wish to be named, told the FT he sympathised with his tenants who had all been reliable payers in the past. “You have to be fair with people and let them get back on their feet,” he says, acknowledging that he is fortunate in not being heavily leveraged or dependent on their rents to sustain him.??

However, not all of the UK’s estimated 2.6m buy-to-let landlords can afford to be as magnanimous寬宏大量. After a sustained tax and regulatory squeeze on the sector from successive chancellors在連續(xù)幾任總理對房地產(chǎn)行業(yè)實施持續(xù)的稅收和監(jiān)管緊縮之后, the hit to income combined with an uncertain outlook前景 for rental growth and property prices could prompt some smaller landlords to sell up.

Landlords with cash to invest nonetheless believe investment opportunities could yet emerge盡管如此，有現(xiàn)金投資的房東認(rèn)為，投資機(jī)會仍有可能出現(xiàn), with jittery market sentiment緊張的市場情緒 limiting competition from other buyers and even pushing up demand for rental property. Here, FT Money explores the outlook for buy-to-let in a shrinking economy as landlords assess the challenges that lie ahead.