Friends rake in £20,000 a month renting out flats they don't own on Airbnb
A pair of landlord pals are raking it in by renting out properties they don't own on Airbnb.
Leena Ahmed and Uzma Patel say they quit their 'toxic' jobs in retail to set up a 'Rent to Rent' business at the end of 2021. Now the duo rent out nearly 20 properties to guests on Airbnb and Booking.com. The 22-year-old and 21-year-old claim their business makes an average of £20,000 a month profit.
The pair saved up £4,000 and made more than 100 rental applications before they secured their first tenancy two years ago. They rent apartments and houses in city centres on a corporate let agreement to then list them on property rental sites from £100 to £200 per night.
The pair, from Coventry, West Midlands, say the model lowers barriers for those wanting to get on the property ladder but who cannot afford to buy a home. Others might argue it is contributing to Britain's desperate housing shortage which has seen rent become unaffordable for many people in many parts of the country.
Uzma is living the high life at the age of just 21 (Kennedy News/@Leenaxahmed)
The friends claim they've become used to flying first class (Kennedy News/@Leenaxahmed)
After nearly two years in business, landlord Leena says she now rents a house worth £1,000,000 and owns a Mercedes worth £60,000.
Leena and Uzma plan to go 'from rich to wealthy' by investing in property and flipping houses in future. "We only had £2 in your Monzo account before when we were juggling jobs," Leena said.
"All our jobs were really toxic. We didn't like working long hours, getting minimum breaks and we'd get timed by the hour. It was really toxic with the management in both our jobs. They just saw us as a number.
"We're both young females. We didn't come from the best background. We come from a low-class background. (Family members) used to work £5 an hour jobs and that's what motivated us. We didn't do the best at school. I was studying law at Coventry University but I just wasn't passionate about it.
"Together (Uzma and I) decided to start this Rent to Rent business. We've always wanted to get onto the property ladder but with the average house price in the UK...that price would probably be over £50,000. More than we had at the time.
"We tried to find something that had a lower barrier to entry and didn't require us to spend more than £5,000 to start the business. We thought Rent to Rent was the best model to do this, where we don't need to own the property but we can control the property to get the cash flow coming in."
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The UK is a country of landlords. Official statistics published by the Government in 2022 showed that 2.74 million landlords declared income from rental properties during the 2020 to 2021 financial year. A study earlier this year found that there are 87 MP landlords – more than 13% of the Commons – of whom 53 claimed rental income from one home and 34 from two or more properties.
In recent years some cities have made moves to limit the number of Airbnbs due to concerns that they make housing unaffordable for locals. Recently New York brought in strict new measures to control the market, meaning those renting their properties out without a licence can accept no more than two guests at a time and must stay in the house with them.
Uzma said: "Coming from a council house background, just growing up there has been a lot of trauma from things that I've seen and the label that you get. You shy away and don't tell your school friends what life is actually like. Now it's all about healing from the past and looking forward.
"It is hard to believe because it seems like we went from polar opposites - being really poor to making £20,000 per month in profit. Of course, we've also invested this money into other businesses as well so it's not the only form of money that we make. That's now just a small piece of the pie.
"We grew up very frugally, and now we don't even look at price tags when it comes to going shopping. I don't look at any price tags for my parents or my little sister."
Leena and Uzma have set their business up so they need to do very little physical work. Leena said: "This Rent to Rent business of ours runs remotely. We've built systems in place, like cleaning teams, a maintenance team, and security teams…which allow us to make money without physically being there.
"We have some months where some properties generate £800 and sometimes properties even generate £1,500 profit. But you could say on average we make £20,000 (a month). We recently had a first-class Emirates flight and we are probably never going back to economy flights again. It's a mindset shift. Once you go to first class or business class, you can never go back to economy.
"Me and Uzma have moved out of our houses and we've moved into a bigger house. We're renting the house but it's worth £1,000,000. I've just bought my dream car, which is a Mercedes 2023 plate CLA. That car is worth £60,000.
"We do treat ourselves here and there but we want to aim to just give it back to our family. Uzma's mum no longer needs to work anymore. It was only last year when her mum was working night shifts in a warehouse.
"We've also treated both our families to a religious pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia which cost us over £30,000. The cash flow that comes in has definitely helped us to become rich. And now we want to focus on how we can turn from rich to wealthy."
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