Broadcaster Libby Purves used a column in the Times to explain why she thought buy-to-let investing a really bad idea for pensioners.
Retirement, she said, was meant to be about freedom and especially freedom from hassle, whereas BTL is hassle and also risk – the risk of a bad tenant, voids, interest rate rises and so forth. She defined BTL as a business which requires the same attention and discipline as other businesses.
While the boundaries are a little blurry, we would tend to agree that BTL is more like a business, requiring far more work by the owner and being subject to a larger set of risks than conventional investment.