A landlord will need to carry out repair or maintenance work on a buy-to-let property 72 times during their ownership, costing them more than £34,000, it has been revealed.

Research by lettings and estate agent Benham and Reeves found that while pests are the most common maintenance task during the typical nine-year ownership, roofing repairs will be the most costly, adding up to £3,494.

While a landlord is likely to replace or repair white goods just five times during this time - the lowest frequency of all repair tasks analysed - they rank as the second largest overall maintenance cost at £3,231.

Paint job

New paint jobs rank as the third largest total cost associated with maintaining a buy-to-let at £2,992 on average, but when it comes to the most persistent problems, household pests rank top. Benham and Reeves estimates that a landlord will have to fund pest control as many as eight times, costing them £2,940 in the process.

Mould or damp is also a headache for many and while it is one of the least expensive repairs to make at £2,752 in total, the average landlord will need to carry out mould maintenance about seven times.

Director Marc von Grundherr (pictured) says: 'Over the course of the ownership lifespan, these costs do little to damage the great returns of property investment, but would-be landlords do need to make sure they have enough cash flow available to cover maintenance jobs as and when they arise, while safe in the knowledge that, over time, those costs will be recouped.'