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Tenants Continue to Face Rising Rents, Letting Agents Report
Tenants continue to face rising rents, according to the latest Private Rented Sector Report from ARLA Propertymark (the Association of Residential Letting Agents), for August.
Tenants Continue to Face Rising Rents, Letting Agents Report
The number of letting agents that saw landlords put rent costs up for their tenants in August rose to 35% – the highest level since July 2015, when 37% of agents witnessed rent rises.
On an annual basis, August’s figure has risen dramatically from 27% in August 2016.
Just 2% of tenants successfully negotiated a rent reduction in August – down from July, when 2.5% managed to lower their rent costs.
The average number of rental properties managed per member branch dropped marginally in August, from 192 in July to 189. This is higher than last August, however, when agents managed an average of 183 properties.
At the same time, demand from prospective new tenants increased in August, to an average of 72 per member branch from 70 in July.
In August, the number of landlords selling their rental properties remained the same as in May, June and July this year, with an average of three for sale per letting agent branch.
The Chief Executive of ARLA Propertymark, David Cox, comments: “This month’s findings paint another bleak picture for tenants. In November last year, only 16% of agents saw landlords increasing rent costs, but that figure now stands at 35%, which is likely to continue rising.
“Landlords have had a rough ride at the hands of policy changes at Government level, and it’s becoming clear that these additional costs are now being passed onto tenants.”
Landlords, if you’re putting rents up for your tenants to accommodate higher taxes and costs from the Government, you must consider how you are going to protect your rental income against rent arrears.
If your tenants cannot pay the rent, it could leave you out of pocket. With our Rent Guarantee Insurance, this doesn’t have to be the case. Find out how you can still get paid if your tenants can’t: https://www.justlandlords.co.uk/rentguaranteeinsurance
