TENANTS CONTINUE TO FACE RISING RENTS

  • The number of letting agents who saw rents rise for tenants stood at 35 per cent in August

  • Rent stock decreased marginally whilst demand grew

  • ARLA Propertymark issues August PRS Report

ARLA Propertymark (Association of Residential Letting Agents) is today issuing its August Private Rented Sector (PRS) Report.1                        

 Rent prices

  • The number of letting agents who saw landlords increasing rent costs for tenants rose to 35 per cent in August – the highest level since July 2015, when 37 per cent saw rents increase
  • Year on year, this figure has risen dramatically from 27 per cent  in August 2016
  • Only two per cent of tenants successfully negotiated a rent reduction, a drop from July 2017, when 2.5 per cent managed to lower their rent costs.

 Rental stock

  • The number of properties managed per member branch decreased marginally in August, to 189 – down from 192 in July
  • This is higher than last August where agents managed 183 on average.

Demand from tenants

  • Demand from prospective new tenants increased to 72 in August, from 70 in July.2

 Landlords selling their buy-to-let

  • In August, the number landlords selling their buy-to-let properties remained the same as May, June and July this year, with an average of three for sale per branch.
David Cox, ARLA Propertymark Chief Executive, said:

“This month’s findings paint another bleak picture for tenants. In November last year, only 16 per cent of agents saw landlords increasing rent costs, but that figure now stands at 35 per cent – 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.”

Kindly shared by ARLA Propertymark