The British Property Federation has slammed the lack of official data regarding rents, saying that misguided reports lead to an incorrect portrayal of the private rented sector.
Concerns
Primarily of concern to the British Property Federation are unofficial surveys on rental prices, which they say “have their flaws.” The Federation says that figures collated for these surveys most often state advertised rents, rather than rents actually achieved. In addition, these statistics are based only on new lettings.
Very misleading
Liz Peace, Chief Executive of the British Property Federation, said: “Some of the figures that have been banded around trumpeting large rent increases are very misleading and do not reflect the picture across the entire country.”[1]
Peace went on to say: “In some hotspots, rents are rising more than average, across the country as a whole about 85% of rents are rising below the Consumer Price Index.”[1]
Recently, a consultation has just closed, with the subject being whether or not there should be an official collation of rent data. This would be based on Valuation Office Agency data and therefore constitute a broader scale.
[1] http://www.landlordtoday.co.uk/news_features/Property-body-hits-out-at-flawed-rental-surveys