Posts with tag: Propertymark

Report finds increasing rent prices are due to shrinking private rented sector

Published On: June 8, 2022 at 9:57 am

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Categories: Lettings News,Property News

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SpareRoom study shows most affordable places to rent in the UK

Propertymark has found that rent prices are increasing due to landlords selling up and reducing the available rental stock.

The key findings of its report ‘A shrinking private rented sector?’ state that 53% of buy-to-let properties sold in March 2022 left the private rented sector (PRS).

It also states 84% of respondents reported a decrease in new investors in the PRS over the past three years.

An overall 49% reduction in available rental properties per branch was recorded in March 2022, compared to March 2019.

Nathan Emerson, CEO of Propertymark, states within the report: “Our research presents a worrying picture for private renters. The number of properties available to rent has been diminishing with a large portion of landlords choosing to sell their properties. A lack of property is the root cause for rent increases and rising figures on social housing lists.

“We know from our qualitative research that the most common reasons for landlords to choose to sell their properties and no longer provide homes are around risk, finances and viability.

“Landlords and letting agents have been the subject of extreme legislation changes as the UK Government tries to improve the sector. However, without a middle ground, these changes are actually proving detrimental to those they are supposed to protect. Sadly we do not see this improving as the sector braces itself for more changes within the anticipated Renter’s Reform Bill and upcoming energy efficiency targets.”

In response to the report, Dan Wilson Craw, Deputy Director of campaign group Generation Rent, comments: “Rents are rising and would-be tenants face bidding wars or demands for multiple months’ rent up-front.

“That is a result of large numbers of people moving back to cities since summer 2021 as universities and offices reopened, putting a strain on homes coming to market. We’re seeing similar rent inflation in the US and Australia.

“When landlords sell up, their properties don’t disappear. They continue to be lived in, either by tenants of the new owner, or by an owner-occupier whose old home is now available for a private renter to buy. Supply and demand stay the same so rents are unaffected.

“Reforms to the rental market are necessary to give private tenants better quality, longer term homes. The government has said that landlords will be able to evict in order to sell or move in – though we believe these grounds should come with protections against abuse. If some landlords are unhappy with that, they won’t be missed.

“Government plans aside, rents are too expensive, so we need to build more of every tenure in the places people want to live, to make sure everyone can afford a home.”

UK renters could be pushed into poverty by government benefit cuts

Published On: August 19, 2021 at 8:20 am

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Categories: Tenant News

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Over 100,000 renters on Universal Credit at risk of eviction due to government cut

A joint statement warning about the impact the UK Government’s benefit cuts could have on renters has been released this week.

The Big Issue Ride Out Recession Alliance, Crisis, The Mortgage Works, Nationwide Building Society, the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA), Propertymark, StepChange Debt Charity, and Shelter have together released this statement:

The UK Government must complete and publish a full assessment of the impact on renters of their decisions to freeze Local Housing Allowance and cut Universal Credit, which risk pushing many households into poverty, problem debt, and homelessness.

In the wake of the pandemic, we saw bold and swift action from the Government to prevent a housing debt crisis including restoring Local Housing Allowance rates to the 30th percentile of market rents and increasing the Universal Credit Personal Allowance.

With the economic impact of the pandemic increasing the financial strain on families, across the country the number of private rented households in receipt of the housing element of Universal Credit increased by 107% between February 2020 and February 2021. Over 55% of these households have a shortfall between the housing support they receive and the rent they have to pay. 

The UK Government has confirmed that where such shortfalls exist, the median amount is £100 a month. This points to a need for continued support for families and individuals to cover the cost of rents. Yet since April this year, Local Housing Allowance has been frozen in cash terms, and later this year, Universal Credit will be cut by £20 a week. 

Whilst the Institute for Fiscal Studies has described changes to Local Housing Allowance as “arbitrary and unfair” we have seen no assessment from the UK Government of the impact either of these policies will have on the capacity of recipients to cover rent payments. 

As organisations representing landlords, letting agents, tenants, people facing homelessness, and debt advice services, we are united in calling on the UK Government to complete and publish a full assessment of the impact of both of these policies on the ability of renters to meet their housing costs.

We believe that the UK Government should reverse its decisions to cut Universal Credit and to freeze Local Housing Allowance. To apply policies like these without doing any meaningful impact assessment is, we argue, lacking the necessary foresight and consideration of the impact they will have on people’s security of tenure and well-being and for many will threaten their chance of recovery.

Chancellor called on to tackle the UK rent debt crisis

Published On: February 18, 2021 at 9:07 am

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Categories: Tenant News

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Arrears and void periods hit lowest level for six years

A joint statement has been made by The Big Issue Ride Out Recession Alliance, Crisis, Citizens Advice, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Money Advice Trust, The Mortgage Works, National Residential Landlords Association, Nationwide Building Society, Propertymark, StepChange Debt Charity, and Shelter.

The statement calls on the Chancellor to take action in order to tackle the rent debt crisis:

“At least half a million private renters are in arrears due to the economic impact of COVID-19. The UK Government’s own research shows that ‘private renters report being hardest hit by the pandemic’.

“Renters and landlords whose finances have been affected since lockdown cannot keep tenancies going without additional financial support.

“We welcome many of the measures taken to date, which have helped to sustain tenancies in the short term. But they do not go far enough to adequately protect renters going forward.

“The longer the Chancellor waits to take action, the more rent debts will increase, and the greater the risk of homelessness will become. Without additional support, more renters will lose their homes in the coming months, with the risk of an increase in homelessness.

“As organisations with the aim of sustaining tenancies wherever possible we consider that this requires two things in the forthcoming Budget.

“First, a targeted financial package to help renters pay off arrears built since lockdown measures started in March last year. This will help to sustain existing tenancies and keep renters in their homes – whilst also ensuring rental debt does not risk them finding homes in the future.

“Secondly, we need a welfare system that provides renters with the security of knowing that they can afford their homes. The pandemic has shown how vital this is to providing security at a time of crisis. The Government increased Universal Credit and Housing Benefit because it recognised that the system was not doing enough to support people in the first place, yet it has chosen to freeze Housing Benefit rates again from April and is considering cutting Universal Credit at the same time. It cannot be right that these measures could be pulled away from renters during continued economic uncertainty.

“We urge the Chancellor to act now to avoid renters being scarred by debts they have no hope of clearing and a wave of people having to leave their homes in the weeks and months to come.”