Uk Rents at an All-Time High

Originally published at: Uk Rents at an All-Time High | OpenRent Landlord Hub

Market reports UK average rents go up by more than 10% in a year outside of London for the first time ever. Tenant demand is skyrocketing, and supply of rental properties is short. In this month’s newsletter, we’re going to tell you why. Across the whole country, rent has reached a record rate over the…

How about some in depth insight into the other reasons why prices are so high, without the positive spin. The link is omitted from your post.

divorce , seperation , youngsters wanting to leave home, not enough houses built yet, councils sold off their properties., It is all supply and demand . when stuff is scarce the price goes up ,whether homes, jobs, fish, cars etc

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Yeah, just grates a little how everything is dressed up when it comes to “marketing”

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probably increasing the population 10million in 20 years has something to do with it

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I forgot about that !!

I have spoken with quite a few people looking for a rental property recently and they say the reason why they are moving is because their landlord is selling the property

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About time too. I’ve suffered stagnant rent rates for many years in West Yorkshire, whilst inflation, operating costs and risks rise annually, alongside new and expensive letting legislation.

Not surprising, with all the onerous bureaucracy and legislation.

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We are landlords in Bath. One of the other reason explaining the shortage of rental properties in our area is that many of those are now Airbnb properties: more income with more freedom for landlords. The present law and the one to come with abolition of section 21 doesn’t give landlord any confidence in renting their properties, therefore either they sell or either they use Airbnb.

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There are many new costs for landlords including high insurance, gas tests, electricity testing and labour charges are through the roof. Too much legislation.

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I have two kids their 20’s really struggling with huge rent increases in Manchester.
I don’t think costs have gone up enough to warrant such huge price increases - it just smacks of greed to me. I won’t be putting my rents up.

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I don’t think its greed for many landlords. I put my rent up as I was making a lost after the new tax rules, electricity testing, gas tests and wear and tear on my rented houses is ridiculously high.

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Increase in single occupancy is also an issue. It used to be 2.4 people per a house in 2010 now its 2.1. More people are living alone and there are plenty of single baby boomers living in large detached properties.

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I’m selling one of my properties in Leeds. But the council have persuaded me to keep renting the other one to my tenant on benefits. She didn’t move out after the Section 21 end date and I would have to go through the courts to remove her…but the council said she would be in emergency accommodation with her 3 kids if i did that. …I really don’t enjoy being a landlord - if my tenant isn’t paying rent, then contractors are ripping me off!

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I charge a lower than market rent BUT I can see the government putting a cap on rent rises soon so maybe put rents up to market level quick, Mark my words- it’s coming!

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Ah…but what does Shelter say? Ms. Neate & her skewed, ideological opposition & ignorance of the PRS is the paid mouthpiece for anti-capitalist momentum movement that hides behind their prejudices to incessantly attack the PRS without ever suggesting real world solutions in our capitalist system. Ive been a property manager for 35 years & its crystal clear to me that local & central govt. are quite clueless when deciding on housing legislation. They never go to the coal face & ask me what the real problems are in the PRS, they just guess with political bias disregarding the basic fact that the PRS is a business. Many of my clients are selling up due to the LA tax of licencing properties - £850 per property & various other valid reasons that make being a landlord just uneconomic. The authorities either knowingly or stupidly introduce rules & regulations that have led to the housing crisis that has been growing for years…put simply, they are incompetent & negligent. I feel very sorry for the young in society as they have not been seen as the vital next generation that needs a helping hand.

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I hope their “persuasion” including direct payments of the tenants rent to you, as some form of guarantee.

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I think the situation is a lot more complex when you break it down. Landlords are having to consider increasing rents to make ends meet and to ensure that housing standards are a good quality due to additional pressure brought by HMO rule changes. Some suggest that the stndard being applied to much smaller HMOs (3 bedroom) are disprortionate to what is actually needed bwhen considering neighbouring private housing. For instance,in Haringey, the HMO licence system has now extended borough wide since many landlords started having to pay for it in targetted areas I’m not sure why but 5 years ago, a licence cost £500 for 5 years in such areas (3 bedrooms). As you’d expect, the onus is on the landlord to meet and to invest in minimum standards backed up by a couple of site visits by an inpsector. Five years on, this cost has more than doubled to OVER £1000 with little indication of what extra support landlords are receiving in terms of advice for things like house insultation in historic buildings, energy efficiency or approved suppliers of fire doors etc etc. It doesn’t feel very collaborative in a way that should see Landlords working together with local authorities to further the cause of the end-game; the tenants who need good, affordable homes. Furthermore, the HMO scheme is now borough wide so the revenue from this must have grown exponentially so where is this money now going? Additionally, many landlords chose to include energy costs within the rent which is popular for many tenants not wishing to have the headache of splitting bills or even thinking about administering these costs. This can strengthen the feeling of separate households living in a single HMO. As we know, energy bills are sky-rocketing, and although many landlords are absorbing significant rises, it adds to the challenge that they face in providing good quality and good value housing even though they are not social housing providers. Inexplicably, HMO housing has been excluded from the recent £150 support from Government via Council Tax. This could have been paid directly to tenants if necessary rather than excluding these people from extra support being given elsewhere. Meanwhile the authorities that manage HMO licensing arrangements are also uin charge of overseeing repairs and maintenance for their own Council Housing stock. There’s increasing evidence to suggest that the standard or repairs, the cost (for Leaseholders), and the time taken to responsd to urgent repair requests falls well behind what is deemed acceptable in the private sector. This begs the question as top whether the HMO Licensing Authorities are actually fit for purpose and are they being scritinised themselves?

(File note: Ministry of Housing,Communities & Local Government is looking at tenant rights and responsibilities in the private rented sector - #HeatherWheeler, Secretary of State for Housing and Homelessness; Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has also been looking at Rogue Landlord Enforcement)

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Yes it includes direct payments thankfully. I am going to remortgage the house for 2 years and then attempt to sell then. Hopefully my tenant will have got a council house by then as shes on the priority list. I really just want out of this game… i actually got a tax rebate last year. I make nothing…other than house price gains of course.

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This is very interesting. The rise in rent is due to fall in supply of rental properties, which is due to the persistent hostility to landlords. Ever since I heard that all the political parties want to abolish what they inappropriately call “no-fault evictions”, I have been struggling to divest myself of my rental properties, and happily reached exchange of contracts today on one of them. This is even though I have never used Section 21, nor had cause to. But the removal of that clause makes property renting a risk that you just should not take, in my view. All my properties are owned outright, but for other landlords the removal of the mortgage tax relief has been the decisive factor. And the persistent message is that landlords are out to exploit tenants, and all the sympathy is on the side of the tenants. Well, if that is the way they see things, I am for out.

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