"37% of British landlords are let-down by the country’s current rental system and do not feel the UK rental market is fit for purpose"
According to the findings, 37% of British landlords are let-down by the country’s current rental system and do not feel the UK rental market is fit for purpose and is unsuited to a rapid and demanding rental market. LetBritain claim that 23% are losing thousands in rental income as letting agents fail to secure new tenants
As a result, 595,000 UK landlords (34%) said they would turn to risky online sites just to avoid the fees and delays associated with using a letting agent
The research also uncovered that trust in letting agents is significantly strained by misinformation and unscrupulous practices. With 23% of landlords reporting that their property has sat empty for an extended period of time while an agent is tasked with finding new tenants. Meanwhile, previous LetBritain research found that two fifths (40%) of UK renters – 7.21 million people – find the marketplace to be “ruthless and unethical”, with agents allowing gazumping and non-existent “phantom properties” to become far too commonplace across the rental market.
Recent figures have revealed that the average UK landlord faces an upfront cost equivalent to around 10% of monthly rent + VAT when seeking to rent a property. Considering the exorbitant costs paid by landlords hoping to provide homes to the nation’s tenants, the financial implications and time inefficiencies are particularly concerning as more and more Britons come to rely upon the private rental sector.
Agency fees do not only impact landlords but are also borne by tenants in a practice known as double charging. On top of fees paid by landlords, recent research by Generation Rent found that that the average upfront letting fees paid by two adult tenants came to a total of £404, and can be as high as £813, with additional costs often incurred for essential administration such as deposit protection – a legal requirement for private tenancies.
Fareed Nabir, founder and CEO of LetBritain, commented on the findings: “Today’s research presents a number of concerning insights into the difficulties faced by the Britain’s vital landlord community. It is obvious that landlords up and down the country feel let down by the current property letting system and it is concerning to see that high procedural costs are causing landlords to take otherwise unnecessary risks. Clearly a faster, more affordable and transparent system is required to support the market of 2017 for both landlords and tenants.”
