1 year ago
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By Kevin Peachey
Cost of living correspondent
The average queue of tenants requesting to view a rental property in Britain has lengthened from 20 to 25 in five months, figures from Rightmove show.
In 2019, there were typically six telephone or email requests to see each place. That had risen to 20 by this spring, and five months on it is 25.
Agents described the mismatch between demand and supply as "just crazy".
It comes as the average advertised rent for a new let outside of London has risen to a record £1,278 per month.
Property portal Rightmove said these prices had risen by 10% in July to September, compared with the same period last year.
Average advertised rents on new lets in London also rose to £2,627 a month, 12.1% higher than a year earlier, it said.
Ria Laitmer, lettings manager at Clarkes agents in Bournemouth, said: "The gap between high demand and a severe shortage of rental stock at the moment is just crazy.
"We're receiving mounting enquiries for each property to rent from would-be tenants, with queues of tenants arriving to open-house viewings and the majority being left disappointed as there is just not enough properties on the market to meet the demand."
The BBC revealed the data commissioned from Rightmove earlier in the year, which exposed the intensity of competition in the sector.
Demand from prospective renters has soared as students returned after Covid and high mortgage rates have made home ownership a more distant prospect.
Higher mortgage costs, tax changes and other reforms in the sector have also prompted some landlords to sell up, or chose not to expand their portfolio of properties.
Rightmove has suggested there are signs of the number of available rental homes starting to pick up again, but said it would take a long time to correct the imbalance.
'Fairer deal'
In May, the government confirmed it planned to ban no-fault evictions in England, promising a "fairer deal for renters". But a group of charities and campaigners said there has been slow progress since.
At the Conservative Party conference, housing minister Rachel Maclean said the government was committed to the law change and she hoped it would make progress in Parliament soon.
During a fringe meeting, she said that the government wanted to do the right thing for tenants who were not all "bad people" who smoked weed or were in gangs.
How can you get to the front of the renting queue
Agents say there are some simple ways to make it easier to secure a rental property, including:
- Start searching well before a tenancy ends and sign up with multiple agents
- Have payslips, a job reference, and a reference from a previous landlord to hand
- Build up a relationship with agents in the area, but be prepared to widen your search
- Be sure of your budget and calculate how much you can offer upfront
- Be aware that some agents offer sneak peeks of properties on social media before listing them
Have you been forced into renting somewhere that doesn't match your needs as rents rise? You can get in touch by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.
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